When we bought this house I didn't love a lot of the things about the outdoor space but I knew when the time came to start thinking about the backyard me & the man would think of something. I knew a few things...I was not ripping out the concrete slab, I liked the little rocks embedded in it and wanted to see that in whatever I did, I wanted muted neutral color and some kind of pattern of interest. The harlequin pattern has always been one of my favs & can be very elegant depending on the colors you decide to use.
After cleaning the slab with stain remover and hosing it down, I let it dry overnight. There is not a big chose in stain colors but Behr seemed to have what I was looking for. I purchased Behr concrete stain in semi-transparent (to show the rocks) sun baked clay (the brown/red color)& desert sand(the beige/taupe color). I bought a gallon of each because that is all Home Depot has..yikes! This project was ALLOT of measuring but I figured that I wanted even sized squares either 1/2 or whole, no in-between and I wanted them set going across to try to make the small patio appear grander.
After too much division...my worst nightmare;( I came up with 24" x 24" inch squares & I made my stencil out of a cardboard box so it would last. I also thought I might do a black 4"x 4" in between all the squares in black exterior paint to make it pop but the jury is still out on that as of now.
I taped the entire thing off by using a marker (light colored) around the stencil and then going around and taping over the lines. This process went pretty quick! So satisfying to look at this big mathematically correct grid that I created..."oh how he will be surprised that I did it without his help"...(insert evil laugh here;).
I painted the light sand color first with a foam roller on a wooden extension so my back would not break. This stain is like painting with chicken broth. I had to be extremely careful but I got the hang of it. No pics of the desert sand because basically I was too filthy to touch my camera. I took all the tape off when the second color was still a bit tacky and went around with a small foam brush to touch up the edges.
Definitely one of my favorite home projects. Here it is as of this morning. Crazy what a little soap, paint & imagination can do. The darker lines is just where I pulled off the tape and it shows the natural concrete underneath. I love how it looks. Natural and creative. I am going to seal it but not until I make a decision about adding the black square....What do you peeps think? Leave it alone or keep going and add black grout lines and small black squares??
18 comments:
I have been staining my grey concrete basement with Behr and my results were not as good as yours. Yours looks great. I am beginning to believe this stain was designed for outdoor concrete. You can check out my saga on my blog.
BTW I love your idea on how you taped off.
I stumbled across your website accidently and visit every now and then to see what you are up to. I love it - you are so creative! I think your patio looks great and you should leave it as is. Use other items that are easy to change(bright planters, cushions, etc.) for your "pop."
This is beautiful, you are so creative. IMO I would leave it without the black, being outdoors these colors look "nataural" I think th black would be too much. But if you saw my house or "decorating" you would not do anything I say LOL!
I think your project looks great....Even though you used "stain" it was able to lighten the original concrete? I have rust color stains from potted plants on my patio..do you think BEHR stain covers such imperfections?
Hi Eclectic Gardener, Yeah the stain did lighten because I choose a taupe color that would still look good if the original color showed through a little. I think that you should buy mildew & stain remover from your local shop first and scrub it as clean as possible then go over it with a stain. Totally due-able project. Send me pics please if you decide to do it!!
T & Mom...Thanks for the comments...you guys are right, I think it would be overkill to add black. That's it, it's staying! Thanks everyone!
Well, I think I like it as is, without the black.
Of course, YOU should please yourself!
I have been interested in doing this to my front step. I was wondering if you could answer me a few questions.
1) Did you have to etch your concrete before you stained?
2) Did you just use regular painters tape to tape off the grout lines?
3) Did you seal the stain after you were done?
Thanks,
Muralartist
No problem..no i did not etch because i used two colors it looked like grout lines once i pulled the tape & yes, it's just blue painters tape. Just clean and sweep really well, let dry and sweep right before you tape.I never sealed it because the paint had a built in sealer and it still looks fabulous even after 4 months of straight rain. It's a great project...good luck mc.
Well I assent to but I about the post should have more info then it has.
What a great idea! It turned out beautifully!
i truly adore your writing style, very unique,
don't give up as well as keep creating for the simple reason that it just good worth to follow it.
excited to look at alot more of your own article content, thankx!
Sorry for my bad english. Thank you so much for your good post. Your post helped me in my college assignment, If you can provide me more details please email me.
THANK YOU for the post and step by step guide!! It looks AMAZING!
I LOVE the patio! My husband and I are putting in a hot tub and inorder to do this we had to extend the patio by 10 feet. So now the hot tub is in position you can see both the old slab that is 11 years old and the new one that is only a few weeks old. I was thinking about this and surfing to see what kind of diy ideas I could find that would not break the bank. THIS IS PERFECT. Thank you so much for sharing you creativity! And I would go for it and continue with the black accents.
Thank you again for getting my creative juices flowing!
Melissa this is amazing, and Rumps looks so cute there!!!! I would love for you to come over and give me some thoughts for the baby room... I have no idea where to start and baby Martin is due 2/1 - ~Jamie
p.s. your blogs are AMAZING JUST LIKE YOU!
I'm interested in staining/painting by back patio. When searching reviews and how-to's I came upon your blog post. I absolutely love what you did! Since you posted this in 2009 and I'm reading it in 2013 I wanted to find out it wears & tears? Have you experienced any peeling? I would love to know the pros and cons of this since 2009.
-Gina
I've been searching the web to learn more about staining concrete for my back patio and I came upon your blog post.
First of all I would like to tell you what a wonderful job. I absolutely love what you did! Can you tell me since this was done in 2009 and it's now 2013 how is the wear and tear? I've read that it can peel over time? Have you experienced that?
I would love your feedback as I'm thinking about attacking this project soon.
-Gina
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