Scandi-Style Concrete Terrazzo Coasters
Terrazzo has made an undeniable comeback in the world of interior design, moving from historical Mediterranean floors to trendy modern home accessories. By combining colorful aggregate chips—such as crushed glass, sea shells, marble bits, or colorful dyed concrete fragments—with a smooth concrete base, you can craft Scandi-style concrete terrazzo coasters that are as durable as they are visually playful. Every single coaster created with this technique is completely unique, offering a bespoke touch to your living room coffee table setup.
To craft these eye-catching coasters, start by preparing your aggregate material. You can break colored glass bottles into tiny chips using a hammer inside a canvas bag, collect colorful pebbles, or cast small thin sheets of concrete dyed with pigment powder and crush them into geometric flecks once dry. Next, mix a lightweight, high-strength white or light-gray cement mix. Stir your aggregate chips directly into the wet mix, or carefully place them along the bottom of your coaster molds for a more controlled layout. Shallow round or hexagonal silicone coaster molds are ideal for this project due to their uniform depth and flexible edges.
Spoon the concrete mixture into the molds, ensuring the aggregates are thoroughly embedded and the top surface is worked flat. Allow the coasters to cure for 24 to 48 hours. The true magic happens during the finishing stage: once demolded, use wet-sandpaper in escalating grits (starting with 120-grit and moving up to 400-grit or higher) to aggressively sand down the top layer of concrete. As you sand away the outer skin of cement, the colorful embedded aggregates will suddenly be exposed, revealing a smooth, polished terrazzo pattern. Finish with a food-safe stone sealer and attach a thin cork backing to protect your tabletops.