With any home or business renovation project, your budget may dictate what you can do with the space, but that doesn’t mean that it has to hold back on style. When working with custom concrete design, there are a lot of options for any budget. It can feel a little confusing to decide how to choose the best concrete design for your space, so we want to cover some of our best tips for this decision process.
At Big Red Decorative Concrete, we have years of experience with all types of concrete design. We take pride in sharing our knowledge and experience with those looking to make an informed decision that best suits their budget and their space.
Let’s discuss how to find the best concrete design for your budget!
Plan your budget upfront.
As mentioned when we discussed how to budget for quality flooring, knowing your budget and what you’re willing to spend is priority. You don’t want to get deep into a project and realize it’s going to cost you much more than you planned.
Think about the space you’re working with. What’s its main purpose and square footage?
Lost in estimating your concrete design budget? Get a free quote from the decorative concrete experts at Big Red. We’re happy to help guide you through a project with your budget in mind.
Consider how much maintenance you’re willing to do.
Certain custom concrete designs may require different levels of maintenance. Decide upfront if you’re willing to commit to monthly or even seasonal maintenance. Depending on where your decorative concrete is placed—indoors or outdoors, by a pool or patio, etc.—it may require sealer and touch-up maintenance.
Envision the custom concrete design in your space.
You may have some general ideas of concrete designs you love. That’s great! There’s so much inspiration out there on the web. Now that you’ve found your inspiration, it’s time to envision what this design will look like and how it will function in your space.
Contemplate the context of the space and how the decorative concrete will be utilized.
If you don’t have any ideas for the type of concrete design you want, you should do some research to see what you like. You can get inspiration from home magazines, Pinterest, and other online home content sites. We also recommend Sundek’s website for even more photo inspiration using their coatings and stains, which are the products we use at Big Red!
What type of space are you working with?
- Indoor
- Outdoor
- Moisture level (basement leaks, bathroom, pool)
It’s important to understand the environment and conditions of the space you’re working with when you choose a concrete design. Moisture levels, temperatures, and other environmental factors can contribute to the best type of concrete for your space’s needs.
What’s the focus of the area?
Is the custom concrete design for your home gym? Kitchen? Theater room? A concrete patio layout? Do you want the floor to be the focal point, or the surroundings?
Whatever area you’re working with, consider what kind of designs would best fit with the purpose of the space.
Take surroundings into account when deciding on a concrete floor design.
On a similar note, the surroundings of the space are an important factor to consider when choosing a type of concrete design for your home or business.
Enhance and complement the area’s existing surroundings and finishes.
This is one of our top design tips. Oftentimes home and business owners complete different upgrades years after other features were added. You want to make sure that all of the features are cohesive, even if they came along after.
For example, maybe your home’s exterior is red brick. Beautiful! Some design choices, such as a busy stone pattern, may clash and look mismatched against the red brick. You’ll want to examine any other surfaces and finishes in the area and decide on something that looks like it was naturally designed to go together.
Choose what works well together.
Some design options will almost always look like too much of a contrast, such as brick and stone like we mentioned above. One of your best bets is to go with neutrals. Because custom concrete design gives you so many options, that means you have control over color. If a nearby surface already has a lot going on, choosing a neutral color for your decorative concrete can help create a balanced look.
Why choosing a custom concrete design is such a unique process.
Choosing a type of concrete design is a lot like choosing hair dye (bare with us for a second). For example, you may be a brunette and want your hair to be a bright purple color. Without professional knowledge, you might expect the process to be smooth sailing without first taking some things into consideration.
Factors such as your hair’s length, color, and texture, can change the overall appearance of the dye. You may have to prep the hair before even being able to get close to the hair color you want. You might even have to get a haircut to find the perfect way to show off and enhance the new color.
The same idea can be applied to choosing a custom concrete design. Factors such as the concrete we work on top of or apply an overlay to can affect the look of the design. We include the word custom for a reason; we aren’t talking about buying tile or hardwood off the shelf. With unique concrete designs, you have choices on the color, texture, inlay pattern, and more.
Get your priorities straight.
We don’t mean this as a lecture 😉 We’re just saying that your custom concrete design choice should be influenced by your priorities. Do you want high shine? The perfect color? Bare minimum maintenance? If there’s a color you want but we can’t achieve it through a stain, would you be okay with a metallic epoxy? Whatever your priorities, Big Red Decorative Concrete can help you decide on a custom designed concrete project that reflects your priorities.
How custom concrete design works at Big Red Decorative Concrete.
We have a streamlined process to help you find the best custom concrete design for your space. Below is the general process of working with Big Red Decorative Concrete.
Determine Your Budget
Before we can help you make any concrete decisions (ba dum tss 🥁), you’ll need to have an idea of your budget. You can use our free quote tool or reach out to us to find out pricing information and options. Once we have a feel for your budget, we can collaborate to find some ideas that are both functional and complementary to your space. You can show us your ideas and inspiration photos, and we’ll present ideas based on your budget with photos and brochures of the Sundek products we work with.
Show and Discuss Samples
It’s one thing to see a picture and quite another to see for yourself. This is why we will create a sample board to play with color and texture to see what you prefer. We will have other boards available for you to inspect and get a feel for. We will also show you our layering process: the first coat, second coat, top coat, and then the coloring before the sealer. This is so you can see the layers of the process to get the final desired result.
We can also test out certain stains and look at them from every angle. Some concrete stain ideas in photos may look one way but very different from a different point of view. It also depends on the concrete sand and finish of the existing concrete we’re applying the stain to.
Translate Your Design to Your Space
Once we’ve created your perfect custom concrete design for your budget, leave it to us to translate your ideas into reality. You can browse our custom concrete design portfolio to see our beautiful project results for yourself. We put quality and care as our highest priorities with each of our projects, and it shows in our final product.
Design Trends | Unique Concrete Designs
Visit us at Big Red Decorative Concrete for custom concrete design in Kansas City
At Big Red Decorative Concrete, we love custom concrete design and making spaces beautiful for our customers. Our extensive experience and vast portfolio of work make us a great company to work with for your home or business project.
Our services include:
We’re exclusive installers of the renowned Sundek product line. This line offers many custom concrete design stains, dyes, garage epoxy coatings, concrete resurfacing solutions, and concrete sealers. We’re always improving the skill set of our team to develop our trade even further, and we even work with other Sundek dealers for product training and development.
We have a seamless customer experience from the beginning of a project to completion. Our team uses problem solving skills, high quality products, and exceptional craftsmanship to create a beautiful concrete solution for you. We love every part of the design process, and we’ll work with you and your budget to create something spectacular. Reach out to us today!