The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
Concrete is the ideal material to use to transform outdoor spaces into outdoor rooms surrounded by stunning hardscapes and equipped with all the comforts of home.
Decorative concrete is everywhere these days, even at the tops of mountains. This public art piece was installed by Los Angeles artisan Steve O’Loughlin and Surface Gel Tek president Tamryn Doolan at the top of Double Peak, a popular hiking area in San Marcos, Calif.
If you’re going the makeover route, why not make it extreme. Or at least dramatic.
Either description can be applied to the three-pronged game plan devised to vastly revamp the hardscapes surrounding a sprawling, exclusive residential property on the Central California coast.
Beautiful streetscapes. Retail and commercial spaces with the look and feel of parks. Incredibly designed school campuses. The great ones all have something in common: Hardscapes that make them accessible and welcoming to human interaction.
While swimming pools and road construction projects have been the mainstay of many contractors in the shotcrete industry, a number of shotcrete artists are taking the concrete medium to new levels of creativity and usefulness.
No, it’s not built into the fork of a tree. It’s the grown-up version, with a breathtaking mountain view and lots of decorative concrete.
Who quits a stable job with a government pension for the insecurity of self-employment in a field where you have no formal training or experience? To put it another way, who in his right mind would give up a career in electronic engineering in a weapons program at the Nevada Test Site for … concrete work?
When a pair of homeowners put their heads together with concrete maestro Tom Ralston, the result was three levels of outdoor grandeur.
When offered the chance to help customers relax with cool pool designs, these veteran design crews dove right in.
This working Roman aqueduct, completed in the fall of 2005 for a home in Dove Canyon, Calif., wasn’t built in a day.
People have enjoyed sitting outside around a fire since, well, since they discovered fire. Besides the practicalities of fire for warmth, light and cooking, the comfort and romance of fire make us want to pull our chairs up to the hearth and turn our backs on the daily grind.
