Eclectic Plants…
I love love love plants of any kind. They make any home effortlessly neat. Plus I like that added vibe of Mid- century modern, and nowadays who doesn’t love mid century modern?!! 😁 I DO!! I’ve been through a handful of styles in my home and, when I was into shabby chic a few years ago my bedroom and living room were so chic but for some weird reason, my dining room just couldn’t grasp onto a good style vibe. lol I literally had flowers on my walls in the dining room. How granny chic is that?! 😀 It was cute while it lasted but I got sick of it and painted the walls a light gray. My poor hubby never said a word because it took me over three weeks to hand paint the flowers on the walls but he sure didn’t complain when I made the switch to gray 😀 What I’m trying to say is some styles are much more versatile than others. Mid-century Modern definitely has it’s benefits while making any room look modern you can still tweak it add a touch of your own favorite furniture pieces and it’ll still look awesome. So, here’s to plants and decor! 😁
Plant Stand Journey
Oh my gosh I’ve been all over the web looking for cute plant stands. Those West elm little wood plant stands are so stinking cute but like always way over my budget. As much as I loved those I decided to challenge myself and bring in some industrial decor. I know nothing about construction so I set out on an adventure making this modern little plant stand. To give you a pointer one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do it out of concrete was because I really wanted to make it raw edges. I love anything raw edged.. wood, concrete, marble, metal…lol if that was possible. (might be too dangerous) Okay then let’s get started.
What you’ll need to make this trendy plant stand
I’ll add affiliate links for everything that I used below (SCROLL DOWN) 😀
- Concrete (quick setting is optional)
- Dowell (or long stick)
- Bucket (for the plant stand top)
- Bucket (for mixing)
- Miter Saw (optional or Handsaw)
- Sander
- Wood Stain (of your choice)
- Tape
- Paper
- Spray paint
- Smallish Flat head screw driver
- Smallish hammer
Let’s Do This !!
So while I was making this plant stand I ended up making a small rectangle one too. It turned out horrendous but, I did get to practice my raw edging technique on it which was actually very helpful. If you’ve never chipped edges on concrete I would recommend making a practice slab. 😀 I purchased my Dowel and concrete at the home depot. (total cost for me was $9.50 because I had the rest of the supplies at home from previous projects )
This is what size dowel I got. It was the seven eighths.
I also cut my dowels on my own. I’m sure home depot could cut them to size. They usually do but this time I decided to pull this baby out. I divided my dowel into three sections to make legs out of it. (My legs measured at 16″ each)
Mixing Concrete
This is totally optional. I bagged my concrete before opening it so I could tie the bag up after and use it for my next project. 😀 Plus it was a bit cleaner this way.
I didn’t use any specific measuring for mixing the concrete since there isn’t really a recipe for this. The instructions on the bag said to add water to the concrete powder. Keep in mind it will double in size, so start small. I purchased this mixing bucket at the dollar store. I started by pouring in 1/4 bucket of cold water and started adding the concrete. Boy this was a tedious process. My arms nearly fell off.. Good workout though.😃 Make sure and mix well because I was about to start pouring in and noticed it was clumpy. Try to get rid of as many clumps as possible.
This is what it should look like once mixed.
I then took my bucket and if you look close measured and marked 2.5 inches away from the bottom to make sure I don’t go over that mark. I know I wanted the concrete top to be under three inches and this was a great way to keep track of the thickness.
Then simply take your legs and stick them in. I tried not to have them touching in the middle so it wouldn’t look dorky.. 😀 I did about three inches apart forming a perfect triangle shape. Before leaving it to cure take a stick and lightly tap the bucket on the sides a few times for the bubbles to come out. Then leave it outside to cure overnight.
After letting it cure for 24 hours. I carefully pulled it out. It should come right out. Then I used a tiny flat head screwdriver and a smallish hammer and chipped the edges.
MAJOR TIP
Keep in mind there is a technique to this. Concrete is very prone to breaking especially at this stage when it’s not fully cured. I’ve never tried doing it once it’s fully cured so I don’t know if it would work on fully cured concrete. (the concrete was stiff enough to sit on.lol trying to give you an example… it just wasn’t strong enough to be messed with too much)
How to do it:
I started off by chipping the edges all around while flipped upside down NOT chipping all the way to the bottom. Then I flipped it on its legs and chipped the edges on top. Once I was done with top and bottom, I chipped what was left in between. It’s a tedious process but is totally worth the effort. 😀 The chipping process took me about 45 minutes to complete.
Staining
Then I simply took some wood stain and rubbed the stain into the wood with a napkin. The color stain I used was special walnut. I let the stain settle in overnight but you can give it 4-6 hours and paint over it.
Extras
I decided to taper down the bottom of my legs to give it more of a leg feel rather than a dowel. Totally being picky. 🙂 I think the fact that I knew I used a dowel was what was messing with my head..So this is totally optional because it looks good either way.
It’s a beauty..
This is what I left it at. Also a tedious process but I loved the extra effort I put in it. It definitely showed in the end. OOOH before I started sanding I marked where I would be painting so I wouldn’t go over it. That way you don’t have to stain it again. LOL.. I totally did this all backwards. I know I should have stained and sanded it before I stuck the legs in the concrete. I’m always changing my mind mid-project that would explain why it’s all backwards.
I measured 5 inches from the bottom and taped it off. I knew I didn’t want the white paint to cover too much of the pretty wood grain.
Painting
Then I used a paint and primer in the color white to paint the bottoms of the legs. Yes I do have a few large chips on the bottom of the concrete slab but I don’t mind them at all. (if you used more then one coat of stain I would highly recommend using a primer/paint because you don’t want the stain to leak into your paint)
Now, how lovely is that!! 😀 I am obsessed with it. So modern and trendy. 😀 I hope you like it.
