I still have time to change this plan, and order a marble shelf to go in. How would this be done? The bottom tiles would be set, and then the shelf gets set on the top edge of the installed tiles. The top tiles then get cut to take into account the thickness of the stone and still keep alignment with the tiles on either side, and then they get installed. As for objecting to installing on top of the tile, yes and no. ANY kind of intrusion through the tile and waterproofing is cause for concern. But that can also be alleviated if it's "corked" back up with caulking. This one below, I'm showing you the unfinished pictures so you can see how it's done with the stone sitting on the tile's edges:

Hi, I'm trying to decide on coffee & end table materials as well. I'm thinking about maybe one end-table in glass, don't want everything to match and too much glass to me provides a "cold" look. Besides wood/glass, I'm considering stone or composite tops with metal base. Saw a nice one (floor model on sale) at Domain two weekends ago (no one there said anything about Chapter 11), it looked a lot like limestone, but was actually a stone composite. The sales person mentioned that it was easily stained & the iron base was a bit too ornate for us anyway, but it gave us the idea to have something custom made, using limestone or a more practical composite that looks like limestone along with a simpler base--will be doing some research this weekend to see if there's a custom shop that makes them. I'm also planning on taking a look at the "natural steel" tables that Room & Board offers. If you go on-line to their web site, you'll see a number of base table styles with choices on table tops, natural stone, composite stone, glass, etc. Prices seem pretty reasonable, not sure yet about quality and how it actually looks "in person". Lastly, re: wood, one furniture brand for wood tables that I'll be taking a closer look at is Harden, I believe that their products are all solid wood so they can be refinished down the line. Nice style choices with this manufacturer too. Maybe someone else on the board can speak better than I as to the quality. Michelle

While I so appreciate the praise, I am pretty sure with a bit of guidance via blogs or You Tube videos, that all of you could do this. This project had no sewing except for the double welt. I REALLY lucked out with that coffee table for $25, and finding the perfect fabric. dlm2000, I'm sorry I missed your question on the welt 'flange'. It just gets cut away, after sewing the welt and before gluing it to the piece. I hope that blog I linked above helps. To sweet Lynn, and the other kind folks who think of my house as a jewel box, if you could see it right now, with my dining room table covered with an old plastic table cloth, and chairs, ottomans and drawers on it in various stages of 'done-ness', well, be afraid - be very afraid! My full time job makes it hard to get a project done, except for this ottoman, which was quick and easy!

my Samsung fridge is like 18 months old. I took out the shelves and set them in the sink the empty sink. The SECOND the shelf touched the sink, it EXPLODED. I don’t mean that it cracked or shattered. I mean it EXPLODED. Thank goodness I was wearing my glasses or I would probably be blind right now. The tiny bits of glass got all over me, my clothes, my hair, and my kitchen. So, I had to clean up the kitchen. Then, I had to strip off my clothes because I didn’t want to shed bits of glass throughout the house and go STRAIGHT to the shower to get the glass out of my hair. Honestly, this is INSANE!!! Below here you can see the sides of the shelf and most of the glass that I swept off the floor. (please disregard the dog hair).