Travertine is a type of limestone that has a textured surface, resembling marble. This surface can be mimicked using painting techniques and applied to a concrete patio, driveway or terrace. This gives your home a new, upscale look for a fraction the cost of using real travertine tile. Paint this tile on your concrete on warm days when there is no chance of rain in the near future. Travertine is available in multiple colors. Try blues and grays or rose and peach colors instead of the traditional brown and creams.
Instructions
1. Wash the concrete with a concrete cleaner designed to remove grease and oil. Use a scrub brush or a long-handled, square broom to work the cleaner into the surface. Rinse thoroughly with a garden hose and allow it to dry completely before proceeding.
2. Apply a concrete primer to the driveway using a sponge roller with an extendable handle. Roll the primer onto the surface starting at the point farthest from your exit. Allow the primer to cure according to the manufacturer's instructions -- at least 45 minutes.
3. Paint your base color onto the concrete. This color will show through as your grout color, so use white or an off-white color. Apply with a sponge roller on an extendable pole. Allow the paint to cure.
4. Tape off a brick or tile pattern using three-quarter-inch blue painter's tape. Make the tiles the size that you want. The paint under the tape will show through as the grout lines.
5. Stir and pour four paint colors into individual paint trays. Use cream, light beige, dark beige and brown in an oil-based urethane gloss enamel paint.
6. Start painting in the corner farthest from the exit. Dab a 4-inch-wide sponge brush into each color and put a dab of each color in a 2-foot area. Blend the four colors together by dabbing at them with a damp sea sponge.
7. Continue working in 2-foot areas until the entire surface is painted. Allow the paint to cure.
8. Remove the painter's tape to reveal the grout lines and the tile pattern.
