Two Stones Design

Ed Hawthorne is a computer technician. Shawn Van Driessche is a custom-home builder. But their day jobs belie their true passion — creating a host of one-of-a-kind concrete countertops and other custom concrete architectural elements.

Once the pair puts in a full work week at their day jobs, they switch gears and spend another 40 or 50 hours a week mixing, templating, staining, and polishing to create countertops, shower surrounds, tabletops, bar tops, fireplace hearths and mantels, and other kitchen and bathroom specialties for homeowners, and a range of restaurant, salon, and other commercial building owners.

Their two-year-old company, Two Stones Design, is based in Port Byron, Illinois, located in the western part of the state just 100 feet off the banks of the Mississippi River. The company primarily serves the Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota areas.

"As a custom-home builder, I recognized the need for decorative concrete," Van Driessche says. "So we started doing countertops and it's really taken off."

So much so that the pair probably will eventually be quitting their day jobs as they continue aggressively marketing to kitchen and bath stores.

"That's where everyone goes to look for countertops," he says.

In addition to countertops, the pair is accommodating an increasing number of requests for vanities and shower surrounds, which are typically ¾-inch to one-inch thick and consist of panels about 7 to 8 feet high that are acid stained or mixed with integral colors.

Focusing on kitchen and bath products, they also create vessel bowls and sinks, sometimes integrating brushed stainless steel or copper elements.

"It was trial and error to begin with, but we've gotten it down," he says.

They've also do concrete floors; they recently completed a 4,000-square-foot cementitious overlay for a restaurant.

"It looks like brand new," Van Driessche says.

In addition to their own direct marketing efforts, Van Driessche's custom-building jobs sometimes evolve into concrete jobs. For example, he's building a custom log summer house on the Mississippi River that will include concrete amenities throughout. And now the owners want concrete countertops, surrounds, and sinks installed in their primary house.

Concrete kitchen and bath products are starting to catch on in the western Illinois region, but not nearly as much as they have on the opposite side of the state in the Chicago area.

"Closer to Chicago, people are more familiar with it," he says. "Some people around here haven't even heard of it. People here get the new cutting-edge stuff about five to ten years later than in Chicago."

But with concrete countertops, floors, and sinks popping up on television screens across the country, courtesy of the Home and Garden Television channel, and on the slick pages of custom and fine homebuilding magazines, the allure of concrete is growing.

"It's just basically the natural look and feel that is so appealing to many," Van Driessche says. "And the design aspect is limitless. You can manipulate it to do whatever you want — you can do things you just can't do with other materials."

Like make countertops as thick as you'd like, which is something you can't do with one of concrete's chief competitors — granite.

Concretes design flexibility is perhaps its biggest attraction. Because it starts out essentially as a liquid, it can be formed into almost any shape imaginable, including many shapes that would either be impossible, or prohibitively expensive in other countertop materials, he says.

Depending on the application and the owner's preference, concrete can be poured as thin as ¾-inch, or as massive as 6 inches thick. It can be pigmented with iron oxides to showcase a wide array of colors, and texture variations or it can be treated with sulfuric acid to give it an aged leathery patina. Materials such as metal, glass, colored aggregates, company logos, and minerals — even fossils — can be inlayed into the concrete and polished to reveal a one of a kind finish.

And you can make integral sink drains in sinks and inlay bars and hot trivets in countertops.

"Concrete is the preferred choice for a truly unique and handcrafted countertop surface," the company tells its web site readers. "This custom-crafted material works great when combined with other natural elements such as slate, granite, and wood. It offers durable, flexible, textured, and timeless appeal. Concrete can take on any interior theme, from rocky mountain distressed to city contemporary."

One of Van Driessche's favorite projects is a restaurant in which Two Stones Design graced the bathrooms with concrete — from free-floating vanities to inlaid stainless steel vessel sinks.

Two Stones Design's work can also be seen at a European-style salon in Davenport, Iowa, where the walls of the showers are made of concrete: as you enter the shower, you're surrounded by three panels of varying heights, each one a different color.

In addition to the impressive concrete work itself, the opportunity to have their work displayed in a public setting like a salon is a great marketing benefit.

"With the commercial projects, like the salon, you usually get the exposure," he says. "Like with the salon — we've gotten so much work from that. With the salon it's the women, upper-end clientele who are inquiring."

Meanwhile, a big selling point for Two Stones Design clients is that the company does it all — templating, fabrication, delivery, installation. They even have their own custom truck.

"It's a huge selling point; usually kitchen and bath shops don't want to deal with the installation," he explains. "We cast in the shop, it's polished and then delivered."

And when it comes to polishing, Van Driessche says, clients love the versatility that concrete offers. It can offer a low, dull finish, or transform its look completely with a super-high gloss — or it can display a finish anywhere in between.

Two Stones Design can also match colors to a T — vitally important for today's discriminating homeowner.

"You can send us any color chip and we'll provide a dead match of a pigment with incredible accuracy," he says. "These days everyone wants custom color."

Two Stones Design
Ed Hawthorne
Shawn Van Driessche
409 S. High Street
Port Byron, IL 61275
(309) 523-2197
(309) 523-9989 FAX
(309) 738-3771 Ed
(309) 235-7890 Shawn
Send Mail to Ed Now - Click Here
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www.twostonesdesign.com

Michele Dawson writes each week on one of the contractor members of The Concrete Network (www.concretenetwork.com). She has written about the home building industry for several years and was on the public affairs staff of the California Building Industry Association.