It’s time to renovate. Your concrete porch isn’t working for you anymore, if it ever did. It needs…something, whether it’s decoration or more extensive renovation. You don’t like the look of the concrete, or maybe you’re just not sure what to put on it to make the porch attractive and functional. These concrete porch ideas will help you improve your concrete porch and make it something you’ll be happy to see every time you come home.

1) ​​​​​​DIY Self Stick Tiles

Self-stick tiles are by far the easiest to install, so if you’re planning on doing this project yourself, these are one way to go. Tiles like these won’t hold up as well as ceramic or stone, but they’ll work well on a covered or screened-in porch. If you want to use them on an uncovered porch, make sure to use protective coatings, and be aware that they won’t hold up as long as other types of tile.

2) ​​​​Stone Siding

You may want to cover up the concrete on your porch with flooring or paint, but if you don’t, you can add decorations near the porch that make the concrete more attractive. Add grey or blue patterned decorations to make the grey of the concrete look less dull. Add stone veneer like this to the edge of the concrete where it’s visible from your yard, or use it as siding. This siding will bring out the natural grey and tie the concrete porch into the rest of the house visually.

3) ​​​Paint It

If your concrete porch looks terrible because it’s beat-up, has two colors of concrete from when an addition was poured, or has other damage, you might not need extensive work. You can see in this video that a few patches and a do-it-yourself paint job can transform a porch or patio. Watch the video to see some of the ways you can fix issues with your porch and then paint. You may find that the paint was all it needed.

4) ​​​​DIY Acid Stain

Acid stain is a common way to color a concrete porch floor. You can use a color of choice to acid stain the floor and sides of the porch in the color you want. Use this guide to acid stain the porch correctly and safely, and if you aren’t comfortable working with acid, hire a contractor instead. Any concrete stain you get will have some acid in it to bond it to the concrete. A stain is one of the best ways to color concrete because it looks more natural than concrete paint.

5) ​​​​​​​​​DIY Wood Rails

If your concrete porch is just a concrete slab, make it look like an actual porch. How can you do this? Add railings to make the porch look and feel more comfortable. While not all porches have railings, they add comfort and look good in rustic or classic homes. Watch this video to learn how to anchor wood rails to concrete safely. In the video, C.L.S. Allinone attached a railing for stairs, but you can use similar methods to add a railing around your porch.

6) ​​​​​​​​​​​DIY Expand It

If your concrete porch is tiny, there isn’t much you can do with it besides expanding it to make the space more usable. You can use these step-by-step instructions to build a new porch or add to an existing one at ground level. Doing this expands your options for your porch, so you can add more furniture and turn it into a recreation area for barbecues, or just a space to relax in comfort. Add outdoor rugs and other soft flooring to make it even better.

7) ​​​​​​​Reflective Traction Tape

Concrete is an unforgiving surface. It’s one of the most painful places to trip and fall, and if it has a smooth finish, it can be very slippery. To combat this, add reflective traction tape to the edges of your porch, and your porch stairs in particular. The reflective tape will mark the concrete edges so that nobody hits their shins in the dark, while also providing traction to keep people from slipping and falling on the stairs.

8) ​​​​​​​​​Fake Rug

If you want your concrete porch to feel more like a cozy interior space, but don’t want to look the durability of the concrete slab, try painting it to make it look like an outdoor rug. This will make it look homier, and while the floor will be just as hard, it’ll also be just as tough and able to handle the elements. Use this tutorial from So Much Better With Age to create a striped pattern that looks like a rug. Make sure you choose the right colors, though, because this “rug” is permanent.

9) ​​​Choose the Right Stain

There are many concrete stains out there, but does it matter which one you pick? They’re all designed for the same thing, right? The type of stain you use will have a long-lasting effect on the durability and appearance of your concrete. It’ll also have an immediate effect on your wallet. While an acid stain is the most durable, you can read this article to learn about the different options and pick one that’s right for your porch and wallet.

10) ​​​​​​​Outdoor Rug

If you don’t want to do a lot of renovation and large projects, you can still spruce your porch up with an outdoor rug. Outdoor rugs like this one are designed to handle the elements, so you shouldn’t need to replace them often, and this rug has a grey pattern that looks nice and complements bare concrete. Since this rug is reversible, you can choose whether you want a white rug with a grey design or a grey one with a white design. This method is by far the cheapest way to change the look of a large area.

11) ​​​​​​​DIY Stamp It

Typically, stamping is something that’s done to concrete as it’s poured for the first time. How, then, can you stamp your existing porch? Watch this video from Mike Day Everything About Concrete and learn how to resurface and stamp old or new concrete. You can use concrete stamping to create almost any pattern, and since the design is embedded in the concrete, it’ll never fade. That said, if you’re inexperienced, you may want to hire a professional, since any mistake you make will be permanent.

