DIY Concrete jewelry display so rough with Castorama

Good morning, sir,

Today, I present you a DIY made by myself in partnership with Castorama, the DIY and decoration store where I find most of my materials. Castorama is 102 stores all over France! There must be one near you! For more than 45 years, Castorama makes home improvement accessible to the millions of people who need or want to improve their cozy little nest. That’s why they asked me to make an object that could help you in your daily life, especially in your dressing room!

Ideal when you’re always looking for your rings everywhere!

I chose to use concrete, trunnions and a cardboard box!
Here’s a DIY that won’t ruin you. The decorative concrete trend doesn’t weaken and I’ll keep my concrete things for years, it’s solid.

But what are trunnions?

These are the famous little pieces of wood that are used to assemble furniture. They are small long and grooved cylinders made of beech wood. I found them in my shop on Castorama Avenue de Flandre in Paris. You’re bound to find some near you.

I have chosen to show you how to make a small jewelry display that you can put upright on your bedside table or lying down in your dressing room. It will also have its place in your bathroom because it does not fear humidity.

Table of Contents

The materials:

a cardboard box (a box of quinoa for me)
concrete
water for concrete
one mixing spoon (single use)
protective gloves
masking tape
trunnions with a diameter of 10 mm
a pair of scissors
chopsticks or sticks (single use)

The different steps of the jewelry display tutorial :

Consolidate the cardboard box with masking tape.
Cut out the box so that the concrete can be poured into it.

Concrete

Wear gloves to prepare the concrete. I found some very nice, practical and at a really good price at Castorama.

Prepare the concrete according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Above all, mix well with the spoon to bring up the concrete at the bottom of the jar.
Take your time, the texture of the concrete evolves when you mix it. At first, it is difficult to mix, but then, almost all of a sudden, you realize that the texture becomes more liquid.

Do not add more water than indicated. It’s tempting when it’s very thick, but it’s tempting to bite your fingers afterwards because the water will rise to the surface, do you feel the experience or not?
You can finish mixing with a stick.

Look at my pretty gloves!

Pour the concrete in the box. Be careful to protect your table!

Once all the concrete has been poured, lift the box and drop it (a few centimetres, not from your balcony!) to bring out the air bubbles. It may take a few minutes for the air to escape: be patient.
If bubbles form on the surface, do not hesitate to pierce them with the sticks.

Put the edge of the box on a support, I took a roll of tape, in order to tilt the mould.

The trunnions

Drive the trunnions into the concrete.

Start with the top line, then the line below and so on.
This is the tricky part: the trunnions, which are made of wood, will tend to go up. Wood in water: it floats. Of course, it doesn’t come up all at once because the concrete still holds the trunnions in place, but they will tend to want to lie down. It’s up to you to hold them in place by gently pushing them back into the concrete.

Once they are roughly stable, in the place you have chosen for them, you should hold them with masking tape.

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Wait for the concrete to harden.
I waited 24 hours for the concrete to be perfectly dry and very hard.

Unmould the jewelry display!

And admire the work that’s been done.

We can then imagine all kinds of customizations:

Depending on where you are going to put this jewellery display, you can choose to paint it with geometric shapes, gild it with gold leaf, put masking tape on it and bulge it to obtain bands of colour. Anything is possible.

Made of wood and concrete, it has a raw look that I love.