Say Aloha To Concrete

When most of us think of Hawaii we think of lush landscapes, beautiful beaches and stunning waterfalls.  So, what do you do when you are trying to landscape a home or office building?  You blend.  People try to enhance their home or other structures by using the landscape to blend into the canvas that nature has provided to envelop the structure.

Lokahi Stone located in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a master of decorative concrete, specializing in stained cement, fireplace surrounds, and custom countertops. Lokahi means “coming together in harmony.”  Lokahi Stone employs a unique method of blending the elements of geology, water and stone to bring this atmosphere into your home or business and designs a gathering place for you and your guests.

Because of the advancement of concrete materials they are not only beautiful but also offer competitive prices, ease of use, durability and stunning results.  Lokahi Stone uses these applications and more.  They shape the materials and make them individual and unique to your environment and taste.  Individualized designs can include inlays and semi-precious stone aggregates, not to mention an amazing array of colors and textures. 

Keeping true to their name, Lokahi Stone will create an atmosphere that brings the outside in and the inside out, developing a seamless flow of elements and energy and creating the look, feel and space that is individual and unique to your ideas and taste.  Lokahi will create artistic yet functional and stylish countertops, fountains, architectural design elements or anything and everything you can imagine.

You can contact them at Lokahi Stone.

Concrete Redefined Lives Up to Its Name

Louisville, Kentucky has a jewel hidden right in plain sight. This jewel is called Concrete Redefined.

Concrete Redefined has a history of art, design, paint and more. Wendy Barker, the company’s founder has a strong background in painting everything from A to Z – all sorts of surfaces, textures and colors (including furniture) – with a degree in Communication to boot.

Concrete Redefined has a tremendous amount of experience in interior painting and faux finishing, as well as remodels. Blend that with the art of decorative concrete and Concrete Redefined creates art for living.

Wendy Barker has studied the art of decorative concrete designing in several states including Texas, Georgia and Ohio. She has a deep interest and has worked extensively in the areas of concrete stains plus beautifying and coloring concrete. Blending her experience in the art of painting and faux finishing with the creativity involved in redefining concrete provides stunning results.

Enter Steve Richardson, who oversees all technical processes and staining in each job. He has been trained in acid stains and micro toppings in Ohio and Georgia.

The combination of their background training and talent allows them to create artistic, individualized and stunning results. Whether you are looking at acid dyes, overlays, etching or engraving of floors or other artistic additions or changes to your home or office – including finishes to walls – Concrete Redefined is a spectacular place to explore, a jewel that will make the space around you as unique as you want it to be.

One more special thing about Concrete Redefined is that they carry exceptional products and provide training for those who would like to do it themselves. You will find the best products including Kemico and Colormaker floor systems. The types of products these systems involve are Acid Stains, Dyes, Sealers and Waxes, Cleaners, Micro-Toppings and Colors. These products are available throughout the United States.

Concrete Ideas Features Professionals

At Concrete Ideas we are committed to giving our clients and potential clients the most accurate and up-to-date information and ideas about decorative concrete.  We want you to have the most innovative tools at your disposal including the best products and services provided by the best companies.

To that end, we have started to feature short articles providing information on people, companies and products that deliver the best results for you.  We will continue to feature this information about products and services throughout the country – and beyond – so that wherever you are, you will be able to research the availability of everything “decorative concrete” in your area, complete with photos.

We decided to do this because concrete is no longer the simple, gray, basic cement that it used to be not long ago.  Today’s concrete is part of the decor – in fact; it is often the foundation or the centerpiece of the décor.  Today’s concrete includes specialized textures, colors, washes and more.  Instead of digging up old concrete and re-pouring it especially if it has cracks, stains or severe discolorations, special finishes can be put right on top of the old concrete making it look completely new and different.  Many of the finishes and “toppings” are razor thin, but all are durable and cost much less than pouring new concrete.

Our articles featuring decorative concrete specialists will not only provide names and locations of these businesses, but will also discuss their specialty and how it can work for you.  Take the time to look through our site and find the right specialists for you.  Feel free to contact us with information about any new or exciting products, services or companies that we can add to our membership.

We appreciate you exploring Concrete Ideas website and hope you find it creative and helpful.  We are excited to be able to provide this information to you, and we know that you will be, too! 

