Owen Reynolds Personal blog

From the time I bought my house in May 2022, I’ve never really liked the look of the faded gray concrete porch, front walk way or first step

At the time , I was a bit intimidated by the amount of work involved based on the various YouTube videos I reviewed related to painting concrete. In the late summer of 2023, I did replace the boring/cracked/ugly front walk way, see my related blog post on that topic below:

The $4k contractor quote that inspired my DIY quest for a new front walkway

However, I left the concrete porch and front step as-is.

In the last week of June 2024 , I bought some black paint to paint my white columns black. I was inspired to due this from an Instagram AD I had seen some months prior

I almost never execute on any plan that requires more than a few hours of work in the same day, so after buying the paint, I took some pix of the front of my house, and went to bed. The next day (June 28, 2024) I made some very crude edits in Paint.net (a free Photoshop like app) to model what the columns would look like black, I colored just 3 black, and immediately made a face like Italian Alex Trebek when I was done. NON BUENO

I decided to make mock up another design in the same app, this time leaving I colored just the front step & porch black , even without coloring in the entire porch, it looked great. Georgie boy approved. Ok, let’s GO

So, I got to work…

Step 1:

Line up hard rock playlist, in this case, AC/DC “who made who” and “back in black”, an apt title. I ensured I wasn’t wearing any sunscreen, to ensure optimal aerodynamics and maximum sunburn

Step 2:

I pressure washed the surfaces with my trusty water sword

Step 3:

LET’S PAINT IT BLACK

I started with the most busted looking piece of all, the front step, obviously, it had seen the most traffic, so looked the worst. Here’s the before:

And after one coat

Getting there..

Step 4:

I extended the first coat to the main part of the porch

I got half way through with the 1 gallon of paint I had, and went back to Home Depot to get the rest

on my return from HD, I was able to keep working when I got dark, as I’ve got outdoor lights on my porch, so was able to finish around 930 pm, I took a short break to meet my new neighbors, and help them carry a stove into their new place. First coat done!

I had to take a break due to poor weather for a few days before the second coat on July 2, 2024

I kept a chair in place for about a week to stop people from walking on my steps

Step 5 : On July 1, 2024, I wrapped the white columns with painters tape, and painted around the base

Step 6:

With the second coat applied and dried, it was time to “seal the deal” a low-luster sealing compound on July 6, 2024. I did use masonry rated paint, but this coating will help protect my #ProjectBlackJack paint project for years to come

About 30% done here

I used a towel to avoid scuffing the surface as I completed the roll on application of the sealing compound

Step 7:

2 days later, on July 8, 2024, I used a precision edging tool and small paint brush to paint the edge where the porch meets the brick facia

All done with the edges

Sexy night time shot, I’m really happy with how everything looks during the day, but the main appeal (for me at least) is the sexy night time look. I’ve taken consideration into my exterior and interior lighting, so the blend is nice

CLOSING

DIY/landscaping is still new and VERY exciting to me. Talk to me outside a work environment, and I’ll probably engage you on D&D , either “dating” or “DIY”. I don’t talk about dating on my blog, so here we are 😉; talking about painting things black and planting green shrubs

Here was my front yard in may 2022 when I moved in

Here’s what it looks like as of July 9, 2024

. I’ve got a few more shrubs to plant, a planter to build in the black & white rock garden and more grass to re-grow, but I’m super happy with the result, and just like last year, no contractor fees! I spent about $200 on paint and tools for the paint job, i’ll cover the costs and process for the rock garden in a separate post

Thanks for reading and have a great day

Owen 😎