The detail on the edges definitely makes it unique. The flat surface area on the slab ended up having some halos from the bucket and it’s totally sandable, but I personally didn’t really mind because I’d have a plant on it anyways. ( I used a recycled paint bucket and I think they run a bit thinner then the regular ones home depot sells. So maybe that’s why the surface was like that. ehh dunno)
Here’s a snippet of the texture from the top.
The tapered beautiful legs.
I hope you enjoyed this ! 😀
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(PS. Some Fridays might be missed, I apologize in advance. I’m only human and sometimes don’t get around to posting a DIY as soon as I would like…most times my husband’s to blame. HAHA 
)
Here are some affiliate links to the supplies I used (read disclosure about affiliate links here)
Here’s a cute pinnable 😀 Pin away.
Wow! I absolutely love this! I’ve never worked with concrete, but this seems like the perfect starter project! Thanks for sharing Lily 😘
Melissa
Awe thank you Melissa. This was my first concrete project and it’s a lot easier then it looks. 😀 Glad you liked it! 😀
I really enjoy watching your tutorials, keep them comming. We are from New Zealand and I have started doing concrete art. So your ideas are appreciated. I am going to try the pumpkins. Regards
Paulette
Hi Paulette! It’s so nice to hear from you 🙂 I’ve heard so many nice things about New Zealand. It’s sounds beautiful! YAY I’m so happy to hear my DIYs are helpful! Thank you. Let me know how the pumpkins turn out 🙂
Best,
Lily
How did you get it out of the bucket? I tried it and it was stuck in the bucket. I’m going to redo it and grease the inside of the bucket. Will that work? Who knows, but it’s super cute so I’m going to give it another go. Wish me luck!
Oh no. I’m sorry to hear that. Was it a plastic bucket you used? I didn’t have any issues removing it. Just pulled on the legs and it came out. I know hardware stores sell a special spray that helps release concrete from a mold. I recommend using that.
The bucket has natural indents in it that the concrete forms to. Any tips to keep the concrete leveled on top?
You can sand it down a bit but I do find this makes the concrete look rough it impossible to get that shine back. Maybe cut out a piece of acrylic plastic and insert it into the bottom of the bucket? I usually cut my acrylic plastic with a hot knife it’s really easy.
Not cute.
So don’t make it
So don’t make it. Look s of people (myself included) think it’s chic
I love this idea! I’ve shared with Pinterest on my page. I can’t wait to try this, I’m redoing my house and I am going to try to make a few for the front porch. Thanks for your cool DIY.
Thank you Carolyn. Much Appreciated. Oh wow how exciting! I’m sure they’ll look lovely on your porch. 😀
I absolutely love this idea! Will be making plant stands for in the house and out! I have some crepe myrtle branches that shed their skin, so they’re smooth on the surface, but they are gnarly shapes. I’m going to try using those for legs (a nice, rustic touch in my farmhouse). Cannot wait to try it!
Oh wow that sounds so cool! I always love a good rustic feel. Let me know how it goes. 😀
I love this!! I’m going to do it for my porch, but who knows what else? How did you make sure the three legs were at the correct angle to have the table be level when you flipped it over?
Thank you. So glad you loved it. I made sure my legs were the same length and when inserting them into the bucket I made sure they stuck out past the bucket the same amount and measured the distance between each leg. Doesn’t have to be perfect. I think mine was about 1/4 inch off and it still turned out level. Oh Gosh I know what you mean. Once you start you can’t stop 😀 😀 😀
This design is neat! I have a question about inserting the legs into the concrete. When you stick the legs in how far should it be to make sure it’s far enough to be sturdy but obviously not too far to where it sticks out the top of the table?
Hi Logan, good question. I stuck mine in all the way so they touched the bottom just to have an approximate idea of how much room I have then I slightly pulled them up and let it sit on like 1″ of the concrete on the bottom. Hope that makes sense. 😀
What kind of concrete did you use? I tried this myself and used quick set concrete that was almost gravel like (didn’t know this before opening the bag) and it was a disaster, completely fell apart when taking out of the container.
Oh wow. That really sucks. I used Sakrete brand it was also fast setting. I think I got it at homedepot. I wish I could help more. I don’t know much about different types of concrete and why it would do that. Mine had a bit of gravel but it settled in nicely. 🙁
Is it possible you added too much water? The amount of water REQUIRED is enough to make it DAMP … any more water is just to make it more easily “worked.” If too much water is added it will weaken it to the point of falling apart. I’m guessing you’ve moved WELL PAST this project in the last 2 years – but maybe somebody else is coming up on this project.
Oh weird. I honestly don’t remember it’s been so long. Maybe add a tiny bit of water at a time.
I love this idea! I was thinking it would be fun to add some decorative glass to the concrete. Do you think putting a layer on the bottom of the “setting” bucket before pouring the concrete in would work for this? Thanks!
hmm not sure. I would probably let the concrete cure than do glass on top and grout it?
I did this with mine and it turned out amazing! I had to use a sander and grinder on the top afterwards to reveal the coloured rocks.
Oh my gosh that’s awesome!! I’ll have to try it sometime.
How do you make sure the dowel legs stay at the same angle? It feels like making this level would be impossible… I can already feel the stress
When I stuck the legs in I made sure the the legs stuck out over the bucket about the same amount. It worked great 🙂 turned out level.
You mentioned that you should have done the staining and painting before sticking them in the concrete, actually I think you did it in the right order! I was going to stain the legs first but I couldn’t figure out how to let them dry after staining them without laying them down. Having them sticking out of the concrete solves that problem
That makes sense.