Absolutely georgeous! Your concrete work is outstanding. Thanks MonaBlair for asking her to share with us.

Wow, I feel as though I was on vacation looking at your photo's. Thank you for sharing. You have done a great job!
Beautiful place, beautiful family!

How lucky you are to live there! It looks like a resort.

Congrats!

Beth

WOW, I agree with the above posters, Absolutely beautiful, Thanks for sharing.

Fabulous! Hope you'll post more photos!

You mentioned Sarasota...we own a home on LBK...where are you located?...are we neighbors? :)

We are at the north-east corner of the Sarasota County. Are you on the beach? It is really nice there. Ee like to go out at St.Armands. We also have some family living on Anna-Maria currently.

I lived on Anna Maria for about 17 years!
What a small world...LOL

Our house sits on a canal that empties out at Sister Keys.
It's a short block and a half from the Gulf...we just have to walk up the street, cross GMD, and walk another half block and we're there!
Life is good... :)
We are blessed, I'll tell ya! LOL

Are you near water at all?

Your house is gorgeous! I love the pool and your cement work is outstanding.

What a treat to "tour" your beautiful home..... and "meet" those handsome men....!!!!

You must be artistically inclined and/or have a background in art.... certainly is a most beautiful home on a heavenly setting.....

How does one learn to "paint" concrete?

littlebitofheaven, wallis104
Thanks for hart-warming comments. It is 3rd day of Frances and it is getting little bit old - this constant wind and rain. I hope this will be over soon and we will not get Ivan as well. Two is enough. Charley's eye went by us about 20 miles east. I just have to be thankful.
Wallis, I am really happy that I must have been able to convey some of the heavenly feel on my pictures that I feel myself living here. When we do not have stormy weather then we have just so peaceful and calm surrounding that you could imagine.
Below is a link for those who want to try some concrete painting

:) the only city in all of europe that I actually want to visit is Barcelona...

and your house is an inspiration :)

Oh you have a georgeous home! I LOVE the enclosed pool area! The one thing that makes me want a pool is the sun screening, making it a little shadier and cozier. I had never wanted a pool, but the first time I ever saw an enclosure I decided that was the way to go. *Sigh* for now we'll go to the neighborhood clubhouse and bake in the Texas sun....

Add me to the list of stained concrete fans. We just completed our staining project (living room, dining room, kitchen, and playroom). It was a LOT of work prepping the floors, but they look so good. Now I'll be moving on to staining the patio and possibly the driveway. My new motto is "let no concrete go unstained." :D

I have added two new sections to my home site. The Rose Garden Project and the beginning of the "No more ugly ceilings" projects. Hope you enjoy the pictures of the process:)

punamy,

every time i see your house i love, love, LOVE it! what is so amazing to me, though, is how much of it you all have done YOURSELVES!

i am especially jealous of your rose garden!

congratulations on a truly beautiful home!

angela w.

I haven't gotten past the rose garden project and I am in awe. stunning - where did you get those balustrades? they are exactly what I am looking for!

Gorgeous! Where in Florida do you live?

Red, Thanks. We live in SE of Sarasota county.

My Dad was from Sarasota. I love Florida, and I love all the hard work you've put into your home. Keep posting pics.

Yikes, this thread is getting hard to find and the pictures of your house are a wonderful source of inspiration for me, Punamytsike. I've got some technical questions about how you do the concrete work but I'll ask them over in the discussions forum.

Any new pictures, by chance? How is your master bedroom coming?

Beautiful all of it... magnificent grounds.
Joann

Punamytsike, Georgeous home! I really enjoyed viewing your photos as I also live in Florida (just north of Tampa)and am always looking for inspiration. Your home is truly amazing. If I lived there, I think I'd never leave! Please share more pics.

Me too, interested to see how your navy bedroom turns out. I'm not done yet, but loving my EK Sapphire boudoir. What other projects are you working on?

Thanks ladies for your interest. I have been working, working working ( as making money ;) ) and also cleaning, cleaning, cleaning - as spring cleaning, so no new projects at the moment. I have some gorgeous pictures of the roses my DH is growing in his rose garden but that will mean updating the Rose Garden page, means time and I just do not have it at the moment, sorry :(

All of you have been really nice to me, so I wanted to share with you this last look at our house. We are selling, we wouldn't if there would be only one or two reasons for that. There are several and after lots of thought, that's what we are doing. Thanks to that, you will have the opportunity to see more of our house. There will be no more new projects here but we are looking into building in Costa Rica or maybe somewhere in Florida, so I will share the new projects as they come along :)
Thanks

Oh boy, to let go of such a magnificent creation must have been one mighty decision to make. I can imagine, though, that on the other side of any sadness or disappointment there must be tremendous excitement and freedom about a new chapter in your lives. I hope that you find an incredible new place to build and a wonderful new dream to unfold.

