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What a good idea! It never occurred to me to try cutting by 1/4. I think the doors were TB in satin. At the time, I thought a flat would look good on the door.
I would keep the door in satin, or go no higher than a semi-gloss if the door is in really good shape.
Satin hides a multitude of sins.
How's your project going, Shadowne? Did you buy curtains?
Thanks for asking. I found some great outdoor curtains at West Elm. They are actually on sale right now with an additional 15% off the sale price. Solid Outdoor Drape | west elm
The curtain idea caused a ripple effect that I am still recovering from. I had also purchased a Bellora chandelier from Pottery Barn and decided this was a good time to have my doors repainted. Of course, that led to replacing the front door to have a nice fresh start. There have been continual problems with the painting. At this point, the painter has to rectify his mistakes before I can safely put the curtains up.
I do love my curtains enough that I bought several extra sets to have it voluminous and used the same curtains inside my bedroom for my french doors.
The sales associates at West Elm as well as Pottery Barn have recommended fashioning outdoor curtain rods out of conduit which I have spent a couple of trips to H/D & Lowe's in search of appropriate materials.
So, there are no pictures yet!
Can't wait to see how it turned out! I love idea of outdoor curtains.
This thread prompted me to get busy and do the outdoor Spring cleaning, and now we are enjoying the patio with a new rug from one of your links. We also stained the concrete, which turned out great. Now we are in the process of putting in a sort of French drain decorative rock border around it. Ripple effect.
Can't wait to see how it turned out! I love idea of outdoor curtains.
This thread prompted me to get busy and do the outdoor Spring cleaning, and now we are enjoying the patio with a new rug from one of your links. We also stained the concrete, which turned out great. Now we are in the process of putting in a sort of French drain decorative rock border around it. Ripple effect.
What did you use for the concrete? I have wanted to stain/paint my concrete porch floor and patio slab but am very nervous that I would mess it up and have it look like a bad DIY job. Did you get the Manor rug that kshe95girl linked? I would love to see pictures of your project so far!
I first decided on Quikrete translucent stain, but then discovered they don't sell it in CA due to Lowes commitment to low VOCs. So I went with Behr Solid Color Stain from Home Depot. If your concrete is nice and you only want to add some color, the semi-transparent would be the way to go to keep the natural concrete look. I chose solid/translucent over the semi-transparent because the concrete was splotchy, stained and cracked. The solid/translucent covers more sins. But it still keeps more of a colored concrete look than painted look. The stain actually soaks into the concrete a little, with proper prep, whereas paint just sits on the surface. The semi-transparent stain has smaller molecules than the translucent, and the translucent stain has smaller molecules than paint.
I agonized over the color because they all looked so dark on the little sample squares. I chose Fawn, and it turned out to not be dark at all and matches my taupe/beige furniture nicely. They mix the colors at the store just like with house paint, so if you wanted something lighter you can get it mixed half-strength. http://www.homedepot.com/hdus/en_US/...orCoatings.pdf
(I think there's a color chart at Behr.com, but my computer has trouble with their site.)
I was nervous too. I have a lot of concrete and if it turned out bad it would cost a lot to have it resurfaced with an overlay. I'm very pleased with the result, though. It's so even and clean-looking now!
Preparation is key. From everything I read, people who had problems with peeling didn't take the time to prep properly. Oh, and you should do the test to make sure moisture isn't coming up through your concrete... if it is, then the stain will peel. You tape plastic over an area for a specified amount of time and if water condenses inside the plastic then you shouldn't stain or paint.
Each brand is different, but with Behr first you scrub it down (get a scrub brush on a pole, and afterwards you can use the pole with your paint roller to apply the stain) with their cleaning/etching product, then you rinse a bazillion times until there are no more bubbles when the hose spray hits it. (Actually, we power-washed it before scrubbing it with the cleaner. That was probably overkill.) Then let it thoroughly dry. Next coat with the bonding agent. Let dry. There's no turning back once you use the bonding agent, as it kind of stains it with ugly discolorations as it reacts to the minerals in your concrete. Mask off the expansion joints, pool coping and anything else you need to. You want to be able to roll as much as possible and not be on your knees a lot, cutting in with a brush.
If you have to fill cracks in the concrete, use the more expensive liquid crack filler that squeezes right into the crack, and clean off any that gets on the surrounding concrete. If you use the thicker kind in a caulking gun that you smooth with a putty knife, you will have to recoat that wide swatch with several coats of stain before it's invisible. You can't use crack filler with the semi-transparent as it will show, and the actual crack would look better than the fill.
Check the weekly weather forecast to be sure you have 72 hours of dry weather before starting to stain. Work in the early morning or in the evening when the sun isn't beating down on the concrete. Plan on needing 2 coats for it to have an even appearance. Be patient about letting it cure before putting plants and furniture on it. That's all I can think of, but feel free to ask questions.
