Staining concrete?

I'm getting very close to the end of renovation work on my front yard at the moment. Between the freshly painted front door, trims and eaves. The new gtters and facias, the new garage door, the fresh front paving and the new grass, it's leaving my driveway and footpath looking a little tired and in need of something to spruce it up. It's stamped concrete that looks to have been previously stained, but it my also just be really old and worn paint.

I not long ago painted my garage floor and I'm really pleased with the result, but when I started thinking about painting my driveway I kind of felt it would be to uniform in appearance and started wondering if there was a diy friendly option to stain it? I figure if I stain it, I'll get natural high and lowlights, which I feel will suit better than just a solid block of colour.

I'm aiming for a darkish grey/charcoal colour.

Anyone got any experience or insight into staining vs painting? I've considered watering down some water based paving paint so it soaks into the concrete, but feel that it won't end up working the way I hope.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I'll if I can get a couple of decent shots later.

The only staining of concrete that I've done has been by accident. Very hard to get a consistent color using my method. 

Looking forward to seeing your results!

In reply to EastCoastMojo :

I hear you hahaha, I'm a master when it comes to making a mess of concrete.... But yeah, it's going to take me a while to consistently oil soak an entire driveway through misadventure.

Thanks, I'll probably do a thread with before and after of the house once it's finally finished.

There's many options out there, acid etch would probably not be a good choice because stamped concrete isn't a very durable surface usually ( it's not finished as much as any other concrete)

There's some water based options that would work and it's not gonna uniform, it'll be mottled which is usually it's charm. Color and seal it nice and it'll look considerably better

I've stained and painted lots of concrete.   As a matter of fact most of my house I did in a wet texture/stain.

You can get all the colors and shading you want if you use multiple colors.  I'd use a sprayer rather than just a acid stain rinse for better control.  You must use the sprayer in wetter fashion than you do with paint.

There's nothing wrong with using Acid stain over stamped concrete, even if it's just a topping.

Water based doesn't work well on concrete unless it's brand new as contaminants keeps it from taking evenly.

BUT you need to get rid of all the paint that's on there unless you are wanting to incorporate that in your color choice and design.

My first foray into concrete staining was using wood stains and rubbing it into the concrete with scotchbrite pads.  I used colors not wood colors and blended them into an under the sea look and then I sealed it with a floor varnish.  It has been 30 years now and it still looks new.

In the new house I went for an old saddle look and used 3 colors of brown with a black release agent on the texture roller to give depth.

I've taken classes on the textured topping and done a couple of those floors.  It seems the stain lasts longer than the concrete if it's outside as waster and freezing temps will cause the concrete to start popping long before the stain disappears.