Depiction Software Fortells The Future

If you are a contractor working with decorative or other cement products, Depiction Software is a company that can make your job a lot easier, and save you money as well. How?

Depiction Software is a member of the Decorative Concrete family and provides a unique service. They have developed a special estimating software package over the past four years. They develop “personal computer imaging and estimating software for the decorative concrete industry to create user-friendly helpful software for industry professional. This software is used for everything from landscape design, architecture, interior design and other building projects.

Depiction Software has developed industry specific software that will help the concrete and decorative concrete industry by providing contractors online interactive software that they can show their potential customers. This will allow the customers to see what the finished product will look like, including showing a variety of colors and textures. This innovative software allows the contractor to do all this with the customer before ever beginning the job.

Another incredible perk for contractors is that this is the same software used by industry leading companies such as Increte, Concrete Coatings, Inc., Ameri-Crete and others; however, this software is being sold to individual contractors across the nation.

Depiction Software offers contractors who use the program a tremendous edge over others in the industry – their competitors – who do not have the program. This is truly a unique company with a unique product that can increase the number of contracts you are able to close and save you time and money by providing you with the most cutting edge software available.

If you are looking for a true competitive edge for your business, contact Depiction Software, and see what they can do for you. Contact Depiction Software or call them at 1-818-707-4451.
depiction software

Tommy Rock Rocks the World of Concrete

Decorative concrete continues to become used more and more when it comes to building and remodeling homes and offices and other structures – inside and out. Creating unique and beautiful floors, walls and other artistic building parts has become easier, more affordable and more stunning than ever with various types of decorative concrete.

One company that specializes in lightweight decorative concrete applications is Tommy Rock, which is based in Addison, Illinois.  Tommy Rock specializes in its own unique formulas of concrete that can be shaped, molded, carved and texturized in many ways.

For instance, one of the projects that can be made is taking a plain fireplace and using some of the decorative concrete techniques that Tommy Rock is expert at and creating a façade with the look and feel of a fireplace created by old world craftsmen.

If you want to do the work yourself, Tommy Rock will teach you.  They offer training classes to help you with everything from working with floors, to walls, to the fireplaces we have been discussing.  The classes will show you techniques that will help you do the best job, as well as helping your figure out which tools are best for whatever you plan to build, remodel or otherwise create.

Tommy Rock’s materials are easy to use and are some of the finest and best quality available anywhere.  Not only are the materials of the highest quality, but they are extremely durable and long lasting.  They are also easily adaptable so that they can be used on a variety of projects. 

If you live in the Addison, Illinois area and want to do some creative and artistic work with concrete – especially vertical concrete – with hands on training, Tommy Rock is the company to call.  You will definitely end up with a masterpiece.

Two Sisters Have a Flair for Decorative Concrete

Two sisters out of Arlington, Texas that grew up in a creative household with an emphasis on art have found a unique way to use their artistic abilities.

Their company “Sublime Surface Designs”.

Instead of using brushes and canvas or photography they decided to look into acid stained floors. They were looking for a way to spruce up one of their houses, especially making the floors look funky, fresh and creative. They did some research and decided to try making over the concrete floors to look like expensive tile. The first floor was done painstakingly by hand and took a tremendous amount of hard work. As the project continued to other parts of the house including the children’s room, the sisters discovered pre made acid stain and things got easier and moved faster.

At the time, one of the sisters was working as a bookkeeper and was not feeling artistically fulfilled. By the time she finished her floors and some other decorating in her house – which took an entire year – she decided to take a leap of faith and combine her artistic and creative abilities along with her sister and her abilities to begin doing work with decorative concrete full time as a business.

At the time, there wasn’t much information about decorative concrete in Arlington, and there were few individuals or companies who did decorative concrete work. The sisters have been doing such god work that word of mouth brings continuous and repeat work. The word about them has spread and the word about decorative concrete floors, countertops, textured walls, and more has spread with them.

One of the pieces of information that has spread about them is the fact that they have gone into some houses and had the carpet ripped out, then refinished the concrete underneath with acid stain and other types of decorative concrete finishes. They have heard from clients that they are sleeping better and have less allergies because, apparently, the old carpeting which is no longer in the house was the source of dust and other allergens. This is also bringing them business.

