Hi Keiki,

It's all a matter of opinion and taste, so you should do what you like, so this suggestion is only what I would do. Feel free to disregard my comments! :) That said, I really don't care for painted concrete of any kind - statues, birdbaths, whatever. It's probably me, but it seems that it never really looks right. But I did see a blog of an old concrete birdbath dressed up with a mosaic of beautiful tiles and pieces of broken ceramic plates. It was an inexpensive, easy project and absolutely gorgeous when finished! I put a link to the blog below so you can see what you think.

Good luck with your project!

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Mosaic Birdbath Project

Hi Carol. I also like mosaic but very little of what needs sprucing up is a flat surface. Actually almost nothing is flat, these are older very decorative pieces. Most of them were previously painted which now looks pretty bad and need some attention. I do have some cement benches I have been meaning to mosaic the seats of, maybe someday soon I will work on them.

You are lucky to have found older pieces - those can be so cool! Here in Jacksonville, I watch Craigslist from time-to-time, but haven't seen any big finds... yet....

Here are a bunch of websites that I bookmarked when I was thinking about staining my concrete bench. They are not about painting concrete, so I don't know if you will find any help, but you might get some ideas:

http://www.finishing.com/4000-4199/4129.shtml
http://rutgers-leslie.blogspot.com/2011/06/making-moss-is-easy.html
http://www.the-artistic-garden.com/how-to-grow-moss.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_6143908_make-concrete-look-aged.html
http://www.marthastewart.com/271159/making-history-aging-pots
http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/2008/01/aging-concrete-tutorial.html
http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/2008/01/aging-concrete-part-ii.html
http://www.gardensandcrafts.com/hypertufa_info.html#aging

Carol

Thank you !! I will check them out this weekend

I'm sorry I didn't take time to hyperlink them all. Here is a cool trick for anyone that doesn't know how to quickly open web addresses that are not hyperlinked:

1) Quickly click three (3) times anywhere in the web address so that the entire address becomes highlighted.
2) Right-click so that a menu pops up.
3) Select Open Link in New Tab.

You can quickly open each link that way without having to cut and paste the address into your browser.

Carol in Jacksonville

Carol: Thanks for the "cool trick". So useful - love it!! - June