It's week 2 of the One Room Challenge (ORC) and I am feeling a little behind but I guess thats expected when you join a few days into the challenge. When I decided to transfrom our lake house entry, I absolutely did not think through the AZ summer heat. It is about 100 degrees out here right now so its a little warm to be working outside but a few margarita breaks here and there are helping.
This week I managed to scrape off most of the residual glue from the carpet (yuck!). I cleaned and prepped the concrete to get ready for paint. Then I painted the base coat and started stenciling the "tile". It's already looking A LOT better. However, I do know why this project has been sitting for two years...ITS A LOT OF WORK!
If you've been following me for a while then you've seen the #neverendingbathroomreno. I wanted to pull the black and white theme from there throughout the rest of the house so I decided to go with a classic black and white stencil to match the tile in the bathroom.
Ok, onto the the step-by-step guide for those of you who want to try this yourselves. WARNING: It is not for the faint at heart because it is a lot of work but well worth it in the end if you have the time and energy and don't have the budget for tile.
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Spruce Up Your Patio Using Only Paint
Step 1: Gather all of your supplies. You will need the following:
- Stencil of your choice - you can order them online from Cutting Edge Stencil
- Two colors of flat exterior paint - I used Benjamin Moore's Ben in flat finish
- Sealer - I used Old Masters Water-Based clear finish Ascend Exterior in matte
- 2 - 1/2 inch knapp rollers
- Weenie roller
- Angled paintbrush
- Paint tray
- Broom stick to attach to your paint roller
- 1" round brush
- 1 1/2" wedge brush
- Painters tape
- SPRAY ADHESIVE
- Concrete cleaner - I used Rust-Oleum Clean & Etch
- Concrete Patch - I used Quikrete
- Hard bristle broom
- Bucket
Step 2: Clean and prep your concrete. If your concrete is old like mine was you are going to want to use the conrete patch (Quikrete) to fill in any uneveness. The smoother you can get your concrete, the better. After you have patched any chips, cracks, or uneveness, you are going to need to prep the conrete. I used Rustoleum XXXXX. Follow the instuctions on the bottle. Using your bucket and hard bristle broom you are going to want to work in sections. I did about a 6ft x 6ft area at a time. Pour the concrete cleaner onto the surface and then scrub with your hard bristle broom until the effervescence stops. Once it stops fizzing you want to rinse the area well. Repeat this until your entire are has been cleaned.
Step 3: Time to paint! Start by cutting in the edges. After you have cut in the entire border you will want to attach your broom handle to your roller (this will save your back!) and start rolling. It may take a few passes to get all of the little spots filled.
Step 4: Prep your stencil. Most stencils come rolled up so you are going to want to make sure its flat before you start. Once its flat you are going to spray the back of the stencil with the spray adhesive. This will help it adhere to the concrete and minimize bleeding. Using your weenie roller, do one quick pass. You want to make sure you don't have too much paint on your roller for this step. After you've completed this, you are going to want to use your stencil brush and "dot" the entire stencil. Remove and repeat until the entire area is covered.
Step 5: Seal. This is probably the most important step because this is what is going to protect all of your hard work. Using the 1/2 knapp roller thinly coat your roller. I want to emphasize THIN. If you go to thick your sealer will turn a milky white color so in order to keep it clear you have to do thin coats and let it dry throughly before re-coating.
Voila! You now have an incredibly chic new patio for under $300.
Cost - Ok you guys asked for a full breakdown of the cost of this project, total cost $285.80:
- Floor Scraper $36.99
- Scraper Blades $17.47
- Concrete Cleaner $18.87
- Sealer $63.99
- 2 Gallons Black Paint $65.98
- 1 Gallon White Paint $32.99
- Micellaneous Paint Items (rollers, trays, etc.) $34.52
- Krud Kutter $14.99 - Don't waste your money! It did not work for me.
Operation Curb Appeal To-Do List:
- Paint the rod iron
- Stencil the concrete
- Paint the door
- Replace the door hardware
- Refresh the doorbell
- Build the swing
- Hang the swing
- Find a twin mattress (hoping to score one on FB marketplace)
- Order everything (this should be interesting since lead times are insane)
- Install a box where the existing can light is installed
- Replace the glass in the door
In case you missed it, you can find the previous week here: Week 1