12) ​​​​​​​​​DIY Outdoor Bar

An outdoor bar is a fun thing to have on your porch, and if you’re thinking about one for your concrete porch, consider matching the porch design. That is to say, make a concrete bar! Use the instructions in this youtube video to build your own concrete bar, or hire somebody to do it. Concrete bars are great because they can stand up to weather and abuse, and since your porch is made of concrete, you know it can support the heavy weight of a concrete bar.

13) ​​​​​​​Brick Walls

Brick and concrete go together well, as they both fit an industrial theme, and both are durable outdoor building materials. Use thin bricks or half bricks to cover the wall behind your porch like Decorative Concrete Kingdom did in this photograph. A brick wall adds a splash of color to the porch, and you can go further by painting pillars or railings red like the pillars in the photo. You could also paint them to match the house trim and help the porch blend with the house.

14) ​​​​​​​Stair Treads

Since concrete can be dangerous and unyielding, you’ll want to ensure the safety of people using the concrete porch, and the concrete steps in particular. If your concrete gets slippery after rain, add stair treads like these to keep people from falling onto hard concrete, or down the stairs. These treads are six inches wide, so they’ll cover a large portion of each stair, and ensure that your feet always have traction. They’re waterproof and hold up to weather, and you can stick them to either wood or concrete without any tools.

15) ​​​Match Walkway and House

There are many designs you can use on a concrete porch floor, railing, or roof. Regardless of whether you pick sand-colored stone as a theme, or choose red brick, you want the porch roof, ceiling, and floor to match parts of the house and walkway. This ties them together and makes the house, porch, and yard feel like one space. Notice how the pathway and porch in this photograph by Decorative Concrete Kingdom are made from the same stone, and how the siding is a similar color to them both. Try to achieve something similar when redesigning your porch.

16) ​​​​​​​​DIY The Right Cleaning Products

Cleaning probably sounds like an obvious thing to do, right? It turns out that this idea is more effective than you might think. Before you even begin picturing what you want to do with your porch, give it a thorough clean so that you can really see the space you’re working with. Use the recipe from this article to clean your porch thoroughly with ingredients you have in your home. Then you can really visualize your space. You might find that all it really needed was a thorough cleaning.

17) ​​​​​​​Fire Pit

A fire pit doesn’t belong on a porch, does it? That seems like a bad idea; after all, you don’t want an open flame near your house. Since your porch is concrete, though, you can safely add a firepit without worrying about the floor. This idea does work best on a porch that extends into a patio, as you don’t want an open flame under a roof if you can help it. This natural gas fireplace from Amazon is easy to turn off and on, and the housing looks nice over a stone or concrete surface.

18) ​​​​​​​​​Rustic Wood Look

If you want a rustic look instead of the industrial look that comes with a concrete slab, try painting the surface to look like wood like Decorative Concrete Kings did in this photograph. You can still see that they painted over concrete, but overall the painted pattern is the most noticeable. This project probably matches your skillset better than installing real wood flooring, though you can certainly do so if you have the skills and the money for it. Painting the rustic wood pattern will be cheaper than buying wood flooring, though.

19) ​​​​Grill

One benefit of a concrete patio is that you can seal it to protect from stains, and you don’t have to worry about having flame or heat on it. This makes it the perfect place to put a new grill like this one from The Home Depot. This grill even has a stone surround, so it’ll add some texture to make the porch look better. It’ll also look right if you paint or tile the porch to look like stone. With this grill, you can cook out more often, or begin building an outdoor kitchen.

20) ​​​​​​​​​​Brick-Facing on Columns

If you’re looking for an example of a complete porch design, this one is amazing. In this photograph from Texas Custom Patios, the columns are covered in brick to match the brick siding. The designer painted the concrete like stone, and used complementary colors for the ceiling, columns, siding, and floor. This led to a cohesive design that you can achieve by using brick on both the siding and columns of your porch. Doing this creates the illusion of a wall around the porch, creating a feeling of privacy while leaving it open and accessible.

21) ​​​​​​​Add or Replace Columns

If your porch has columns, you want the columns to match your design. This decorative composite column head will look good with concrete since it resembles a concrete column design. You can choose this or a similar cap, and get the column material that goes with it from Amazon, also. The good news is that if you haven’t decided on a color scheme, these come unpainted. You can match them to your porch floor color, if you choose to paint or cover the concrete, or to the house and trim.

Which idea appealed to you the most? Have you already done some work on your porch? We’d love to hear what you’ve done with your concrete porch. Please let us know in the comments below!