How to Paint Concrete Lawn Ornaments

Concrete lawn ornaments can bring beauty and character to your garden or front yard. These ornaments are often purchased unpainted which allows you to decorate them to suit your own personal color scheme or outdoor theme. Painting concrete lawn ornaments is a simple process but you must be sure to prepare the surface of the concrete to accept paint to prevent undesirable results or flaking paint.

Things You'll Need

• Stiff cleaning brush
• Warm soapy water
• Garden hose
• Latex block filler
• Paint brush
• Exterior latex paint
• Outdoor sealer

Instructions

1. Clean the lawn ornaments with a stiff brush and warm soapy water to remove any dirt from the surface of the ornament. Use a garden hose to rinse away the suds after cleaning. Set the lawn ornament in a sunny area until it is completely dry.

2. Apply a latex block filler to the entire lawn ornament with a paint brush and allow it to dry. The surface of concrete lawn ornaments is generally porous, and the latex block filler is necessary to prevent paint from soaking into the concrete and creating a mottled appearance. Latex block filler is available in the paint section of most hardware stores.

3. Paint the ornament with an exterior latex paint. These paints are standard exterior house paints and can usually be tinted in any color you wish.

4. Apply an outdoor sealer to the concrete lawn ornament when the paint has completely dried. Outdoor sealer is sometimes called outdoor acrylic sealer or outdoor sealer gloss. It provides a clear coat to protect the paint from peeling due to sun damage or inclement weather.

References

• Lowe's - Tips on painting masonry
• "Paint saves the day;" Lucianna Samu; 2009