In the moments when they’re not running their Paris design firm, Heju, 25-year-old architects Hélène Pinaud and Julien Schwartzmann love to make things. They post their DIY inventions on the Heju blog, and Hachette in France collected them in a book, Design It Yourself: 35 Objets Design à Petits Prix et à Faire Soi-Même. One of our new favorites is the duo’s DIY terrazzo table, their poor man’s answer to the labor-intensive and pricey finish. They came up with the project after not succeeding in including terrazzo in one of their architectural commissions: frustration fueled months of thinking and testing, and led to their little speckled table, which makes use of broken tile rather than marble fragments. They kindly agreed to share it with us.
N.B.: This is the second in a series of Heju projects we’ll be presenting. Over at The Organized Home, we recently spotlighted the Heju DIY Wall Organizer.
Photography courtesy of Heju.
![perfect for use as a coffee table or side table, the design is entirely diy, in 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-table-terrazzo-heju-paris-1-733x1100.jpg)
![the tabletop is a mix of cement, sand, and grout inset with colored tile fragme 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-by-heju-paris-3-733x489.jpg)
Terrazzo is traditionally made of marble (or other stone) chips set into a cement matrix that’s polished to a high sheen. Decorative and hardwearing, it’s often seen as lobby flooring in historic buildings. Of late, the finish has made a comeback, thanks to, among others, British designer Max Lamb: See An Effortlessly Cool Cafe in Amsterdam. We’ve also recently admired terrazzo Chez Marie Sixtine in Paris and in a Danish Designer’s Handmade Kitchen. The Heju version is less involved, but requires a bit more time and labor than most of their DIYs.
![the tabletop has a textured look but a smooth finish. it can be any color combi 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-by-heju-paris-4-733x489.jpg)
Tools and Materials for the Top
![this is a two part project: it involves putting together the table base and the 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-materials-heju-paris-5a-733x489.jpg)
Materials include panels of MDF, a 1.5-kilo (3.3-pound) bag of white cement, 3 kilos (6.6 pounds) of fine sand (available from pet- and garden-supply stores), pale-pink grout, and ceramic tiles for breaking into pieces. For the full specs and step-by-step on how to make the table base, go to Heju.
Instructions
![an mdf tray serves as the base for the concrete sand grout tile mix. it\ 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-in-progress-heju-paris-5b-733x489.jpg)
![the fun part: hammering the tiles into fragments. \2\20;the goal is to g 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-in-progress-heju-paris-6-733x489.jpg)
![the tile fragments are evenly sprinkled over the tray and also mixed into & 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-in-progress-heju-paris-7-733x489.jpg)
![the concrete, sand, and grout combination are mixed with water until they&# 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-in-progress-heju-paris-8-733x489.jpg)
![the mixture is poured like cake batter into the frame and then evenly troweled. 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-in-progress-heju-paris-9-733x489.jpg)
![after the top is fully dry—it takes about three days—the mdf pane 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-in-progress-heju-paris-10-733x489.jpg)
The Finished Look
![the designers admit the project takes some doing, \2\20;but to have a ho 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/diy-terrazzo-table-by-heju-paris-2-733x1100.jpg)
Explore our DIY archive for more ideas, including:
- DIY Essential Oils in the Home: Lavender Linen Freshener
- Ikea Hack: DIY Furniture You Can Paint
- DIY: A Leather-Detailed Wooden Doorstop
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