Stenciled to Perfection: Standout Concrete Floor at Historic Food Hall

The Dairy Market in Charlottesville, Va., greets visitors with an award-winning stenciled and stained concrete floor that immediately commands attention with a marble-inspired design that echoes the floors of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Far more than a visual centerpiece, the floor has earned wide recognition within the decorative concrete community for its precision, technical complexity, and exceptional craftsmanship.

The renovation of this historic downtown landmark — once home to The Monticello Dairy — centered on preserving the original façade and key interior features while introducing new construction at the rear to accommodate offices and expanded uses. Inside, the design team retained much of the existing concrete flooring and exposed brick surfaces as an homage to the building’s industrial dairy heritage, layering contemporary finishes over the old rather than replacing them outright. The result is a space where the structure’s historic character and its modern food-hall identity coexist beautifully, each enhancing the other.

PROJECT GOALS

The stenciled and stained concrete floor is one of the food hall’s most striking design elements. Because the architectural specifications called for a highly detailed marble-like design, concrete stenciling — a decorative method that allows intricate patterns and color layering — allowed the installers to mimic the natural veining and depth of real stone with remarkable precision.

Once the staining and detailing were complete, the surface was polished to improve light reflectivity and durability, resulting in a finish that captures the elegance and richness of real marble while maintaining the resilience of concrete.

WHY STENCILED CONCRETE WAS CHOSEN

Stenciled concrete offered the design team the aesthetic flexibility they needed to replicate the look of high-end marble while tailoring the color, scale, and pattern to the space. The material’s durability made it an ideal choice for a high-traffic food hall, ensuring the floor could withstand constant use without sacrificing its appearance. Stenciled concrete also delivered the visual impact of luxury stone at a fraction of the cost and with far less maintenance.

Just as importantly, the polished, patterned floor strikes a balance between old and new — honoring the building’s industrial dairy heritage while introducing a sleek, contemporary finish that elevates the entire interior space.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

What began as a seemingly straightforward staining job quickly evolved into a highly complex undertaking—one that demanded flawless precision and perfect alignment of an intricate pattern across large floor sections. Even the slightest deviation would have thrown the entire design off.

“The architect decided on the pattern, and it was up to us to figure out how to do it. I suppose we could have used a saw and cut the lines, but it just seemed like it would be more efficient to use a stencil,” says Tim Seay, owner and founder of Decorative Concrete of Virginia, a Lynchburg-based company specializing in polished concrete, stained concrete, epoxy coatings, overlays, and large-scale commercial decorative concrete projects.

About Tim Seay
Tim Seay is the owner and founder of Decorative Concrete of Virginia and has been part of the Concrete Network contractor directory for 19 years. He also shares jobsite insights through his popular YouTube channel and has produced an educational video series in collaboration with Concrete Network.

The most challenging aspect, Seay explains, was aligning the stencil. “It came on 20 different sheets, and we had to be extremely precise the entire time to make sure everything continued to line up as we worked across the floor.”

The jobsite itself added another layer of difficulty. The crew had to perform meticulous work inside an active construction zone while meeting the high standards required for a heavily trafficked public space. The 1,155-square-foot work area was enclosed within a temporary tent set up in the middle of a fully operating food court. “We had to maintain clean air with industrial scrubbers running 24/7 and route all power through ceiling rafters to eliminate tripping hazards in high-traffic zones,” Seay notes.

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION

A 2025 Decorative Concrete Council award winner in two categories:

• First Place: Stained and dyed floors (under 5,000 square feet)
• First Place: Project video (under 5,000 square feet)

OVERVIEW OF DAIRY MARKET

Location: Charlottesville, Va.

Purpose: A community hub with restaurants, retail, and event space, preserving the historic structure while adding contemporary finishes.

Project completion: 2021

Project type: Adaptive reuse of the historic Monticello Dairy into a modern food hall. The project repurposes a 1930s-era dairy facility, retaining its thick brick walls and original concrete flooring while adding modern amenities.

Design emphasis: An open, airy interior with exposed brick walls, concrete flooring largely left intact, and a palette inspired by the old ice cream parlor’s classic black and white subway tile flooring.

Architects: Cunningham | Quill Architects

Concrete contractor: Decorative Concrete of Virginia

Products used:

• Concrete stencils: FLOORMAPS Inc.
• Stains: Increte Vibra Stains from Euclid Chemical

From Historic Dairy to Foodie Paradise

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