When it comes to decorating your outdoor spaces, figurative alarm bells may be going off in your head. And they may sound something like “expensive! expensive!”. But decorative concrete doesn’t always have to be expensive. Here are seven budget-friendly ideas for decorating your outdoor spaces:
- Stamped concrete/ Stamped concrete overlay
There are multiple ways to make stamped designs work for your outdoor space. When it comes to choosing designs, there are multiple routes you may take. If you’re worried about costs, you can choose to apply a minimal design to the borders of your outdoor space and keep the inner space plain or choose a small pattern to apply strategically on certain parts of the floor.
On the other hand, you can opt to maximize the space by choosing a large-scale pattern to apply on your floors. You can also ask your contractor about budget-friendly designs that will complement your home. Or for more info check https://www.
- Faux stone floors
Decorative concrete has a variety and scale of customization that is simply unparalleled. If you dream of having stone floors in your backyard and patio but fear the hefty price tag, let concrete contractors take care of you.
Concrete can be stamped to mimic stone and other materials and then stained strategically with shades of grey to look as realistic as possible. With this technique, you can choose almost any kind of stone for one affordable price (even expensive flagstone!)
- Polished concrete
Polished concrete is perfect if you like the industrial look of bare concrete but want to give it a sleeker look while also protecting it. Polished concrete does not mean using a polisher or a similar device. It instead uses a chemical densifier that fills in the pores of the concrete. Once dried down, a grinder is used to achieve the desired polish and shininess on the concrete.
Polished concrete is an extremely popular decorative concrete technique because of its chic, low-maintenance, and affordable qualities.
- Concrete staining
If you’re after color for your outdoor spaces, concrete staining is the best decorative concrete technique for you. Concrete stains can come in a variety of colors depending on what kind of stain you choose. Acid stains create a unique and marble-like effect with colors while water-based stains are capable of solid and even staining.
It offers the addition of a unique color to your outdoors without breaking the bank. You can also choose to stain a design or pattern onto your floors.
- Knockdown texture
A knockdown finish on outdoor flooring is a popular and attractive choice because of its appearance as well as its heat-resistance characteristic. Because it creates a mottled kind of texture, the foot does not come into contact with as much heat as it would on a flat concrete slab.
It’s perfect for the outdoors because of this and is especially popular around the pool. It can also be customized as the texture is hand-applied by a contractor.
- Adding other textural elements
If you are interested in the textural attributes of a knockdown finish but want something simpler and cheaper, many other textural treatments exist that can be applied to your concrete floors. Two popular ones are the broom finish and the rock salt finish.
A broom finish is extremely simple but has an impactful design that looks more expensive than it actually is. It is done by using a dense rough broom to apply lines to wet concrete. On the other hand, a rock salt finish can be achieved by pressing rock salt into wet concrete. Once dry, it is power washed off to reveal a textured and slightly raised surface.
- Mixing organic elements with concrete
If you have a very large area of outdoor space, you’re extremely lucky but perhaps also bored by the monotonous look of bare concrete. You can mix up the look of your home and give the eye visual interest by mixing natural and concrete elements.
Between slabs of concrete, make shallow panels to give space for artificial grass like Astroturf, or real grass if you have the budget for it. You at once incorporate nature and color into your outdoor space while keeping costs low at the same time.
