Another DIY project in the books! Y’all, not going to lie, this one took a lot of time and effort, but it was 100% worth it. When Jacob and I were looking for coffee tables for our living room, we knew we wanted that concrete look, similar to the Restoration Hardware coffee tables. But we also knew we didn’t want to spend a million dollars lol. We started looking into if it was possible to just do it ourselves, and we found a few helpful videos on YouTube that inspired us to try it ourselves, with some tweaks of our own.
Even though this project took time and waiting, we are SO HAPPY with how it came out and we love the rough, edgy texture it brings to our living room. So how did we do it? Let’s get into it!
PHASE 1: BUILD THE FRAME
We wanted a 4ftx4ft coffee table, so Jacob built out the frame using 2×4 lumber. He built out 4 rectangular sides, and then screwed them together to create the frame.
After the frame was built, we added the top onto the table using a 4×4 sheet of plywood and secured it with a brad nailer all the way around. Then, using more plywood, Jacob measured and cut down the sides of the table (using a table saw) and also secured each side using a brad nailer.
The next step was stapling chicken wire to the entire table. This step is SUPER important. If you skip this step, the concrete will have nothing to bind to and the concrete will just fall off of the wood once it’s dry. We got chicken wire at our local Tractor Supply Store. We also hammered down the staples so that they weren’t sticking out.
Side note: We ended up moving the table into the living room where the table was ultimately going to stay. We knew that after we started pouring concrete, the table was going to be extremely heavy. I’m really glad we decided to do this because the table ended up weighing at least 200 pounds lol.
PHASE 2: MIX & POUR CONCRETE
The cement you will want to use is QuikWall Surface Bonding Cement. You will find all kinds at the store, but this is the one you’ll want to use specifically for this project. Unfortunately we couldn’t find this in the grey color that we wanted, so we ended up using Quikrete Liquid Cement Color (dye) to obtain the grey color that we wanted. We came up with a little cement recipe, and that’s what we used to make each batch throughout this whole project.
We mixed 1 capful of dye with 6 cups of water and then mixed that in with 18 cups of the cement. We knew we didn’t want to use too much dye because we didn’t want the table to be super dark. If you want your table to be darker grey, then you would just mix in more dye. But be sure that you come up with a specific recipe that you’ll use for each batch so that the color is consistent throughout the whole table (since you will be doing this in sections).
After we mixed the water & dye mixture to the cement, we mixed it using a power drill with a cement mixer attachment. This made it much easier to mix. If you do this by hand, it’ll be a LOT harder and you probably won’t get as smooth of a mixture.
Immediately after it’s mixed thoroughly, pour it onto one side of the table and smooth out the concrete with a concrete smoother.
After it’s all smoothed out the way you want it, let it sit and dry for 2 WHOLE DAYS. This is super important, as you want to be sure the concrete is dry and hard enough so that it won’t crack when you turn the table over to do another side.
After 2 days, flip the table to another side (we used a dolly to help us flip it, which helped so much) and repeat this process all over again for the next side! Do this until all 4 sides of the table are done.
Once you’re ready to do the top of the table, you’ll want to be sure and work quickly, since the top of the table is really big and you’ll need 3 batches of your concrete recipe. The way Jacob and I did this is I worked on smoothing out the first batch, and while I was doing that, he was working on mixing the second batch. Once the third batch was poured, he came to help me smooth it all out.
After the entire table is covered in concrete, you’ll want to let it sit for at least 3 FULL WEEKS to make sure it’s 100% cured.
PHASE 3: SEAL IT AND DECORATE
After 3 weeks has passed, you’re now ready to seal it! I used Olympic Waterguard Sealer and just coated the entire table with the sealer using a paint brush. It was super easy to apply! This will protect your table from water or any other liquids that are potentially spilled on it.
Let the sealer sit for 24 HOURS and then you’re ready to decorate!
If you’d like to see a short video of our process, head on over to my Instagram page! I have a full IGTV video showing what we did! A table like this, especially with the size, can run from $600-$1000 or more, and doing this ourselves cost under $200. Like I said, this is a long process DIY project, but I’m really happy with how it looks! If you have any other detailed questions, leave them in the comments or come say hi over on Instagram and send me a message there!
Talk soon! XOXO