This week I decided to make a cube for exterior floor options. If you have been around the channel for a while you might remember the cube I did about 6 or 8 years ago that I covered in different examples of exterior sidings. I loved that cube and had planned at the time to make more cubes. I was reminded of it a couple of weeks ago and decided to work on more cubes. I also want to replace the original cube because it got damaged and had to be thrown away. I loved how it looked on my desk and I think a stack of these would look really awesome.
Also my daughter had an idea which once I have enough cubes made I might try. She suggested that I do a project based on rolling the cubes to pick the various aspects of a project. Like maybe a room box and roll the cubes to pick the walls, floor, and ceiling of the box. Or do a small building project and use the cubes to pick the roof, siding and a porch/patio for it.
I do want to know if you all want to see how I make the cube itself? I didn’t film that this time since there was a lot of noise going on the day I was working on it that prevented filming. So if you want to see the process of making the cube itself let me know.
Also when I re-make the exterior siding cube do you want to see that again. I will probably do some of the same choices but possibly some different ones also on it. Again let me know.
And thirdly, do you have an exterior flooring that you would like to see one of the sides of this cube? Again let me know.
So onto the project. The cube measures just a bit over 4 ½” on each side and is made from foam core. My foam core was black because that was all the store I was at the day I got it had on hand.
We will be covering 2 sides of our cube today and then the others over the course of the next few months as I get ideas for what kind of floor to add to each side.
The first floor we are adding to the cube is the same about the same as the one I used for the front porch on the Beachside Bungalow. I am making a “wooden” porch floor from strips of thin cardboard. This cardboard is what was used between the layers of cans of cat food when I purchase the cat food by the case. You can find similar cardboard on the back tablets or even use cereal/cracker boxes. I cut my strips cut ½” wide and long enough to fit across the area you are covering.
I wanted to start in the middle so I first found the middle of the surface I was going to use and then glued on the first strip at the center mark. I then laid the strips from the that center strip to the edge doing my best to keep the strips straight. I tried to leave just a very tiny gap between my floorboards to help them look more realistic. The last strip overhangs the edge, it will get trimmed later.
Now it was time to let this glue set up so that I can work from the center to the other edge without worrying about messing up the boards that are in place. I put a piece of wax paper on top of the floor and added my small quilter’s ruler and a small weight too help keep everything flat and let the glue set about an hour or so.
Now it is just a matter of repeating for the other side of the floor. And again let the glue dry a while.
Now it is time to trim any pieces that are hanging past the edge of the cube. I used my knife on a self-healing mat for this step but if you are careful you could use scissors for this step.
Next we need to neaten up the floor, first by using some sandpaper to even out the cut edges. Then go through and any ends that are not glued securely add a drop of glue so that all the edges are securely glued.
I like to use a piece of sandpaper to go over the edges of any boards that have a slight gap between them to round the edges of the boards and make them again look more like wooden boards.
Now onto the wood-grain. For this I am using a wire brush, the kind they sell to clean tools with. This works really well when drug lengthwise on the boards. Really push down to get some good texture.
Then follow up with some kind of pointed tool to add even more lines that are a bit thicker. Be sure to go the length of the boards and make them slightly wavy to look like wood-grain.
Now the glue will need to be completely dry before we move to the next step which is to paint the floor boards. You can pick any color you want to fit the project you are doing. I looked up what are the most popular colors to paint a porch floor online and navy blue was I believe number 2 so that was what I picked. Just simply paint the boards with your chosen color. Just use a light color so that your texture shows through.
Then once dry give the floor boards a coat of a satin finish (I used Mod Podge) and allow to dry.
For the second floor example we are doing today I decided to replicate in miniature a concrete paver patio. We put one of these in a long time ago so I do have a good understanding of how they are made. Also I like the look of them so I thought this would be a fun choice.
To begin again find the center of your cube side.
To prep I cut a bunch of 1” squares from cardboard egg carton and sponge painted some white and gray paints to give a slightly aged concrete color. I painted on the side that was the outside of the egg carton since this is a smoother surface, we normally use the inside surface. Since there was a lot of printing on the squares they took multiple coats of paint.
Once dry I started by gluing the 4 center blocks in place. I put a weight on top to keep everything flat and let the glue dry long enough that I was certain the blocks would not move. We will need to push the rest of the blocks against these to get them in place so we need these to be sure to stay in place.
Once
the glue was dry I went in and added the rest of my blocks. I set
this up so that I have a nice boarder all the way around to place the
“treated wood” border that “holds” the patio together. Once
again let the glue dry,
For the wood strips I am using some craft sticks that I picked up at Dollar Tree. These are bigger than normal craft sticks, I cut two to fit next to the paving stones and glued those in place. I only cut the length, the width I will cut once the glue dries. Once again do put a weight on this while it dries to keep everything flat.
At this point I also prepped the sand I am going to use later in the project since it will need a bit of time to dry. If you have some gray sand you can just skip this step and use that.
Since all I have is white sand I needed to make some of it gray. To that I used a gray alcohol marker and scribbled in the bottom of a plastic container. I then sprayed in some Isopropyl alcohol to create some gray alcohol ink. I then stirred in some of my white sand and set it aside to dry. Once dry I have gray sand to use in the project.
Once the glue dries on the shorter sticks trim the excess width off and add long sticks to the other 2 sides of your floor. Add a weight and allow the glue to dry.
Once the glue dries trim off the excess on the sides and ends.
Next I decided to add some color to the wood strips to make them look more like the treated wood that would hold one of these patios together in real life. For that I just used a very thick dark brown paint and wiped it on the wood and then wiped it off like a stain. Let this dry.
Once the paint is completely dry add the colored sand to the surface of you mini patio and use a soft brush to work it into the cracks between the paver stones. Take your time and work it in and off the surface.
Then very carefully add some mat Mod Podge to just the patio area, keeping it off the wood strips. I like to add the small bottle with the pouring top and add a small amount right over the sand and then carefully spread it. You want seal the sand in place but not brush it out over the stones. Take your time with this step.
Once dry this side of our cube is finished and ready to display. Now what to put on the other 4 sides?????
As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.
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