Instructions for Painting Faux Stone Sidewalks
Adding a faux stone sidewalk imparts a touch of old-fashioned village feel to your home, business or stage production. For high-traffic areas in homes or businesses, apply three or more coats of clear sealant to protect your faux finish after completion. Apply only one or two coats of clear finish for a temporary application such as for a performance, depending on the amount of traffic the faux stone sidewalks receive and how long you intend to use them. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 1-inch nap (extra-thick) roller pads
- Paint roller
- Roller extension pole
- Acrylic paint (dark and light gray, white)
- Paint tray
- Painter's masking tape
- Paintbrushes
- Faux finish paints (dark gray, maroon, and green)
- Sea sponge
- Clear acrylic paint
- Mixing containers
- Rubber bands
- 1/2-inch roller pad
Instructions
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Thoroughly clean by sweeping and washing with soap and water the area to be painted; allow to dry. Place a roller pad with extra-thick nap on a paint roller and screw an extension pole or screw-in broomstick into the roller handle. Stir dark gray, light gray and white acrylic paint completely and pour into a paint tray.
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Roll the light gray paint onto your surface as a base coat. Occasionally dip a paintbrush in the dark gray or white paint and use it to flick spatters of those colors onto the wet light gray paint, and then roll over them lightly, adding a mottled texture to your base coat. Allow this coat to dry completely. This base coat doubles as the mortar color between your stones.
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Apply masking tape anywhere you want "mortar" between the stones. Lay the tape in squares and rectangles for a faux slate sidewalk or start with rectangles and then add extra tape to the corners to round them out and form ovals and circles for cobbles or other rounded stones.
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Wet a sea sponge in water, and squeeze out the excess. Use it to dab dark gray acrylic paint onto your entire floor, occasionally dipping the sponge in maroon or dark green paint and dabbing on those colors, blending the colors and textures with the acrylic paint. Use more green for older, "mossy" stones. Use maroon to lend a warmer feel to your faux stone. Never wipe or swipe with the sponge--always dab it against the floor to maintain the texture. Allow this coat to dry completely.
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5
Mix dark gray faux finish paint with clear acrylic glaze medium. Use a flat finish, unless you want the stones to look wet and shiny.
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Wrap several rubber bands at various angles, some of them criss-crossing, around a fresh roller pad to create texture in the nap. Use this roller to roll a textured glaze across the entire floor. Allow it to dry completely.
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Pull up the masking tape gently to reveal the mortar.
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Dab more paint on with the sea sponge to touch up any spots that don't look the way you want. Also dab small amounts of light gray or white in for highlights. Allow the floor to dry completely.
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Place a low-nap (1/2-inch) roller pad on your roller handle and pour clear acrylic finish into a paint tray. Roll a coat of the clear acrylic across the entire floor and allow it to dry completely. Add one or more additional coats, allowing each one to dry completely.
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Tips & Warnings
For a wet stone look, use satin-finish clear acrylic instead of flat.
References
- Photo Credit cobblestones image by Edsweb from Fotolia.com