The sisters have said that this is a fun way to make a living. Also, if you want to do some remodeling with decorative concrete in your home or office, you can learn about it, buy the supplies and go for it. You just might find the artist in you.

Something Better is Coming

 Something Better Company (SBC) is a unique company located in Phoenix, Arizona. SBC offers both training and treatments regarding concrete to be used in many decorative and useful ways. In addition, SBC is continually looking for and creating new products, strengths and technologies.

Their innovative training program offers training that will help individuals learn how to do it all, from the basics al the way to becoming certified as an artisan. They also offer another outstanding benefit of purchasing their products and services, which is a Life Time Warranty on any work done by their crew. This is a strong reason to look at their ideas, their products, their proposals and their work.

The company is passionate about their work and their training program. They work hard to help professionals gain more skills and knowledge. Something Better states that ever since they started, they have “concentrated on being innovators, perfecting new concepts and material formulations, talent capabilities and having the highest quality control at all levels.” As a result of focusing on these areas, they have become a global leader and innovator in the field of decorative concrete.

Some of the specific training programs as well as products and services that SBC provides includes information, training and innovative craftsmanship involving stunning concrete countertops, advanced coloration training, concrete overlay training and rock and water features. These are all products and services that enhance any area where they are used, creating spectacular transformations that become the framework or the focal point of that area and the areas surrounding it.

Something Better Company offers more than the usual concrete and concrete products, services and treatments. If you live in Arizona and are looking for innovative concrete ideas or training, contact Something Better Company or call them at 1-800-324-1719.

TouchStone Provides Exceptional Products and Training

TouchStone Decorative Concrete Products, located in Houston, is a leader in the Decorative Concrete field in Texas.  Their name says a lot about their vision and the quality of the products and training they provide.

TouchStone works with contractors, homeowners, builders and architects to provide creative and stunning decorative concrete ideas and products for any project – large or small.

TouchStone deals with three major areas of decorative concrete.  These are:

1. Helping you decide the design and the appropriate system for your project.
2. Providing quality products created by reputable companies;
3. Making sure professional contractors execute the project as planned.

TouchStone works with your on any or all of these three essential areas to help ensure the best final results possible for your project.  To further enhance your results, TouchStone is currently creating a showroom that will exhibit several decorative concrete systems, patterns and colors, giving you a hands on, opportunity to explore your options and get new ideas before completing your project.

TouchStone offers hands-on training, a huge inventory, a showroom that offers actual styles, colors and results in advance, and technical expertise.  No matter where you are in the process– especially in the Houston area – TouchStone is the company to contact for any products, information or training regarding decorative concrete.

For accurate information, excellent customer service and exceptional quality, the decorative concrete company to call is TouchStone.

Search for deocorative concrete suppliers in Houston

The Color Makes The Concrete

Colormaker is a company that has made its mark in the decorative concrete industry.  The company is one of our suppliers here at Concrete Ideas, and we are proud to be associated with them.

Colormaker uses a wide variety of concrete primers, toppings, sealers, finishes, and, of course, as their name denotes, an array of colors.  They have worked on many unique and artistic projects creating flooring that works as a foundation, a focal point or an enhancement to either new or existing floors.

There are many ways that they use their products and techniques to make floors a work of art.  There are many ways that concrete is used as flooring, and many ways that existing – even older, faded or stained – concrete can be made to look totally new and different by using the techniques that Colormaker is expert at.

For instance, colors and finishes can be used on plain, old, gray concrete to transform a floor – and the room it is the foundation of – into a unique, new, creative and artistic base for a room, be it a basement in a home, a lobby in a hotel or a boutique.

Colormaker is constantly searching and testing new ways to treat and create concrete.  One of the company’s feature products is called Pentimento, which is a topping based on Italian methods, but using the most modern ingredients which creates the look of polished marble.

In addition to the products and techniques that Colormaker uses, the company also offers workshops to help people explore the possibilities for working with concrete.  If you live in the British Columbia area and are looking for great ideas and great work involving concrete, contact Colormaker.  Their ideas will open up innovative ideas to build into whatever area you are trying to transform. Contact Colormaker or call them at 604-244-3122.