Sidewalk finished or not ?


For now yes it's finished. I plan on adding some critters, flowers or weeds in the cracks but it is just to hot to do any more with it right now. As you can see it didn't workout like I had planned but I love it! After all those years of looking at that dull white walk I now feel like I'm looking at a master piece .. lol

and I see new flower borders going down the sides this fall ...

here's what it looked like Saturday afternoon ... I was not happy at all that I had gotten so off track.. and I hadn't even been drinking .. I think my brain was sun fried at this point .. I taped off what I wanted to keep and looked at it again Sunday just to make sure I couldn't live with it like this and the answer was no way !!

I covered it with the Olive wood stain. It took 2 coats .. Again not happy! After thinking about it all night I decided it had to have a clear defining point of separation.

So here we go again ... this time I took a bottle of Burnt Umber craft paint added a little water then I painted a band all the way around the Olive wood.. It looked OK but still not the polished finished look I wanted. So I mix up about six different colors of craft paint and added a little of the Olive wood trying to get as close to the original concrete color and then did another band around the outside of the Burnt Umber

Now I'm a happy girl it all dried down to be the perfect color.

I'm thinking I might paint this center area to look like flagstone later on ...

OK so here's some tips and info for those that asked. The product that I used is H & C Solid Concrete Stain it is a water base product that I buy at Sherman Williams . I used this same product about 10 years ago on a slab in the backyard and it still looks just as good as it did the day we did it. The colors I used are Olive Wood and Tile Red . The first thing I did was pressure washed the concrete really good then let it dry. I went through about 10 ~ 4" foam rollers. I found the foam ones worked the best, but didn't last long. Most of my brick are 4 X 7"s

I didn't tape off my brick because that just seemed like a lot more work ..lol
I poured both colors of stain into an old Tupperware container top and just worked my roller back and forth to blend the colors so that you could see a little of both in the brick. If it had not been so hot this would have been an easy breezy project the heat was my biggest obstacle. The one thing that I didn't figure out till I was about 4 ft down the walk is I needed to be working back and forth so I would not end up with straight lines.. In other words do your first row starting from the far left then your second row starts far right and keep going back and forth..
This stain is permanent so screwing up is not really some thing you want to do. I wish I had planned my pattern out and had it on paper in front of me. I think I would have ended up a little closer to what I had envisioned. Like I said before I love it and as soon as some cooler weather returns I will be right back out there to jazz it up and to add a few rows at the end of the driveway and then about every 8ft all the way up the drive . I do plan on sealing it with the recommended sealer once I am completely finished just to be on the safe side .

Hope ya'll like it if you have any other questions please ask .

Bobbie, Beth did it turn out as good as what we saw on the tour of homes ?
My biggest task is finished for my 10 in 10 !!

Now I'm off to see if I can finish all the others in a nice cool place

I'm linking up the Power of Paint party over at Domestically Speaking

and with Miss Gina for Transformation Thursdays
Hugs from Savannah ya'll, Cherry

 UPDATE ... February 9, 2012 for some reason I keep losing the pictures in this post. Would you please leave me a comment if you can't see them. Thank you so much for stopping by.. hugs, Cherry

27 comments

  1. I think it is looking great! Adding some fillers like flowers, weeds, moss, frogs and bugs will be charming.

    I painted faux bricks on my potting shed floor years ago. Everyone thought is was real at first glance. (I posted pictures on my blog.)

    I am planning to paint flagstones on my patio in the near future...

    Talk to you soon ;)
    Bunny Jean

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  2. Looks great! I painted a tile pattern on a cement floor and used a rectangular piece of foam and stamped the pattern. After 7 years it still fools people.
    I love your blog, BTW.

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  3. It looks so real.. you did great~!!

    Sonny

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  4. It looks amazing! And I like your 'fix' in the center. Down the road, I'd like to faux brick or stone on a concrete patio. I'll remember your project and tips. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Thanks for stoppin' by for a Latte'. Your new walkway looks great. I enjoy gardening as well, so I am happy to be your newest follower and look forward to more posts from you.

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  6. Cherry! It looks amazing!! Wow! Your hard work sure did pay off...great job! I just wanted to thank you for the follow on my blog and I'm so happy to do the same! You have a terrific blogspot going on :-) Thanks again and have a wonderful holiday weekend!!
    Hugs!
    ~Terrell @ FrouFrouDecor~

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  7. That looks so good! It turned out just beautifully!! You guys did a wonderful job!

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  8. Hey, this is way cool! I thought it was real brick for a minute. I'm very impressed!

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  9. Oh my... your sidewalk is FABULOUS!

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  10. Gorgeous! You did a great job on that sidewalk. Looks soooo inviting.

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  11. Wow, you did a great job on the sidewalk. BTW, I live in Georgia too. Just at the opposite end of the state! :)

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  12. Hi Cherry,
    Your brick pathway looks awesome! In fact, until I read your posting, I thought it was the real deal when I first looked at the pictures! I painted an ugly concrete slab in our side yard last summer to look like fieldstone. I had never done faux painting before, but it turned out great! I blogged about it in April, if you ever get the chance to check it out! Hubby & I visited Savannah last October & fell in love with your beautiful city!

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  13. wow oh wow! It looks awesome! You did a fabulous job! I sooo need to do this! Maybe in the fall when it cools off some!
    Thanks for the inspiration!
    gail

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  14. Thanks for visiting my blog! We are working on the same project...lots of hard work goes into it. The results are sure worth it and I think your sidewalk looks great!

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  15. Wow! What a transformation... I've got cement in the backyard that I'm hoping to paint eventually.

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  16. Hello! I just discovered your blog, and I thought those were REAL bricks! I couldn't figure out what you were doing! I said, "Is she painting OVER the bricks?" Man, that is IMPRESSIVE! They look real! What a lot of work -- great job!! Well, I am making myself a Follower and a Subscriber. I want to see what else you have up your sleeve! :)
    Best regards,
    Gloria

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  17. i stopped by yesterday and meant to leave a comment. i thought i did, and you were visiting my blog back. it doesn't appear i did, and i am SO happy to find my way to you to tell you what a fantastic job you did here! i love the area that you covered, even though it was a mistake. i love the color in the brick-it's spot on! you are a genius!

    and of course, thank you so much for stopping by the cape on the corner!

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  18. I love what you did with the path, at first I thought they were real bricks. I like the plain center best, it looks very neat like that with brick edging, very pretty.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment, I love hearing from new bloggers.
    Have a happy 4th
    Hugs
    Denise

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  19. Wow! I really thought that was real brick until I read your post. Even then I had to go back up and look at the pictures again just to make sure I understood it correctly! What a huge project! It looks great.

    p.s. Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comment on my blog!

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  20. I can't believe you painted that!!! I'm totally impressed. I'm doubly impressed you did it in heat & humidity. Thanks for stopping by my blog & leaving me a comment on my thrifty red, white & blue hutch.

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  21. Cherry, your walkway looks great! I am so jealous that you are in Savannah! We had such a great time in Savannah last year!
    Thanks for the nice comment on my kitchen!
    Hope you have a nice 4th of July, too!

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  22. I love it...it is gorgeous. YOu inspire me to go ahead and try what has been bouncing around in my head for weeks. Thanks for sharing!

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  23. Yes I thought it was the real deal until I read your post! Awesome!

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Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. It is so much fun to read everyone's thoughts on my ramblings .. I love to go blog hopping so look for me to be visiting you soon.
hugs, Cherry

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