Once you work out how to do something, why not do it again?

I love the look of polished concrete things, and while in Greece I met a guy who made polished concrete jewellery – bracelets and stuff. But it was light.

I have no idea how he made it, but it did get me thinking.

Ok, so I thought for years before doing anything. Haven’t you ever had a thought that festered in the back of your mind for years before becoming reality?

Well, I did. Don’t judge me.

I knew there had to be a way to do it. I’d seen those Pinterest links to DIY concrete sink makeovers – like this one. Problem was, I couldn’t find that product here.

So, I had to improvise.

When I was doing my bathroom I bought a joint compound to smooth the gaps in the cement sheeting. I got the wrong stuff – it was more like concrete than the joint compound I envisaged that I could sand smooth…

In fact, it was so hard I used it to patch the broken concrete step in the yard and it’s still holding strong!

Anyway, given this stuff was so strong I thought why not use it over timber to give it a concrete look? Lighter than real concrete, but with the same kind of hard feel.

The strength means its pretty hard to sand smooth, so the finish isn’t as polished as, say, a bought one… and the edges are rough, more rustic looking. But hey, that’s fine with me. I like rustic.

This is the second faux concrete top I’ve made since I discovered this method. You can see the first one here.

I finished it with a couple of coats of polyurethane to seal it and put it on top of a little stool base I had. A match made in heaven. Or my workshop. Same thing…

There you have it. A cute industrial rustic farmhouse side table.

Moral of the story: don’t be afraid to experiment. If it works, great. If not, eh, what have you lost? A little time, some products, some face. No biggie.

z