A Patio Update

One of my first posts on this blog was the success we had staining the concrete on our patio.  It turned out to be one of my favorite projects we've done.  Since it is our most popular and visited post so far, we wanted to share this update with you. Here we are a year later.  While we still l.o.v.e. the over all look of the stained patio, 

(move Dex, fine!  He's such a ham.)

it is starting to show some wear.

This is the largest problem area.

As much as we loved the ease of the Behr Concrete Dye Kit, the sealer has left much to be desired.  It was supposed it give it a wet look, while retaining good traction.  Well, we never did see the wet look, and as you can tell our dye is coming up.

For the most part, the dye is intact.  However, there are a couple of spots around the edge of the concrete that are literally lifting up from the concrete, exposing that bland salmon colored concrete.  

Our solution?  We we haven't solitified one yet, we're still in brainstorming mode.  Our thoughts were to buy the individual cans of dye, restain, and then buy a better quality sealer.  This sealer just didn't cut it in our book. We're under the impression that if the sealer had been more durable, this may not have happened at all.

Just thought we'd share with you this temprary blunder.  

Any thoughts or your opinions?  We're hoping to get this done before cold weather comes through.  However, given the fact we live in sunny southern California, we still have some time.  

Time to go.  I have a very full to-do list, and I need to get started. Thanks for reading.

Happy Monday,

Kristin

copycat feature - ladder chandelier

A few months ago, I posted that I wanted to turn our curb alert door into a ladder chandelier like here:

That evening I got an email from our friend Marc.  Marc was an architect, and has crazy handyman skills.  He told me that he was picking up some spare wood at his dad's house to build a ladder for our chandelier. 

He schooled me in the art of architectural design.  I learned that having a wider object like a door hanging over people's heads, makes them feel uneasy.  The second he said it, I thought of course "of course it would."  I felt slightly sheepish.

It took Marc the Arc no time at all to make it.  Unfortunately, it took quite a while for us to hang it and find the lanterns.  We had collected the lanterns and just had to find the time to hang them.

Cue Christina's shower. Since Christina is Marc's beautiful wife, it was the perfect motivation the Hacker needed to get the job done.  

So we purchased different sizes of rope from Home Depot, and the Hacker channeled his inner boy scout to get the knots just right.  

Here is our copycat version of the ladder chandelier:

Of course we didn't include oversized lanterns, instead we used what we got.  And I think what we got is pretty good. 

Here is the a closeup of the detail that Marc included on the ladder.  He distressed it and added very cool notches to each step of the ladder.

After the Hacker tied each knot, he burnt the edge to keep in place.

He attached the ladder to our patio cover with an eye-hook.  

He used a level to make sure the ladder was, well level.  Because our patio cover has a slight slope, it can be deceiving to the eye.

Each lantern was added to a different step, and then, we were done. 

So what do you think of our copycat chandelier?  

We're pretty pleased with it.  So thanks Marc. It adds a special touch to the whole patio.

What copycat features have you added to your house?  How did they turn out?

thanks for reading, 

Kristin

Curb Alert: Lonely French Doors

Look what we found just lying on the curb while walking the dog:

I think we can come up with some use for them.

We're thinking of a way to make it into a chandelier outside under our patio.  Inspired by Pottery Barn:

We already have the lanterns: 

We've slowly picked them up at Ikea, HomeGoods, and TJ Max.

My dad gave us these back in October:

But there are two lonely doors that need a purpose.  

I'm sure we can come up with something:

Apartment Therapy

or even better:

created by Yard Crashers

More projects to add to our ever growing list, stay tuned!

We really DO plan on finishing these projects, I promise.  

happy hump day, 

Kristin

Patio Mini Makeover: Concrete Stain

The first month that the Hacker and I moved in the yellow bungalow we had cable.  If you didn't know this about us, we don't ever have cable, not since 2008. We watch all of our entertainment on Hulu or Netflix, etc. So there is no need to spend the additional $70 on cable.  

However when we first moved in, the Hacker realized it was better to pay for cable for one month, then to install internet all by itself.  

Oh boy, I am really off topic.  Moving on....we'll get there people, I promise.

During our first month in the yellow bungalow, we watched all of the DIY, home improvement shows we could. I gained a crush for the Yard Crasher Ahmed Hassan

(probably because the hacker and ahmed share a couple of items from the same waredrobe).  

image credit

Watching the shows left us lazy and inspired.

I knew exactly what our first DIY project was going to be.  

Our pale pink patio.  It may not look pink in the photo, but trust me, there was a '90's pink tint to the concrete.

The patio cover was great, we love it.  It is well built, gives great shelter, and isn't so bad on the eyes. However, the concrete was bland and plain.

So, I did my research on how to stain concrete.  It seemed like a cheap project with a dramatic result. However, there was one scary fact I found.  Everything I was reading said that once you mess up, you're done. There's no going back.

After doing tons and tons of research, we knew that we either wanted to two-tone stain or dye the concrete.

These were my inspiration pics:

image credit
 

image credit

We ended up buying Behr's Concrete Dye Kit from Home Depot.  It had in it an instructional DVD, that we watched twice before we started, and again before continuing on to the next step.  

We rented a pressure washer from Home Depot, and washed the concrete.  

Wow!  That thing is L-O-U-D!

image credit

We learned that if you concentrate too much on one small area, you can actually take off the first layer of concrete.  Lesson learned, moving on.  We washed that floor twice making sure there wasn't an ounce of dust on it. 

We waited a day for it to dry completely, and then sprayed the first layer/color of the dye.  The key to spraying is the continually move the sprayer around in a circle.  We couldn't stop or make a straight line.  We were going for a random, rust look.  Anything that was too uniform or patterned wouldn't work.

We practiced in the side yard, and as you can tell, it looked as though a giant cheeto and dorrito had been wrestling on our concrete.

However, we knew that this would dramitcaly change after our second color was applied.  So we waited a day, and continued.  

The only problem we had with the sprayer was that it would sometimes leave drops of stain on the concrete. The Hacker and I finally worked out a system where I would spray, and he would follow up behind me with a rag to blot any drops left in my wake.  

The key to the second coat, it to make seemingly random blotches throughout the surface.  

Wherever we thought there wasn't enough of the second color, we would go back and swish and swoosh some more.

(excuse the shadows, it was late afternoon when we finished and took the pictures)

The last step was the sealer.  Because the temperature outside was about 90 degrees when we applied it, the sealer was sticky for an additional day.  It made us a little nervous, but after waiting the two days, it was smooth, and no longer left sticky footprint when we walked on it.  

It was time consuming, and took many steps to complete, but the end result was worth it.  We love the richness it adds to the patio's complete look.  

here is the before pic again:

 and now the after:

I hate to toot my own horn, but purty good right?  

We love the way it changes the feel of the concrete from industrial to natural/earth toned.

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

*Post Update:*  I had some readers ask me what the project cost.  I can't believe I didn't included the price in the post!  When all was said and done the we spent $350.  This includes renting the power washer, the dye kits, and other supplies like tape, plastic liner, etc. 

Product Update II: To see the duribility results of the dye kit a year later click here in our latest patio stain update.