"For the July issue, I came up with this idea of creating a concrete stool that is ideal for outside."
It looked like an awesome project and I really wanted to try myself,
but I was a little hesitant because I'd never done concrete before, so I asked Sarah for some help.
For my stool, I got all the materials at Home Hardware and we got started right away.
"The process starts with 2 buckets actually.
You want to have one bucket for concrete, for the mixing, and then the other bucket is filled with water.
You don't want to add the concrete all at once, it's a gradual process.
So you just throw in a bit of concrete at first, start mixing with a bit of water, and you just keep on adding it until the whole bag is mixed."
Because we used a quick-set concrete, we need to keep things going quickly, so we got our friend Alex to help us.
"It's really key to follow the instructions on the concrete packaging because it is a science.
And you do need to have the right water and concrete ratio because if you add too much water,
it won't set properly and it could just become a disaster."
Next, I cut an 8" diameter builders tube to about the height of a 5 gallon bucket.
"And then from there, we take some Styrofoam and place the builder tube on top and trace the inside.
And then that creates this lid which actually is the underside of the seat of the stool.
So once we have this Styrofoam lid, we cover it with duct tape and it actually creates the seal so the concrete doesn't come up with in the tube."
And we measured 3" from the lip of the tube and used an x-acto to poke some holes through and then got our 2 dowlings through that tube,
which allowed it to just sit on the bucket.
So we eyeballed about 3" of concrete at the bottom of the bucket,
and then placed our builders tube right in the middle, on top of that concrete.
"Exactly."
And then we needed to weigh it down.
"Because the concrete will naturally push the builders tube up,
in the center we just took some old paint cans and weighed them down with some rocks and put them inside to weigh it down.
So the bucket and this builders tube is the mold for this stool,
so what is happening is you're building the stool upside down.
The builders tube is creating this hollow core, exactly, so that the stool isn't too heavy.
Every once in a while you do want to bang the sides because what that will release any air pockets and just make everything level.
I think it's key that you make sure that the top is actually smooth because this is the base of the stool,
so you want to make sure it's even."
Once done, we put it aside and let our set for 5 days,
and you want to try to not overdo that 5 days because it becomes more difficult to take apart.
And we obviously has one ready, TV ready.
"So the next step is actually revealing the stool.
One thing we did realize was having a dremel type saw really helped cut the bucket off."
Once we cut the bucket all the way around, we had to peel it off, which required a bit more strength than we had.
So once again, we brought in some bronze to crack it open.
Then we had to remove the builders tube on the inside,
which ripped out fairly easily because it was moist from absorbing moisture of the cement as it set.
And then we were able to flip it over, we were ready to paint.
The raw cement is beautiful on its own,
but we decide to paint ours and we chose some really nice muted colours from Beauti-Tone,
which really popped against the black siding of the patio where it was going to live.
"And keeping in mind, I think the best thing is if it's going to live outside,
is to use an outdoor paint because it will become a little bit more durable.
And let it cure inside for several days before you take it outside."
So we learned a lot doing this project.
First of all, it was messy and you needed to be done outside.
"Definitely and it also, you know, 2 people are great, a 3rd person, once in a while, is even better."
We mostly learned that it was well worth because that stool looks fantastic.
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