Refinish Concrete Statues

Well here we are again. Refinishing these concrete statues. Basically, everything we did before was possibly all wrong and opposite of what we should have done. This time around I did a little more research and watched some videos. So, let’s see if this time works better.

I prepped the statue by just cleaning it off, chipping away loose paint and sanding any edges of paint still sticking. This poor guy has some cracks and a broken tail but still hanging in there.

Got my base layer of black on and let it dry.

Then took green and brushed it on using a technique I saw in a video. He didn’t turn out like I was picturing he would, but I still like the final outcome very much!

Not to toot my own horn but I think the shell turned out really good.

Looks a little lighter in the sun. He was supposed to be kind of two toned green, but ended up being all the same green.

Either way, I really like him and I hope this time it works and doesn’t chip off.

I forgot to take a before picture of the bird bath, but it looked the exact same way the turtle did. Really chipped off everywhere and mostly exposed concrete. This is on it’s way back to a new fresh life of paint.

I used a gray base for the bird bath.

I used a darker gray base for the birds. I wanted the birds to look a little darker than the bird bath itself.

I then used the same brush technique with white. Just heavier or lighter depending on the area.

It’s far from perfect but I like how it turned out.

I really like the bowl and pedestal a lot.

The flowers turned out how I was thinking but the leaves eh, not so much. Good enough.

I like the wings.

I just wasn’t sure on the body of the birds, so I slapped some on the back of the head and belly. I guess that looks ok. The more important point is, it looks much better than it did.

Have you ever refinished a concrete project?

Did it last? If so, what was your secret?

What other fun projects are you making?