Summer is in full swing here in North Carolina, and we are ready to enjoy our backyard.
There’s only one problem, though. The afternoon sun beats down so hard on the back of our house that it is impossible to spend more than a few minutes out there.
We have been in our house for one year now and are finally transforming our back patio into an attractive and functional outdoor living space we can enjoy (despite the sun).
We have big plans that I will reveal in the next few weeks, but before we could start on the bigger tasks, I wanted to make our concrete patio a little easier on the eyes. I didn’t want to proceed with any of our plans for this space without doing something about the ugly, stained concrete.
Inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest, I quickly jumped into painting black and white stripes across our 12-foot by 12-foot slab.
I absolutely love the result. It was such an easy project and it completely changed the way the back of our house looks.
Here’s how I achieved this fresh look:
Materials:
- Valspar Porch, Floor & Patio Oil Paint (I used colors Dark Kettle Black and Swiss Coffee)
- Paint roller
- 2-3 Paint roller covers
- Paint tray
- 2 Paint tray liners
- Paint stir sticks
- Pencil
- Tape measure
- Paint tape (I prefer Frogtape)
- Optional: Paint roller extension pole (this was a huge help and kept me from bending over to paint)
Steps:
Step 1: Before any paint hit our concrete patio, my husband pressure washed the slab to remove all the dirt and debris. The difference this alone made was incredible.
Step 2: Once the patio was completely dry from pressure washing, I started by painting our entire slab with a base color using Valspar’s Porch, Floor & Patio Oil Paint Swiss Coffee. I let my base color dry for 3 days before we began the next step.
Step 3: Since I wanted thick black and white alternating stripes, my husband and I used a pencil and a tape measure to mark off our 12-foot patio in 9-inch increments.
Step 4: Once we had all 16 stripes marked, we began placing tape on the concrete to prepare for painting the black stripes (this means the tape falls on what will be the white stripes). We laid down enough tape to create two stripes, at first. Before I fully committed to the black paint, I wanted to do a couple of test stripes to make sure the look I hope to achieve would be possible. Luckily, those two test stripes came out beautiful and I was confident moving forward.
If you’re painting stripes like we did, be careful to get your tape perfectly straight so your lines aren’t crooked. To make sure our painters tape was straight, Justin and I used a yard stick to measure the distance between the tape we were laying down and the previous tape. We ended up completely covering what would be the white stripes with painters tape to avoid any splatters or accidents with the black paint. This was extremely wasteful (of time and tape) and I do not recommend it.
Step 5: When we were done taping, Justin and I took turns painting the remaining black stripes. This Valspar Porch, Floor & Patio Oil Paint goes on smoothly and covers well. I only had to do 1 coat of black for each stripe.
Step 6: I let the black paint dry for 1 day (in the sun without any humidity in the air) before I removed the painters tape to reveal my alternating stripes.
NOTE: In reading the reviews of this paint on the Valspar website, I did notice that this product is not recommended for humid climates as the moisture in the air makes it nearly impossible for the oil-based paint to dry completely. Even though North Carolina is very humid in the summer, I completed this project before the high humidity months arrived.
Step 7: I finished the patio by touching up a few spots with white paint.
Now for some pretty landscaping around the freshly painted slab, some new lounge furniture, and a shade casting gazebo and we will be all set for these summer months.
I hope you enjoyed this easy DIY home improvement project. For more home inspo, make sure you’re following along with our home makeover on Instagram (@halidawnschaefer).