Re: the new rug. I bought it from your Tuesday Morning link. I usually get the typical boring brown woven rug from Lowes, so it was a big decision to go with a bold blue one. I only wish it came in a 9 x 11 instead of 8 x 10. I used blue for an accent color because the pool tile is blue and won't be changed any time soon, so I needed to tie it together somehow.
I first decided on Quikrete translucent stain, but then discovered they don't sell it in CA due to Lowes commitment to low VOCs. So I went with Behr Solid Color Stain from Home Depot. If your concrete is nice and you only want to add some color, the semi-transparent would be the way to go to keep the natural concrete look. I chose solid/translucent over the semi-transparent because the concrete was splotchy, stained and cracked. The solid/translucent covers more sins. But it still keeps more of a colored concrete look than painted look. The stain actually soaks into the concrete a little, with proper prep, whereas paint just sits on the surface. The semi-transparent stain has smaller molecules than the translucent, and the translucent stain has smaller molecules than paint.
I agonized over the color because they all looked so dark on the little sample squares. I chose Fawn, and it turned out to not be dark at all and matches my taupe/beige furniture nicely. They mix the colors at the store just like with house paint, so if you wanted something lighter you can get it mixed half-strength. http://www.homedepot.com/hdus/en_US/...orCoatings.pdf
(I think there's a color chart at Behr.com, but my computer has trouble with their site.)
I was nervous too. I have a lot of concrete and if it turned out bad it would cost a lot to have it resurfaced with an overlay. I'm very pleased with the result, though. It's so even and clean-looking now!
Preparation is key. From everything I read, people who had problems with peeling didn't take the time to prep properly. Oh, and you should do the test to make sure moisture isn't coming up through your concrete... if it is, then the stain will peel. You tape plastic over an area for a specified amount of time and if water condenses inside the plastic then you shouldn't stain or paint.
Each brand is different, but with Behr first you scrub it down (get a scrub brush on a pole, and afterwards you can use the pole with your paint roller to apply the stain) with their cleaning/etching product, then you rinse a bazillion times until there are no more bubbles when the hose spray hits it. (Actually, we power-washed it before scrubbing it with the cleaner. That was probably overkill.) Then let it thoroughly dry. Next coat with the bonding agent. Let dry. There's no turning back once you use the bonding agent, as it kind of stains it with ugly discolorations as it reacts to the minerals in your concrete. Mask off the expansion joints, pool coping and anything else you need to. You want to be able to roll as much as possible and not be on your knees a lot, cutting in with a brush.
If you have to fill cracks in the concrete, use the more expensive liquid crack filler that squeezes right into the crack, and clean off any that gets on the surrounding concrete. If you use the thicker kind in a caulking gun that you smooth with a putty knife, you will have to recoat that wide swatch with several coats of stain before it's invisible. You can't use crack filler with the semi-transparent as it will show, and the actual crack would look better than the fill.
Check the weekly weather forecast to be sure you have 72 hours of dry weather before starting to stain. Work in the early morning or in the evening when the sun isn't beating down on the concrete. Plan on needing 2 coats for it to have an even appearance. Be patient about letting it cure before putting plants and furniture on it. That's all I can think of, but feel free to ask questions.
Re: the new rug. I bought it from your Tuesday Morning link. I usually get the typical boring brown woven rug from Lowes, so it was a big decision to go with a bold blue one. I only wish it came in a 9 x 11 instead of 8 x 10. I used blue for an accent color because the pool tile is blue and won't be changed any time soon, so I needed to tie it together somehow.
Your porch turned out great! At first I thought you were posting a picture from an advertisement. The floor color looks so light and even, that is basically what I was looking for as well. Have you considered painting your porch ceiling a shade of blue? An associate at Pottery Barn was just telling me this weekend of this trick to keep bugs away and it would look pretty with your porch set up.
That's an interesting theory, but we don't have a flying insect problem here and I'd rather just keep the color on accent items I can easily change when I change the pool tile.
Come on, people, post your porch/patio pictures! Hopes, where's the one you were going to post?
Here are a few before/after pix of one of my favorite projects, I never got the chance to take pix after the foliage was all installed, as the house burned before I had the chance.
So, please imagine this area with lush foliage such as banana trees, tall palms, orchids, ferns, and bromiliads, it was really lovely.
We called this project "The Painted Lady, as the entire exterior of the house was fauxed,as well as the lower level of the patio, and all the wall embellishments.
The view from the patio, there were usually thoroughbreds out in the paddock;
I use them in South Georgia also. I purchased my Sunbrella fabric from a local shop in town. [url]www.decorativefabricdirect.com[/url]
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At the time, I thought a flat would look good on the door.
At first I thought you were posting a picture from an advertisement. The floor color looks so light and even, that is basically what I was looking for as well. Have you considered painting your porch ceiling a shade of blue? An associate at Pottery Barn was just telling me this weekend of this trick to keep bugs away and it would look pretty with your porch set up.
