Is it not astonishing? That is exactly what you would not put on your kitchen counter, right? Right, well, I am going to advance concrete enhancement to learn all about decorative concrete and I needed you to see what typical concrete looks like so that when we see it, all of the beautiful gorgeous transformation that concrete has been made off, you have something to compare it too. It is really spectacular, I mean concrete predicts the room, so, you are just really stupid to see events that we did not figure out that you could make it look beautiful for so long, I do not know but we are never going to get to see that beautiful concrete if I do not get going because I am going to miss my flight and that would not be such as bad thing because I hate flying.
It makes total sense that advance concrete enhancement found success in California. Besides being a concrete jungle, Los Angeles has a history of taking the ugly and ordinary and making it look extraordinary. Plus, the people of Southern California seem more willing to pickup new trends, especially if they fit with their laid back style, or maybe it is just the beautiful sunny weather that makes Californians open to change. Talked about a gorgeous day, oh my gosh, it is so much better than what I left and you know, if I lived here all the time, I would be willing to experiment because these weather puts on a good mood. And you know, when you come to concrete, you really do need to be kind of experimental because let us face it, concrete is not that popular but does not mean to say it is unbeautiful, oh my gosh, people who get concrete, they would rave about it. Some like it for its industrial field, others like it because it is very raw and organic. And you know, no matter what reason you get concrete, the best reason is because it is versatile, you can do anything with concrete, that is what we are going to see.
And no one knows that better than Blade Penza, the owner of advance concrete enhancement. During his 30 years in construction, Blade has watched concrete transform from the structural material into a decorative art. From fire places to countertops to sinks and more, Blade has done it all and took me on a tour of his showroom to prove it. Unlike any art, you have got to start with the basics to understand which is exactly what Blade did with me. Alright, so this may sound weird but I am not even sure that I know what concrete is made of even though it is everywhere, and I feel like I should know what it is made off.
Concrete is just the combination of water, sand, some type of gravel or rock and aggregate.
Really?
This is the bonding agent.
So it is just this big aggregate?
That is just basically this type, a liquid rock that hardens and becomes a real rock.
Being a liquid rock means concrete can be poured into any shape you want. Talked about going costume and the sheets you can get are pretty spectacular. But that is not the only reason to choose decorative concrete. Are there any benefits to using decorative concrete in your home?
I think there is many, of course I would say that.
Yes.
The list really does go on and it is amazing everyday I see more and more, it is just limitless as far as design, it is limitless as far as color, we can match any color that you would want us to do. Functionality, it does not crack, it does not chip and we can guarantee that, I am sorry it does not chip, it does not steam when you chip it, it is really hard not begin to chip. The good news about that, kind of glad I said it, if you do chip it in, something does go wrong, you can repair it.
Which might be the absolute best benefit that concrete has to offer, but I will be honest, I was much more intrigued by the color possibilities between costume and standard colors, you can mend decorative concrete to anything in your home, and blade had a lot of options to feast your eyes on. This must be all of the different colors then. Wow.
These are.
There is a lot.
These are our 46 standard colors.
And with names like gypsy, chatter and dolphin gray, the best part of getting decorative concrete and maybe choosing the color, but then again, choosing more of the used concrete can be just a fun and these can be used for any type of decorative concrete?
Anything that you put in your home in a pre cast applications. Countertops, fireplace surrounds, floors, sinks.
So those are all of the different types and places that you can use concrete in your home?
They are and then some. Virtually, anywhere you want to put concrete in your home, you can. There are actually concrete homes, concrete walls, counters, even the furniture, floors, there is no end to what you can do with countertop with a concrete.
From in laying objects such as shelves or stones to having concrete made to look like wood or leather, you really can do practically anything with concrete, even functional things such as having soap dishes and draining board both right into your countertop. But just because you can concrete for anything does not mean you should.
So you want to think about where you use concrete at. Although it can be used everywhere, it may not be practical to use everywhere. To pre cast a parallel, for instance with my company, there is a company that I recommend that does wall finishes that look very similar to what our product looks like and it can be much less expensive. So let us use the concrete for the application suits it the best, countertops, fireplaces, sinks and those types of things but there are areas where something else might work better. A good concrete contractor will always try to refer that to you.
And that is not all a good contractor will do. Quality decorative concrete contractor should have a showroom, color samples, a long list of satisfied costumer and an open door policy so that you can watch your concrete being poured. Plus, your concrete contractor should have years of experience in decorative concrete, not concrete alone.
Not choosing the right contractor is probably the biggest mistake. In oftentimes, using your contractor that who is trying his best and who is with all the right intentions, has a lot of experience in concrete and maybe his experience is in driveways and sidewalks and pool decks, decorative concrete is a very different industry. My background is instructional concrete and getting involved in decorative concrete, I realized very quickly that it is whole different area. So it is not something that because you have done concrete for 25 or 30 years means you can do decorative concrete. The opposite is very much true.
So be sure to only hire a contractor who can prove they know what they are doing and do not forget to have fun choosing what you want, because when you have unlimited options, you are free to go wild or tame whatever you want, and perhaps you will a room transform the same way concrete has, from ugly to spectacular.
When it comes to decorative concrete, the real take away is that it is incredibly beautiful, incredibly durable and incredibly unique, but more than that, I think we learned a really valuable lesson today and it stems from concretes ugly duckling story and that is if you have a room at home, furniture, anything that you think is ugly, blend, boring, you do not even know what to do with it, it is so frustrating, there I hope. Step back, get to know what you are dealing with a little bit more and if you use a little bit of creativity, you can turn it in to something fabulous.
So the top three reasons to visit AskTheDecorative.com are one, I am pretty cool, and I can be funny if I try. Two, we have got an awesome web design, alright, well, a pretty good web design. And three, we got some pretty good decorating tips, videos and ideas, but common, reason one is got to be the best one, right?
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