When you have a dark grey slab, you have to take into consideration how that will affect color and its intensity. Most of the colorants on the market differ as much in transparency as concrete differs in color and porosity.
Recipes
Ever wonder what goes into a batch of award-winning, head-turning concrete? Artisans across North America (and abroad) share their tantalizing recipes for success.
Recipe: Decorative Concrete Broom Finish
Broom finishes provide an economical alternative to the removal and replacement of existing concrete. This system creates a flexible and durable finish that can be used to re-level, renovate, resurface and create decorative patterns and designs, with or without integral coloring. When sealed, the new finish will resist gas, oils, water, salts, freeze-thaw cycles and ultraviolet rays.
11 Proven Concrete Color Recipes
Step-by-step instructions and useful tips from people in the industry who have experimented enough to know what works.
Staining Concrete Recipe: The Third Dimension
With a subtle two-level texture coat and a wild 3-D geometric pattern, this staining technique delivers a unique, captivating concrete floor finish.
Recipe: The Look of Cork with Acid Staining
Creating a look reminiscent of cork or aged hardwood floors, this technique requires plastic sheeting and some well-coordinated teamwork.
Concrete Staining Recipe: Wildflower Drops
The techniques featured in this beloved annual feature may give you the look you’re after for finishing that one job. Or, they may provide the spark you need to come up with something new.
Recipe: Trash Aesthetic Acid Stain
Acid staining is unpredictable by nature, but after years of experience, several of the country’s most gifted artisans have developed techniques that incorporate the stains into tried-and-true effects.
Recipe: Self-leveling on Two Substrates
This is an expert self-leveling application that can take an unfinished floor with two different substrates (in this case concrete and plywood) and turn it into one beautiful, continuous floor.
Recipe: River Rock And Roll Polished Concrete
This complex interior treatment pairs a multihued pattern of polished concrete with natural river-stone borders and detailing.
Recipe: Easy Antiquing on Polished Floors
Ideal for distressed floors with lots of cracks, pits, chips or gouges, this versatile technique can be used to turn a fixer-upper into a masterpiece.
