TILE IT: TIN CAN ROOF TILE IT

Cut Paper Mosaic
Make a durable mosaic on the cheap with paper
and glue. BY SUSAN BRACKNEY
Maybe it was the wall-to-wall green shag, or the fact
that the previous owner had housed 14 cats there,
but my charming 1930s bungalow was a steal.

The place purportedly had gorgeous hardwood floors throughout, but ripping up the smelly-cat carpeting had revealed one 8'× 10' expanse of ugly pine boards — raw, uneven, and studded with rusty nail heads — smack in the middle of my living room. Turns out that leaving such unfinished business was pretty common back then; nice wood is expensive, and most people had area rugs anyway.

Rather than spend a fortune on refinishing or carpeting, I would
do as the Romans did. A nod to Pompeii and my precious pooch,
this durable “Beware of Dog” mosaic on the cheap is tiled with
paper, not marble, and held together with glue, not grout.