DIY Trivets.....Mosaic Style and Granite

First, I would like to share a granite trivet that I made for less than $1.50!  Best of all, I just LOVE that it only took me about 5 min to make! 

First, let me explain why the project began...........

I recently boiled some potatoes preparing to be mashed and without thinking, I placed the hot pot of boiling water and potatoes directly on my wooden kitchen island while I quickly grabbed a colander.  It only took about 10 sec and there it was, a ghost white heat ring.

Luckily, my husband and I have plans to refinish the top of the island in the near future so I didn't get too much grief!  Never-the-less, I decided it was time to create a trivet to sit on my island that would always be there to quickly lay a hot pot on whenever I need.  Especially if we were going to have a nice new refinished island top!

I happened to be rummaging through our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and found this great piece of granite for $0.50!!!!!  Next, I gorilla glued some wooden "feet" to the bottom (wooden dowel buttons from the hardware store). 

I used one of my heavy Physical Therapy text books to help weight the feet while the gorilla glue dried. You know, to keep these book in use and all!

The feet were $1.88 for a pack of 8 and I only used 4 so for this project I only spent $0.94!  This brought my granite trivet to a grand total of $1.44!! (I used the other 4 feet in my next trivet below)

Within 5 min it was done and ready for use!  So easy and I love the look of it!

For those of you who haven't been to a ReStore yet, it is a thrift store with a focus on home improvement goods! I get a lot of my paint and stains from here dirt cheap!  They are a great place for tile too if you're into creating your own mosaic pieces.

After making this simple trivet, I decided I needed an extra one on hand.  My next one I chose to mosaic with broken tiles.

The process is very similar to the DIY MOSAIC MIRROR that I posted about earlier, but I go into a little more detail here.

First, I placed the larger tile pieces onto a mirror that I bought at Hobby Lobby half off for $2.  I didn't use any glue yet, just laid it all out.  I worked from the outside in making sure I had enough edge pieces to make the edges flush.

Then I filled the tight spaces between the larger pieces.  Some pieces I had to keep hammering into smaller pieces in a towel until they were small enough to fit.

Once I had everything placed how I liked it, I began to glue each piece down. 

It was easier to add the glue directly to the backs of the larger pieces with the glue bottle and then lay them, however, it was easier to use a puddle of glue to dip the smaller pieces in and then lay them with tweezers.

Let the glue sit overnight to be sure the pieces wont slide around while grouting.

Now ready for grout!

I prefer grout with sand.  It holds better shape and is easier to work with in my opinion.  Now, I highly recommend using gloves for this part!  I know this but somehow forgot this time around.  I was digging grout out from under my fingernails for days! 

Let it set 5-10 min and then polish the pieces with a damp cloth.

Once everything is dried, flip over and add the feet.  I painted these feet white to match the tile.

And there you have it!!

No more ghost white heat rings in my kitchen!!!

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