Thank you again for sharing pictures of your inspiring projects with us. And if you're ever in Central Florida, please let me know!!

Dear Punamytsike,

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures of your beautiful home. I have enjoyed seeing the results of all your work. You are a very gifted artist, and your projects reflect that. Please come back to the forum anytime. Even if you are between houses, there is the conversations area. You are one of the special people here, and we will miss you.
PlanB

I have tears, someone is getting a gem but you are giving 'You' in this sale. Big hug, I hope the new owners are beyond 'In Love' with your art, that is the only thing I can think to make it better.
And then, Can't wait to see what you do with a new canvas! I'd love to hear how the inspiration unfolds with in you to see the potential in your new surroundings to express your artistic uniqueness.
May I wish you great happiness in your continuing journey! I will always think of you in my EK Navy boudoir ..... Thanks for the color!

Hi Punamytsike,

I know this thread is very old but I'm hoping you see this anyway because I've been admiring your concrete work and I'd love more information. Unfortunately, the "Concrete staining lessons" link you posted above is broken now.

If you see this, please repost the link.

Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful photos of your home,

Laura

I will copy and paste here an e-mail I send out to people that ask me about the concrete staining. It is little long but might be usful for some and this should stay around for a while ;)

How did you learn how to do this? Does the stain you buy have some kind of detailed instruction?

By doing. The place that I bought the stain from, at least used to sell starter kit that contained little samples of all their stains and a video showing how to do it.

Where do you purchase the stain from?

I just call them up. Their website is www.decosup.com.
HD says that they are also selling some kind of concrete stain, but I have not tried it and do not have confidence that they know what they are talking about. When I was looking for blue that actually would work, they were trying to sell me a concrete paint, telling that this
was stain, it was not.

How long did it take you to do the front porch area? Is this a long, time consuming, labor intensive process?

I can try to give you the steps and approximate time frame.

1.design itself I cannot tell, as this was off and on creative activity.

2. Cleaning and prep of the concrete - This is the entrance that is mainly used, so there were some spots that I needed to grind, you cannot use chemicals for cleaning, so maybe 2 hours or so, as it is not large area. You can clean it as much or as little as you like, knowing that the stain does not cover anything. I think that with my design I could have been able to get by with less cleaning, as the busy design
fools the eye.

3. Drawing the design and etching - 2 -4 hours. You wrote 'Ray cut the design'- what does that mean? Is the concrete etched in some manner?

you are correct, the 'cutting' is in correct concrete terms
'etching' I believe. All the patterns, everywhere that you see two different colors touching each other, there is line sawed / etched into the concrete. That was the part that my husband did. I first drew the pattern on the concrete with a pencil. Then he etched it using small 4' grinder.

4. Staining - no more than hour for the darker color and 1-2 for the lighter color, both were done twice and I used the cheap foam brushes from HD.

Colors I used:

Lighter brown - Aged Leather
Darker Brown - Rusty Brown
Yellowish - Bronze
Almost black - Espresso

5. - After last color had dried 24 hour or more, I neutralized the chemicals with baking soda water mix. I just made half bucket, threw on the slab and used garden brush to agitate it all over the slab then rinsed with water - no more than 30min.

6. After slab was try, I sealed with the sealer using regular paint roll. This did not take long either. I sealed also twice.

How often does it need to be sealed?

I do not have answer to this question yet as my oldest project is 5 years old and it is going strong, no visible need for resealing yet. It is supposed to be very durable, in our Florida sun, things tend to last less. I will see, I guess.

What cost was involved?

I believe the stain is about $45.00 per gallon and gallon covers 200SF. The sealant I bought in 5 gallon and it was less than $ 100.00. Again, it is supposed to cover 200SF per gallon. For all my projects together I have bought 2 5-gallon buckets and I have still a little left.

I you can calculate yourself. Both stain and sealant you would use at least 2 coats. The darker brown I used in some places 3 coats, but each successive coat takes less stain.

Hope this helps. If I did not answer some questions, then just let me know.