Colorado's Artisan Concrete Serves up Decorative Concrete with Style and Edge

Juliet Farmer, ConcreteNetwork.Com Columnist

Philip Brown's Artisan Concrete in Buena Vista, Colorado, has been going strong for about eight years now, offering interior and exterior work for both commercial and residential spaces including acid staining, concrete countertops and surfaces, concrete stenciling, stamped concrete and epoxy flooring. Brown's work features custom textures, colors and finishes to create looks that magnify the natural beauty of concrete.

While he got his start with a friend focusing on stamped overlays, Brown explains, "I quickly got bored and decided to go out on my own and specialize in acid stained concrete and concrete countertops."

Brown laid the groundwork for his current success as a decorative concrete artisan by studying advanced acid staining techniques with industry leaders and attending the nation's premier concrete countertop fabrication classes at the Concrete Countertop Institute. He remains on the cutting edge of industry innovations by regularly utilizing continuing education.

"The company name, Artisan Concrete, describes what I felt I was doing with concrete," he notes. "Acid staining has enabled me to include artistic interpretation in my work, with the result being a much more unique and creative end product. It keeps it interesting and allows for a higher quality of work."

With a portfolio of about 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial projects, including hotels and offices, Brown's focus is on acid staining. "For commercial projects it's an easy fit," he explains. "It's low cost and low maintenance. Business owners are quickly beginning to realize these benefits and we are seeing a noticeable increase in the installation of this type of flooring in commercial and retail spaces.

Some of Artisan Concrete's more recent commercial projects include the Holiday Inn in Vail and the Oakwood Homes showroom in Colorado Springs. Architects and designers have also realized the benefits of acid stained flooring and have begun to collaborate with Artisan Concrete on residential and commercial projects.

Located in the center of Colorado, Artisan Concrete is ideally situated to work throughout the state and often works in Colorado Springs, Denver and the Vail Valley, as well as south in Pueblo and north in Ft. Collins. Working out of state is no problem for Brown, who recently collaborated with a designer on a home in Phoenix.

And the phone keeps ringing, in part because of Brown's recent delve into Modellos, a process of stenciling interior floors with elegant borders, medallions and full-color floor patterns, which sets him apart from any competition. Brown notes that Modello stencils offer thousands of options, including custom stencils.

"Sometimes someone will show me a picture of what they want and Modello will create a custom stencil," Brown explains. "It's a newer process and it's an expensive product, so most clients use it for accents. We like to acid stain over an entire floor and then highlight areas with Modellos or do borders...The Modellos create a more elegant look and many clients want that effect."

Clients have also been asking for decorative concrete combined with radiant heating. "With radiant heating, owners don't want to cover the floor with area rugs or carpets because it inhibits the efficiency of the heat," he says. "People have also become tired of tile, and there's an increase in demand for concrete flooring due to that as well."

Another market in the Denver area is basement flooring. "We've noticed a trend of flooded basements, where the owner is tired of replacing carpeting and they want a concrete floor in the basement," Brown adds.

As for concrete countertops, which Brown says he's always excited about, he observes, "They are just now becoming popular because people love the way they look." Artisan Concrete only pours concrete when it comes to countertops; otherwise for floors or exteriors they work only with existing concrete.

For one recent project in a residential cabin in southern Colorado, Brown created light grey concrete countertops in the kitchen using solvent-based dyes to create the effect of a chrome-like surface. He also built a concrete back splash to tie in with the countertops.

"The majority of my work is cast in place, which is appealing because it's monolithic so there are no grout lines or seams," Brown explains of the cabin's countertops. He also crafted an island around the stove in the middle of the room. He formed and poured the countertop in two days, then left for about a week to let it cure before returning to detail and seal it.

For a residential project in Arizona, just outside of Scottsdale, a designer flew Brown in to work on the house. "I did the entire floor of the home in acid stained concrete, 3,500 square feet, and the countertops as well," he recalls.

Using a spray top product, which Brown says he prefers to use versus doing saw cuts, he created a design on the floor. First, he taped a ΒΌ-inch pattern on the floor and used Concrete Solutions' Spray Top to highlight the designs, creating a 1/16-inch thick surface before removing the tape.

"The pattern doesn't have to be cut, and there's no grout or dust," Brown notes of the process. He then stained the floor with four different colors of Kemiko stains, taking three days to complete the entire process.

Brown poured the countertop and then let it cure for a week before returning to place the copper edging and finish it. In all, he crafted 55 square feet of countertops and an island in dark brown with copper trim.

One of the first projects Brown worked on was an acid stained driveway for a neighbor's house. Brown laughs, "There was no concrete left at that home that we didn't do!" The entire project, some 4,000 square feet of exterior concrete, was acid stained before he was through.

In all, Brown says Artisan Concrete has had much success due to word of mouth marketing. "The sale is almost always made before I even meet the client," he concludes. "I go out on sales calls and I'm also the one who will be doing the work. I'm the artisan and installer, so you get me from start to finish."

And from start to finish, Brown puts the artisan in Artisan Concrete.

Philip Brown
25503 County Rd Ste. 321
Buena Vista, CO 81211
(719) 207-0486 Office
Send Mail Now - Click Here
http://www.artisanconcrete.biz

Visit The Artisan Concrete web site

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