Q: What are some of the reasons people are drawn to concrete and what are some uses for concrete in the home?

A: Concrete is an extraordinary material that is practical, expressive, and aesthetic all at once. You can transform this ordinary slurry into virtually any shape that becomes a solid mass. The possibilities for creative expression are endless. You can grind, polish, stamp, or stain it. You can embed meaningful objects within it.

What’s special about concrete?

1.   Concrete has substance and mass, permanence and warmth.
2.  Concrete feels earthy. 
3. Concrete can be “at home” in both traditional and modern settings. It assumes forms that can touch our daily lives-bridges, highways, floors, walls… even countertops.
4. Concrete is also surprisingly tactile. Cast and shaped, it can feel like stone rounded by the sea. Textured and colored, it can echo timeworn tile.
5. Because of its adaptability, concrete finds itself welcome in all areas of the home.

Here are some of those areas where concrete can be found in: 

• Kitchen and bath
• Fireplaces
• Patios
• Garden paths
• Water features

Floor Applications 

Concrete can also be used as a floor material with enormous creative advantages whether seeded, stained, stamped, broomed or diamond-finished. It can be a sole performer or play the supporting role to tile, mosaics, decorative aggregates, stone, wood, or metal. It is inexpensive, durable, noncombustible, impervious to decay, and also very effective for passive solar gain in the right application.

Vertical Applications

With vertical treatments, concrete provides an opportunity to recapture some of the feeling of a great wall—the feeling of substance, of protection. Walls are also a great place to explore form. A wall doesn’t have to be flat or straight, but can curve and undulate. It can be textured to be rough as stone or smooth as glass.

And of course, you can always surrender to the impulse, and carve your initials in it as well!!!