Staining Concrete

 
If you read my post "From Yawn to YAY!" 

I was out under the deck 

waking up the patio area.  

Here is what it looked like before:

Pretty Boring!

So Mr. Beaux and I mapped out a plan for what 

we wanted to do in the space.  

Allright, I told him what "I" wanted in the space and he nodded his head a lot while some kind of sports were on the TV.  Then I said "Are you ready to go to Lowe's?" 

 Yes!  That got his attention.  Off we went. 

 I wanted to stain the concrete but wasn't sure if we could pull it off without having a professional do it.  We looked at all of our options and settled on a Quickrete product 

(it came with a video).

It's pretty pricey at $75.00 a pop.  

You need to buy the sealer too, which is also $75.00. 

 Crossing my fingers I started the project after watching the video a few times.  First, I power washed the concrete really well.  I started in the afternoon after painting the chairs and cleaning the cushions so I waited until the next day to start the Etching process.  

It was super hot this week.  

107 degrees on one of the days

 so I started early in the morning.  

I hosed down the concrete so that it was wet but not puddly.  I taped up the columns and the lower half of the house.  Here is a tip.  Put plastic over the bottom half of the area to protect it.  I ended up doing some touch up painting after I was finished.  

I put the Etching Stain in a garden sprayer and sprayed the concrete in a circular motion. 

 Make sure you wear shoes, long pants, gloves and eyewear just in case.  This is dangerous stuff!

This is what it looked like as soon as I sprayed it.  

It's turns a yellowish color while the Etching is taking place.  You can see that it is already working in some places.

You have to wait four hours for it to work completely and then scrub it with a small amount of Baking Soda and water and then Wet Vac up the residue before sealing the concrete.  This was the tedious part.  

When it dries it looks a little lackluster and hazy.  It scared me because I wasn't sure if it was going to turn out or not.  On the left is where I started to apply the Gloss Sealer.  

And, after two coats of sealer it's all finished.  

It's different in each area which makes it really cool.  I am very proud of myself that I completed the whole project by myself too!

OK, I think it's starting to come Alive! 

I have a few more plans for this space so stay tuned!

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

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