Interior or exterior, concrete still the most fashionable choice

10/06/2005

One of the most sociable areas of the home is the barbeque, where family and friends gather to share in the joy of being together – eating and drinking with good conversation in pleasant surroundings. Few of them know that they are sitting at a concrete Masterpiece.

A barbeque can, of course, be held anywhere from a tailgate at a football match, to a ring of stones in the unspoiled beauty of the wilderness. But built adjoining the house, a really beautifully designed barbeque can enhance and appreciate the value of your real estate far more than most people realize.

The fire pit and the surround can be built of brick, stone or stainless steel, and many other materials. The variety is endless, but the latest choice of many architectural designers is concrete. No, not gray, drab, characterless cement, but shaped, stamped, novelty features- a vast choice of designs, colors that glow, and finishes that are only limited by the imagination of the home-owner or his designer.

This is no longer just a contractor's creation. This belongs in the category of art work as the area of the fire pit itself and the surrounding conversation area develop, it is obvious that this is not just a run-of-the-mill space for cooking meat and swilling beer – this is different.

Built to shelter the guests from wind or smoke, the chimneystack and the hood over the fire place looks like a copper colored exotic stone. The fireplace itself looks like it was carefully built of small stones. The comfortable counters and work surfaces are also a textured copper color. The floor must surely be carefully laid stone or slate but no, it is all made of concrete. Hard-wearing, non-staining, durable decorative concrete built by an artist.

"I love watching the looks of disbelief on the faces of my clients and their guests when they see the finished product and find out that its all concrete". Said Blayde Penza, the owner and designer of Ace Concrete from his studio-workshop in Sun Valley, Southern California. "The effects that one can create with this amazing material are really fantastic and after working with concrete for thirty years I still get a kick out of it".