This DIY Concrete chair project is actually an IKEA hack. I bought a small plastic chair from IKEA and then modified it so that I could pour Quikrete 5000 Concrete Mix into it and make a chair.

SUPPLIES:

Plastic Chair
Available at IKEA
I used a small plastic chair from IKEA to make the mold.

Gorilla Brand Duct Tape
Available at Home Depot
I used Gorilla brand duct tape to seal up parts of the chair before pouring concrete into it.

Anchor Bolts
Available at Home Depot
I used 4 anchor bolts to reinforce the legs of the chair.

TOOLS:

RYOBI Circular Saw
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Angle Grinder
Available at Home Depot

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1: Prepare the chair
I use Gorilla brand duct tape to seal up the back of the chair. This tape is quite strong and I only needed 2 layers to do it. I sealed up the drainage hole in the bottom of the plastic chair by rolling up a few pages from a magazine and then taping it together. I glued this rolled up magazine into the hole with a hot glue gun.







STEP 2: Mix and pour the concrete
I mixed a bag of Quikrete 5000 and poured it into the mold. I pushed the concrete down into the bottom corners of the mold. I could have reduced the weight of the chair by placing some water bottles or foam packing materials in the thickest part of the chair.





STEP 3: Prepare the legs
I placed an anchor bolt in each of the four corners and then duct taped them to the plastic legs of the chair. I then cut pieces of water bottle and duct taped them to the plastic chair legs until I had created a mold for each leg around the anchor bolts. I tried hot gluing the plastic bottles to the legs but the duct tape worked better.













STEP 4: Pour the legs
I mixed and poured Quikrete 5000 into the molds for the legs. I used a stick to push it down and vibrate out some of the air bubbles.



STEP 5: Remove the mold
I let the concrete cure for 48 hours before removing the mold. I cut away the plastic bottles and duct tape before using screwdrivers and wrenches to pry the plastic away from the concrete. I stuck wrenches in the gaps that I created. I then used a circular saw with the blade set at just a little less than ⅛" deep to cut grooves in the outside of the chair. This weakened the chair just enough to make it come off the concrete. Since I didn't cut all the way through, I could use the chair again for another mold.











STEP 6: Grind down the edges
I used an angle grinder and a 40 grit flap disc to round over some of the rough edges. I could have also ground the legs down if the chair wasn't sitting level.











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