Y’all.

You almost made it.

The long weekend starts tomorrow.

YOU CAN DO IT.

Sunshine and sweet tea and sleeping in and an entire season of North and South are just around the corner.

And maybe a project or two.

So because we are friends, just in case you have a little extra time in between reading and relaxing, just in case you needed a project idea?

I want to help.

Here is my MOST PINNED project from last year (and it’s still going strong now). I am so happy every single day that we did it and it’s easy and makes SUCH a difference without spending a lot of money.

Can you guess?

Drumroll, please.

My most pinned project from last year is……

THIS CONCRETE PORCH

Can we still be friends if I show you this?

YIKES.

Our house doesn’t have a garage. Instead, we have a carport attached to the back of the house. For more days of my life than I can count, I have pulled into this driveway and parked in this carport and opened and shut the car door and looked at this.

Concrete.

Yards and yards and yards of concrete with leftover paint stains and years of wear and tear and more miles on it than a Rand McNally atlas.

Concrete that absolutely positively was not cute.

I just accepted it. I knew it wasn’t cute and I thought it never really could be cute and I told everyone to use the front door.

And then?

We painted the brick steps on the front of the house. You can see that project here. We had tons of paint leftover and one day I looked at that concrete and it looked back at me and I went all Thomas Edison and had a lightbulb moment.

Why not paint it?

The mini-porch is 4′ wide and 24′ long.

It steps down into the driveway where you pull your car in.

Here’s a close-up of the concrete.

There are three doors that lead off this mini-porch.

There are the front doors that go into the family room.

There’s an outdoor storage closet and then there’s the door to the laundry room.

I’m about to show you the after, but before you do, I think it’s important to note that this porch was transformed with 2 gallons of paint and FrogTape.

That’s it.

Are you ready?

Here’s the after.

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT?

Please go back and look at the before from the same angle one more time.

Or wait.

Better yet.

Let me add it here again.

BEFORE

AFTER.

Paint and FrogTape.

And a little elbow grease.

BEFORE

AFTER

AND AFTER

And oh wait…..

AAAAAAAAAFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTEEEEEEERRRRRR.

I think this is one of my favorite makeovers we’ve done at the new house because:

  1. I see it every day
  2. I had given up hope that it would ever be cute
  3. It cost less than taking our family out to dinner
  4. It made such a difference to an area of the home that everyone forgets about.

Want to see the step-by-step?

Oh, good.

I have it all ready for you.

Before and after back porch

Supplies:

FrogTape

Cityscape SW 7067

Grizzle Gray SW 7068

paint brush

Step 1: Clean your concrete

We completely swept and cleaned the concrete.

Patch any holes and make sure the surface is COMPLETLY clean of any debris.

You don’t want a piece of dirt to get caught on your paintbrush.

The thing I love about this paint—just like when we painted the brick we didn’t use a primer.

Step 2: Tape off and paint porch

We taped off next to the house and driveway with FrogTape and then painted Cityscape SW 7067 as the base coat.

We went ahead and painted two coats and painted the door frame Extra White SW 7006 trim paint and the doors with Tricorn Black SW 6258.

It was super rainy and humid, so we let the paint cure for about a week before we taped off the diamond pattern.

Step 3: Tape off the border

Here are the dimensions for the project:

Porch dimensions: 4′ wide and 24′ feet long

Border edge: 2″ from the side of the concrete and 2″ wide

We also added a border to the step, too.

This border is 2″ wide, but it’s only 1″ from the edge of the step.

I love how the stripes layer each other.

We taped off the stripe and then painted it Grizzle Gray SW 7068.

It needed two coats of the Grizzle Gray.

Here’s how the stripe looked like after we pulled up the tape.

Step 4: Tape off the diamonds

Each of these diamonds is 20″ x 20″.

My husband (the mathematician behind this project) suggested taping off the border first and then dividing the remaining area by the number of diamonds that you want to paint.

It’s important to note—when we were figuring this out—we did NOT take the step into account. We just acted like it wasn’t there and just let the diamonds fall where they may.

Here the porch with the diamonds taped off.

Make sure your tape is scored and all of the edges are firmly attached to the concrete.

Step 5: Paint the diamonds

Here are the diamonds painted with Grizzle Gray SW 7068.

The paint is still wet and hasn’t dried yet.

That’s the perfect time to pull up the tape.

Step 6: pull up the tape

I cannot recommend FrogTape ENOUGH for a project like this.

I have done zillions of projects using FrogTape and it hasn’t let me down yet.

There’s something so satisfying in pulling up the tape and seeing that beautiful clean line without any paint bleed.

Quick tip:  when pulling up tape—always pull away from the paint. This helps make sure your lines are extra clean and sharp.

One more time.

Just because it makes me so happy.

BEFORE.

And here’s the after again.

Do you have a space in your home that you look at every day that needs a little refresh?

Is a little encouragement.

You got this friend.

Truly.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Want to know how to decorate your home for free?
Click here to get my FIVE BEST secrets.

Comments

  1. Image for Carrie Carrie

    Wow! I remember reading about the makeover when you first did it, but forgot how huge the difference was between the then and now! As always, your enthusiasm is contagious! Happy Thursday!

  2. Image for Tricia Roberts Tricia Roberts

    Love the porch redo! Huge difference! What is north and south? The only one I know of is the mini series that aired in the 80’s.

  3. Image for PJ PJ

    This is definitely one of your most impressive makeovers. I hope to someday try it on our back door patio. Have an amazing holiday weekend, KariAnne!

  4. Image for Nancy Nancy

    Beautiful! Did you put a sealer over it? How has it held up with weather and foot traffic? I’d love to try this on my patio!

  5. Image for Sue Sue

    I loved your project regarding the columns on your carport. I bet the two of these projects together has totally changed the look when you drive into your driveway. Excellent projects!! You are an inspiration!

  6. Image for Jayne Jayne

    It's gorgeous, KariAnne! What a difference a pot of paint and some FrogTape can make to a home! A happy long weekend to you and your projects!

  7. Image for Trudy Trudy

    You're re-posting of this is sooooo timely for me. I have a venue and I've turned part of the driveway along the side of the house as an outside courtyard. I've used potted trees to try to create the illusion of a room and now if I do something like this it will bring it all together. I just love this!! I'll send you some before and after pictures. Thanks so much and have a wonderful safe and awesome holiday weekend.

  8. Image for Dee Dee

    You can definitely see why this would be your most pinned pin, and that's really saying something! But honestly, talk about transformation! It's phenomenal there's no other word that is strong enough to say just how utterly fabulous it turned out! Worth all the effort for sure!

  9. Image for Maria Maria

    No wonder this pin is making it's way around the world!!! This is definitely a drab to fab situation! I would love coming home to that beautiful porch every day:)

Comments are closed.