Flat Work · Pattern & Colour Selection
Choose the pattern. Then choose the colour.
Stamped concrete can carry the texture of brick, stone, plank or cut ashlar, and the colour can be tuned to the house it sits against. This page explains how the choice actually works.
Where to start
Did you know concrete could be so beautiful?
A slab doesn't have to be grey. From brick to stone to wood, the range of what concrete can be made to look like is wider than most people expect, and the decision in front of you is really two decisions: the pattern pressed into the surface, and the colour system that goes with it.
We offer one-on-one consultation for layout and colour selection, or we give you the details and let you decide at your leisure. Some clients want to sit down and work through the combinations with us. Others want the details in hand and a week to think about it. Both work.
Every project is unique. We look at your vision, the architecture of the house and the surrounding landscape before we recommend anything, because a combination that looks handsome on a sample board can fight badly with the brick it ends up next to.
Patterns
Stamped concrete replicates
nearly any natural material.
Four families cover most of what gets installed. Inside each one, the stamp scale, the joint layout and the depth of the texture change the result as much as the pattern name does.
Brick and Cobblestone
Running bond, herringbone and cobblestone. Repeating units at a small scale, which suits driveways, patios and walkways and forgives an irregular edge better than a large-format stamp does.
Flagstone and Slate
The look of natural stone at a fraction of the cost of quarried stone. Irregular flags and textured slate sit comfortably against Colorado planting, rock and rough grade.
Wood Plank
The warmth of timber decking without the sanding, staining and board replacement that timber decking asks for every few seasons. Common on pool surrounds and covered patios.
Ashlar and Tile
Clean geometry, sharp lines, wide joints. Cut ashlar and large-format tile patterns read well on contemporary houses where a rustic texture would look borrowed from somewhere else.
Colouring methods
Four ways to put
colour into a slab.
They aren't interchangeable. The method decides how deep the colour goes, what happens when the surface wears, and how the tone holds up under high-altitude sun.
| Criterion | Integral colour | Colour hardener | Acid stain | Dye |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How it goes on | Pigment batched into the wet mix | Dry shake broadcast onto fresh concrete and floated in | Brushed or sprayed onto cured concrete | Fine pigment in a carrier, applied to cured concrete |
| Where the colour sits | Through the full depth of the slab | In the top few millimetres only | Chemically reacted into the surface pores | Absorbed into the surface pores |
| Character of the colour | Even, muted, predictable | Denser and more saturated than integral | Mottled and translucent, varies with the slab | Intense and uniform, widest palette |
| If the surface chips or wears | The same colour is underneath | Grey shows through | Colour stays, because it is a reaction in the surface | Colour stays but is shallow |
| Under strong UV | Iron oxide pigments hold their tone | Iron oxide pigments hold their tone | Generally stable once neutralised and sealed | Many dyes fade, so they belong indoors |
| Usual place for it | Exterior flat work needing full-slab colour | Stamped exterior work needing depth of colour | Existing concrete, interior floors, feature areas | Interior polished floors |
Release agent supplies the second colour
Powdered release does two jobs at the stamping stage. It stops the mats sticking to fresh concrete, and it leaves fine pigment behind in the low points of the texture. Once the slab is washed down, what stays in the joints and the grain is an accent colour sitting under the base colour, and that contrast is most of what makes a stamped surface read as stone instead of as moulded concrete. A dark release over a light base gives an aged, quarried look. A release close to the base tone keeps the whole thing quiet. Clear liquid release adds no colour at all, so every bit of depth then has to come from the base.
Sealer decides how the colour finally reads
Nothing looks the same sealed as it does bare. Solvent-based acrylics darken and enrich colour, often dramatically, while water-based sealers stay closer to the dry, unsealed tone. Gloss makes colour look deeper and joint lines look sharper; matte flattens both. Sealer wears and gets re-coated over the years, so the surface on handover day is one version of the colour, not a fixed one.
Choosing a base and an accent from a screen. Monitors misrepresent both saturation and gloss, and the two colours you're judging interact differently at full scale than they do at thumbnail size.
Colours
A design element,
not a finish detail.
We carry a wide spectrum of integral colours and release agent tones. The six below come up most often on flat work, and they're a small sample of the selection available. Earth tones dominate the palette for a practical reason: iron oxide pigments in that range are stable in sunlight, and they sit naturally against Front Range stone, brick and planting.
- Sandstone, a pale warm neutral that stays light in direct sun
- Buff, a soft yellow-beige that suits tan brick and stucco
- Autumn Brown, a mid brown with warmth in the accent
- Weathered Gray, a cool neutral for contemporary elevations
- Terra Cotta, a red clay tone that carries a stone or brick stamp
- Charcoal, a deep grey with the strongest accent contrast
Judging a sample
Look at it outside,
flat on the ground.
Concrete colour is judged badly indoors and judged well on site. The difference isn't subtle, and it's the single cheapest mistake to avoid.
Put the sample flat on the ground where the work is going, at the hour you actually use the space. A colour held vertically in shade isn't the colour you get horizontally in full sun.
Interior light is warmer and much weaker than Colorado daylight, so a tone that looks rich under a showroom bulb can wash out at midday. Sample boards are small, and colour gains strength as the area grows: a shade that reads as pleasant in your hand can read as heavy across a whole patio.
View it wet as well as dry. Rain, snowmelt and pool splash-out all darken concrete temporarily, and on a pool deck that wet tone is the one you'll see most. Hold the sample against the brick, the stone veneer and the roof, not against the sky.
Over time
How the colour settles,
and how it holds up.
The tone on the day the forms come off isn't the tone you live with. Knowing what moves, and how far, keeps month one from surprising you.
Curing moves the colour before it settles
Concrete lightens as it dries. A slab that looks dark and even at the end of the pour will keep shifting for weeks while moisture leaves it, and it can carry a white bloom called efflorescence: soluble salts brought to the surface by that moisture, left behind as a chalky film. It's normal, it's most common in the first months, and a wash or a stiff brush usually takes it off. Judge the final colour when the slab is fully dry and sealed, not before.
Altitude sun is hard on pigment
Ultraviolet exposure climbs with elevation, and the Front Range gets a lot of clear sky. Inorganic iron oxide pigments hold up under that load: the browns, tans, reds and greys that dominate every exterior concrete palette. Organic pigments and most dyes don't, which is why they belong indoors. In practice the sealer degrades before the colour does, and a re-coat brings the depth back.
Deicing salt is the other pressure on a coloured driveway. It attacks the surface itself, and where the colour comes from a hardener, that surface is the only place the colour lives.
Co-ordinate with the house, then step away from it
Take the base colour from something fixed and expensive to change: the roof, the brick, the stone veneer. Take the accent from a secondary element, often the mortar or the trim. But don't chase an exact match: concrete a shade or two off from the brick looks intentional, while concrete that nearly matches looks like a failed attempt at matching. One practical note for pool decks and south-facing patios: dark surfaces get hot underfoot, so bare feet are a real constraint on how far toward charcoal you should go.
Next step
Ready to choose your colours?
Schedule a free consultation and see the full pattern and colour catalogue in person, against your own house and your own light.