Antiquing

Crimson Red Concrete Stain: Project Gallery

May 2, 2026 Justin Richardson

Crimson is our deepest true red — darker and cooler than Cinnabar, and the color people reach for when faded brick pavers need to look like brick again. It is also the fix for integral color that came out wrong: one project below rescued a back porch that had been poured with red concrete color and cured out pink. Crimson is stocked as 409 Antiquing™, 709 Portico™, 509 EasyTint™, and 509 AcquaTint™.

Crimson red stained concrete paver driveway with a satin finish

A concrete paver driveway in Crimson EasyTint™ tinted sealer.

Shop Portico™ in Crimson →

Available in: Portico™ · Antiquing™ · EasyTint™ · AcquaTint™
Note: our catalog name for this color is simply Crimson; the old blog called it Crimson Red. Portico™ for pavers, Antiquing™ for stamped and broomed slabs, EasyTint™ or AcquaTint™ for color and sealer in one.

Note on results: every photo here is a real Direct Colors customer project. Our stains are semi-transparent, so your concrete's original tone and condition shape the final color — always test a small area before you commit to the whole surface.

A note on this gallery: the written project details attached to several of these photos in our old blog belonged to a different customer's basement acid-stain job, duplicated across the page by mistake. Rather than repeat numbers that were never true of these projects, we have kept only what the photos and the customers' own descriptions actually establish.

A faded paver driveway in Crimson EasyTint™

Tinted sealer is the efficient answer on a large paver surface — one product restores the color and seals it, so a driveway this size is a weekend rather than a fortnight.

Faded concrete driveway pavers — Before — faded, washed-out pavers.

Crimson red stained concrete paver driveway with a smooth and glossy finish — After — Crimson EasyTint™.

A two-color paver border in Crimson and Eagle Gray

The most instructive sequence in this gallery, because the customer photographed every stage. The field was sprayed Crimson Portico™; the border was cut in separately with a foam roller in Eagle Gray. Warm center, cool frame — the same trick that makes the Terracotta paver circles work.

Faded concrete paver patio — Before — plain, uniform pavers.

Concrete paver walkway design with paver border — After — Crimson field with an Eagle Gray border, sealed.

Crimson Portico paver stain application.

stained concrete paver edging — Stained concrete paver edging.

border stained with Eagle Gray Portico paver stain — Border stained with Eagle Gray Portico paver stain.

Crimson Antiquing™ as a solid color

Antiquing™ is usually used semi-transparently, but built up on stamped concrete it will give a near-solid color. Here it took a dull stamped patio to a glossy, saturated red.

Stamped concrete patio — Before — flat gray stamped concrete.

Crimson Antiquing Stained Stamped Concrete Patio — After — solid Crimson Antiquing™ with a gloss finish.

Crimson Antiquing Stain Application Stamped Concrete Patio.

A faded brick patio, stained back

Crimson Portico™ over tired brick-colored pavers, finished with EasySeal™ Satin. Watch the color change between the dry stain and the sealed surface — this is why you should never judge Portico™ or Antiquing™ before it is sealed.

Old faded concrete patio pavers — Before — a faded brick patio.

Crimson red concrete patio paver stain — After — two coats of sealer over Crimson Portico™.

stained concrete patio pavers — Stained concrete patio pavers.

A brick paver patio rehab, done in-house

This owner got quotes they considered unreasonable and did the whole thing themselves instead — the most common story in this entire gallery.

Portico Patio Pavers Crimson Before — Before — a tired, outdated brick paver patio.

Stained Concrete Pavers — After — Crimson Portico™ paver stain.

Crimson Portico Stain on Patio Concrete Pavers.

A driveway and walkway in Crimson Portico™

Plain brick pavers on a driveway and the walkway beside it, stained and then sealed with an acrylic sealer.

Faded Driveway Concrete Pavers — Before — drab driveway pavers.

Crimson Portico Stain on Driveway Concrete Pavers — After — Crimson Portico™, acrylic sealed.

Faded Walkway Concrete Pavers — Before — the matching walkway.

Crimson Portico Stain on Walkway Concrete Pavers — After — the same color carried across.

A neglected stamped patio

Years of neglect on stamped concrete, refinished in Crimson on a budget.

Faded Stamped Patio - Before Antiquing Crimson — Before — a faded, neglected stamped patio.

Crimson Stained Stamped Concrete Patio — After — Crimson stained stamped concrete.

Crimson with Fern Green, and hand-poured tiles

Two smaller jobs. The first revived weather-worn walkway pavers using Crimson with a Fern Green edge — an unexpected pairing that works because the green is only on the border. The second is hand-poured cement tiles finished with EasyTint™, where the tinted sealer both colored and protected tiles the owner had cast themselves.

Stunning walkway featuring crimson red stained concrete pavers and fern green stained concrete pavers used to frame the walkway — A Crimson porch with a Fern Green edge detail.

Beautifully hand-stained cement tiles poured and created by a DIY enthusiast — Hand-poured pavers finished in EasyTint™.

A front entrance for the price of a quart

A faded front entrance brought back with a single quart of Crimson Portico™ and an EasySeal™ satin finish. Small surfaces are where stain is at its most cost-effective — a quart of product against the price of replacing the pavers.

Crimson Portico Stained Concrete Pavers — The finished Crimson front porch.

A split before-and-after image showing the transformation of a concrete porch — A before-and-after of a Crimson EasyTint™ surface.

From cotton candy to Crimson

Our favorite Crimson story, and a genuinely useful warning about integral color. This customer extended their back porch and had red color added to the concrete in the truck. It cured out light pink.

“We extended our back porch and added ‘Barn Red' concrete coloring to our concrete truck and after curing, it was light pink!!! Not happy about this and ordered the EasyTint in Crimson Red hoping to correct the awful pink! It did the job and came out beautiful, as seen in before and after pictures! Highly recommend these products — not to mention, an awesome home state company for us here in Oklahoma!!”
Their advice: “For DIYers, don't waste your money on adding color to your concrete before pouring — just use these products after the pour for perfect results.”
— DIY Customer, Oklahoma

Worth saying plainly: integral color is mixed at the plant, you cannot see it until the slab cures, and if it comes out wrong there is no adjusting it. A topical stain or tinted sealer is applied to a surface you can actually look at, and can be built up until the color is right.

A 16-year-old paver driveway on a budget

One more project from this gallery, included because the story is good even though the color is not Crimson. A retired homeowner with no prior experience repaired and re-stained their 16-year-old paver driveway with ColorWave® water-based stain. The archived photos are labeled Rust, which is the ColorWave® line's red-brown — the closest thing to Crimson in that product family.