How to Paint a Concrete Wall to Look Like Stone

Terrific Idea to fix up that cinder block basement! – super cool!

This stone wall is actually a concrete block wall painted to look like stone for Trinity Worship Center in Burlington, North Carolina. This space is used as their fellowship hall and needed an update.

To begin creating an atmosphere of a marketplace we began with the best decorating tool out there…paint!  Using paint to turn plain concrete blocks into stone and square support columns into brick.
 

The color pallet.

l-r Sherwin Williams Keystone Gray 7504, Macadamia 6142,Artisan Tan 7540, Kaffee 6104, Wild Currant 7583 and Sommelier 7595. I don’t know the name of the existing wall color but it is close to SW Hopsack 6109.

The top four colors were chosen as the pallet for the stone. Staying within the shape and pattern of the concrete wall, I began to paint. There’s really not a formula for this look except to remember to keep it random. Continuing to vary the colors and keeping the whole wall in mind as you paint.

My paint tray was a cardboard box that 24 cans of soda came in.

I covered it with a plastic trash bag and poured in my four colors.

The cardboard box keeps the paints level (unlike a regular paint tray) but it will eventually end up looking like the bag on the right. Kind of like a bowl of vanilla ice cream mixed with chocolate and caramel syrup.

Using a 3? wide flat paint brush, each block is painted a different mix of the four colors. Brown & gray, tan & cream, gray & cream, tan & brown…etc.

As you paint, your paintbrush will become mottled with different variations of the colors you’re using. This just adds to the variety of the “stone” you’re creating. The “grout” is the existing paint color.

The stone wall measures 10? high x 47? wide and took 11 hours to paint.