Mixing Up Some DIY

Our process for making a concrete table top.

A couple of weeks ago we shared how we made a vertical garden from a used wooden pallet and how you could make your own.  Now, we're going to give you another little lesson, this time it's on how to make a concrete table top.

Here at the Silo Eco-Home we had been looking for the perfect table top for a tall, outdoor table we keep on our deck.  The previous top had been made out of a fiber board and did not stand up well at all to the elements.  After much searching, we decided to make our own table top out of concrete, which we knew would resist the sun, rain, and ever-present wind.

To start, we needed to make a form to pour our concrete in.  [1]  We built the form on the deck where the table is kept so we would not have to move the table top a long distance.  We used a piece of Melamine board for the bottom of the form to give the table top a smooth finish.  Then, we used recycled wood for the sides of the form.  We then put caulk along the seams of the form to give the corners of the table a smooth finish and to make sure the form was tightly sealed.

Next, we took flowers and leaves that we had picked from our garden and pressed, and glued them to the bottom of the form.  [2]  The plants then left an imprint on the top of our table.  We used spray adhesive to make sure that the plants would be securely fastened to the form before we poured in the concrete.  You, of course, may leave the top smooth if you desire.

After preparing the form, we then mixed our concrete.  [3]  We used a 50 pound bag of counter top concrete mix that we purchased from a home-improvement store.  We followed the instructions on the bag for mixing the concrete, but ended up using more water than the bag called for so that the concrete had a smoother texture and poured more easily.  As you can see from the picture, we used our hands to mix the concrete.  If you do this WEAR GLOVES.  We found out the hard way that mixing concrete with bare hands does a number on your skin.

We then poured the concrete into the form and spread it out evenly.  [4]  We vibrated the form by pounding on it with a hammer to make sure that there were no air bubbles left in the concrete.  We placed a piece of sealed wood into the concrete so that we would have a way to fasten the table top to our existing stand.  After letting the concrete set for 24 hours, we pried apart the form and cleaned the bits of caulk and plants from the table top.  We fastened the wood piece into the concrete with caulk.  After that dried we were able to attach the concrete table top to its base!  [5]

Now the Silo Eco-Home has a unique table gracing its deck!

We found the concrete table top idea and modified the step-by-step instructions from the website The Family Handyman.