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For gardeners and backyard do-it-yourselfers, concrete is a revelation. It’s durable, weatherproof, impossible to steal, and it provides much-needed insulation for outdoor plants. Concrete weathers beautifully, softening around the edges, developing moss, and becoming more picturesque with age.
Concrete Garden Projects takes advantage of concrete’s numerous assets, showcasing an inspiring array of creative options. The step-by-step instructions for dozens of easy, do-it-yourself décor ideas include containers of all shapes and sizes, elegant benches and stools, miniature ponds and birdbaths, stepping stones, a barbecue, and a fire pit. The authors use a variety of molds easily found or made, household items like bowls and baking pans, and simple wooden frames and boxes. At pennies per pound, and so simple to use — just mix with water and pour — concrete is the key to hand-crafted backyard décor.
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This book is sure to be a major hit with all do it yourself (DIY) homeowners! I VERY much enjoyed, ‘Concrete Garden Projects’ by Camilla Arvidsson and Malin Nilsson. This book will save you quite a bit of money making cool things out of cement! We’ve been doing quite a few do it yourself projects in our backyard this year.. and found out how expensive SIMPLE concrete benches cost at one’s local nurseries. After wasting precious gas driving from nursery to nursery, store to store.. we finally decided that we could handle mixing a little water with cement.. and making our OWN garden pieces!Right now.. a bag of quick set concrete already mixed with sand.. costs around three dollars a bag. For some of the larger projects in this book.. you’ll need a few bags of cement, and a little faith in yourself! That’s it! I figure.. we saved ourselves a few thousand dollars. No one is the wiser.. that we made our OWN designs..If you’re looking to make some homemade gifts for folks to put out in their backyards for Christmas.. then this book.. is sure to inspire you with some GREAT ideas! A gift.. that you will select.. a bag or two of cement.. and your recipient will love and cherish! We’ll keep it our little secret.. that the gift itself.. if you were to buy.. would cost a great deal more! Shhhhhh!I only wish that they would have put the step by step, how-to pictures of the projects in the same chapter as the item. Instead of doing them all in a huge index in the back. They DO have step by step instructions.. but, one has to flip back and forth for little tips.I can’t wait to try and do some of the smaller projects that are in the book! I always wondered how one made a form from an existing item.. without ruining it. Now, I feel confident enough.. to take something I’ve been wanting to duplicate.. and making my own mold!This book is sure to be a major hit with all do it yourself (DIY) homeowners!
Great inspiration for inventive things to make with concrete I’ve found many ways to convert found objects into plant containers (flour sifters, wine boxes, portable BBQs…), but I don’t think I’ve ever tried making my own container “from scratch.” That is, until I read Concrete Garden Projects. Though the book isn’t limited to containers, authors Malin and Camilla also have ideas for making your own built in BBQ tables, potting tables, water fountains, and more.The majority of the book is filled with “inspiration,” lots of different ideas to get your creative juices flowing. The authors introduce the concrete object, give you a brief overview of how to make it, tips for customizing it, and ideas on how the piece will weather outdoors. Each idea is accompanied by at least one large, beautiful photo. Many of the author’s ideas have several photos or a two-page spread. They also share different techniques for adding texture, color, or embedding little treasures in your concrete creations.The last quarter of the book shows you how to work with concrete to make the ideas in the first part of the book. The “how to” section has lots of step-by-step photos to help you understand how to complete each project.I am definitely going to make the shoe scraper door mat. I’ve long needed something near the door from my balcony into the condo, but I could never find something the right size. Now I can make one that is to my own specifications. Of course, I also plan on making several of the different pot ideas, as well as some stepping stones for my work garden. It’s hard to keep the list of projects I want to try from the book realistic (unless I want to dedicate every weekend of 2012 to concrete casting-which is sounding better and better). I really like several of the bird bath ideas and the modernist bench. The tea lights are cute, as are the tic-tac-toe board and hanging garden ornament. Ugh. See why I’m already blocking out weekends in 2012?!All-in-all, this is a great book. I have only two tiny quibbles. The authors recommend making holes in containers meant for plants, but suggest that it’s possible to create a pot without a drainage hole and merely put some clay balls in the bottom to keep the plants in the pot from rotting. In my opinion, all pots must have drainage holes unless they are the self watering variety. My second gripe-and again, these are such minor issues-is that there is a photo with a hens-and-chick (Sempervivum) succulent cutting floating in a bird bath. It looked adorable, but why would anyone float a drought tolerant plant in water?Anyway, don’t let these two little complaints from me prevent you from enjoying this book, I’m just trying to keep it real. I know my copy will be well used and probably covered in flecks of concrete.
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