Looking for a way to spruce up your flower beds this season? These adorable paint-pour paving stones are the perfect flower bed decor to add character to your garden without breaking the budget. With a fresh, outdoorsy color scheme and easily customizable lettering, these stepping stones are a simple project that will showcase your creativity and neatly accent your walking path, front porch steps, or flowerbed!
Start Planning
The first step in any kind of landscaping is to create a clear vision. If you’re making new paving stones, perhaps you’re planting annual flowers, installing new edging, or bringing in new dirt or gravel too. If so, take some time to draw out your plan. Create defined areas in your landscaping. You should have tiered layers of elements of differing heights, a clear walking path, and a cohesive color scheme. The other elements matter when it comes to your choice of paint colors and the placement of your paving stones. Take a few minutes to make sure all your ideas coordinate.
The Shopping List
All supplies can be found at your local hardware or craft store.
- Paving stones of your choice
- For this project, you’ll need concrete paving stones of your preferred size and shape. We have chosen 1×1 foot squares for our example, but the sky is the limit. Any shape or size of stone works for this easy pour project. Choose what pleases your aesthetic the best.
- White masonry primer
- White acrylic paint
- 4 shades of green acrylic paint
- If you’re at Home Depot grabbing your supplies, we suggest you pick up some samples of this gorgeous sage palette from Behr! It’s perfect against dark brown or red mulch and with a purple flower scheme. Another option is to buy a quart of exterior paint in the darkest shade. You can tint it from there to get the lighter shades.
- For more tips on picking just the right color, check out “Choosing Paint Colors for Acrylic Pouring.”
- Epoxy or clear concrete sealer
- Plastic mixing cups
- Floetrol or mixing medium of choice
- Accessories: If you’d like to decorate your pavers, choose some block lettering, glitter, or leaf accents at your local craft store!
The Process
Now that you’ve got a plan and gathered your supplies, it’s time to start crafting! You’ll need a large space to work with a plastic or canvas drop cloth and an elevated drying area for your paving stones. Concrete sealers and epoxies are fairly abrasive and release harsh vapors. You’ll need a well-ventilated area and some gloves. For extra safety, a respirator is a good idea, especially if you need to paint in the garage or an enclosed area. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Prep Your Stones
Since your stones will likely be facing sun exposure, rain, and getting stepped on, we need to prep them well. We suggest at least one coat of a hearty masonry primer. This will also help your paint have a smoother surface to flow over, avoiding some of the pits of natural stone and cement. You can utilize a spray primer for this step or just apply it with a stiff brush. Allow to cure until dry to the touch—at least an hour.
Step 2: Prepare Your Mixtures
For this pour project, you’ll need five shades of your chosen paint color. With this method of pouring, the paint won’t need to mix much, so you don’t need it to be as thin as with some other projects. Typically, we strive for a warm honey consistency when mixing paint and pouring medium. That consistency, or even a bit thicker, will work well for this project. As always with pour mediums, start with a small amount and work your way up to your desired consistency. You can always add more. Stir thoroughly, but not aggressively. You don’t want to create bubbles. Allow to sit for a few minutes to let air bubbles escape. For all our tips and tricks on thinning paints, check out “How to Thin Acrylic Paints for Pouring.”
Keep each of your shade mixtures separated in its own plastic cup. For this method, we will pour them separately.
Step 3: Paint Your Stones
To recreate the inspiration look, you’re going to start in the upper left corner of each paver with the lightest of your prepared shades. Using your mixing cup, pour some of the paint in a slight wave across the corner of the stone. Move to the next darker shade and pour a wave below your first one. Repeat this step, adding each consecutively darker color below, until you’ve covered the entire surface of the stone. Pick up the stone and tilt it slightly and slowly allowing your waves to run together at the junctions. Make sure all edges of your paving stone are covered.
Step 4: Decorate
If you’d like to add some more pizazz to your pavers, now is the time. You could consider dried leaves, lettering, glitter, or whatever else you like. You will want to arrange your decorations now while the paint is wet and before you apply sealer. Allow to dry for at least 14 hours.
Step 5: Seal
With a soft-bristled brush, apply at least two coats of your concrete sealer, allowing it to dry between coats. For a deeper and more glossy finish, a coat of epoxy is a good option. You can find basic epoxy kits in the same aisle as the concrete sealers. If you choose to use epoxy, follow the mixing directions on the kit and only apply in a very well-ventilated area! If your pavers will be in sunny areas, make sure that any sealer you choose is non-yellowing. Allow your paving stones to cure for 48 hours before placing them in their final destination.
Maintaining Your Pavers
Just like the rest of your lawn, your pavers will need regular tending to keep them looking their best. Each year, you may want to pull them up, scrub off any mold from the bottom, remove excess dirt, and reapply a new coat of sealer. This step may or may not be necessary depending on where you place your pavers. If they are in the shade being used as decor only, then you can probably skip it. However, if you’re using your pavers as a sidewalk, or they’re in a sunny area, they will need yearly touchups to keep their sparkle!
Go Forth and Pour!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial on cute, paint-pour paving stones. A change in your flower bed decor is one of the fastest and easiest ways to give your lawn a creative upgrade. This project is relatively inexpensive, takes just a few hours, and adds a big punch to your flowerbeds. Keep it simple and natural, as we did with the sample, or go all out. Get seasonal with easy fall flower pavers, or create St. Paddy’s Day or Christmas stones. The options are endless! Stick to a matching set, or make each paver completely different. You could also turn the project into a family fun day, and let each family member create their own masterpiece! Let your creativity run wild with this one. Until next time…go forth and pour!
Art is so much more than paint on canvas! For more creative and untraditional ideas to decorate your home, check out our full blog category of non-canvas pour projects!
