Achieving a "Concrete wall" look indoors

[cathy]

We live in a loft and really like the industrial look of raw concrete walls. We've got one small wall (drywall/white paint) that is currently painted (approx 12x12) that we'd like to turn into a "concrete wall" -- it would serve no purpose other than being decorative (thus, it does not have to have a particular thickness or anything, just end up looking like a concrete wall). it is such a small (seemingly simple) project, we'd like to do it ourselves, however are having trouble finding DIY tutorials on such a matter. Are there any products/techniques out there to get this done? We'd preferably want to find a product/technique that we could apply directly over the paint. Also, we'd like it to be a certain color (dark grey) and would like to know if there are any particular "concrete staining" products that you would reccomend. I dont want to paint over the concrete, but rather would like to find a product that you can mix right in to the "concrete mix".

[gfretwell]

The obvious answer is grey stucco mix. Just trowel it on. You could stain it later if you wanted, it is basically just sand mix concrete.

[mm]

If you want it to look like it was poured and the forms were just removed, ?? hire an artist? Be an artist? Take pictures of bridge abuttments and copy them on your wall?

[ameijers]

Slop it on, and press some pieces of plywood or plank (well coated with Pam fry pan spray) up against it, and you will even get that 'wood form' look. I get a kick from looking at the 1902-1928 poured concrete in the basement tunnels at work, and seeing the echo of those old boards and old hand work. Probably want to nail some chicken wire to the existing wall, to give the mud bed something to stick to.

aem sends...

[Norminn]

"Faux finishes" are the rage - Ralph and Martha have expensive kits for doing it. Easy to do on smaller scale, but no reason you can't do it on larger scale. I did concrete colors to cover a bunch of spills for a neighbor who had splotches of dark brown wood stain all over concrete deck. On a small scale, acryllic craft paint and a stencil brush work well. On a larger scale, I would roll on gray flat latex paint and let it dry. Sponge on another gray, either slightly lighter or darker with dryish sponge and diluted paint. A wallpaper paste brush or even a scrub brush can apply the darker speckles that give concrete texture paste brush probably easier, but have to dab it on pretty fast to blend before it dries. Water wash is easy to clean up, but can do the same with oil paints, thinned with linseed and turp. Craft stores have acryllic medium for thinning acryllic paint - any gloss, including matte. There are lots of books, and the box stores have pamphlets for f.f. Play around on paper to get your colors and technique down - tint with burnt umber, yellow, touch of blue. Box stores also have glaze base that can be colored.

[Michael Daly]

A faux finish will also be appreciated by the next person who owns/rents the same loft. If they don't like the concrete, it's a mess to remove. If they don't like the faux finish, it's a paint job. Unless you're going to live there for a long time, paint, don't rebuild.

Mike

[m Ransley]

A good basecoat color is Ben Moore Briarwood, lighten with white if you wish.