Concrete Patio Ideas

Here are some concrete patio ideas to help you design your landscaping project. When choosing a patio, consider the design of the shape, the color and the pattern.

Shape

Some options to consider are circles, squares, rectangles, clover-shaped, or our favorite - a combination that gently curves and slopes to match your landscape.

Here's a tip for helping you visualize the final product: Take a garden hose or rope and place it in the form of the shape that you would like your patio. Place it in the exact spot you would like the patio placed. Show it to your contractor, take a picture of it, or make a sketch of your house/building with the patio coming off of it.

Color - The most inexpensive color option is of course, no color. Concrete has a naturally whitish-grey color. This may be exactly what you are looking for. But, color options for concrete are almost limitless. It is our belief that it is best to stay in the neutral color category (greys, tans and browns). Although it is fun to try exotic colors, remember to think about the resale value of your home or property. Exotic colors can scare off future buyers. Also consider the colors of the building your patio will be next to. The colors should complement the building.

Stamped Concrete - This is the process of imprinting a texture into the wet concrete. Once dried and sealed, the concrete often looks like a natural stone, brick or wood (depending on what you chose to texture it with).

Concrete Patio Stain - If you already have a concrete patio but want to update it, try a concrete patio stain. A stain will create a beautiful colored patio with all of the color variations of natural stone, but at a fraction of the cost of a fully colored or stamped patio. The drawback to stains used on standard (no color) concrete is that if the concrete gets chipped or damaged, the grey concrete underneath will show through. Fully colored concrete is colored throughout and small chips won't be very noticeable.

Exposed Aggregate - This is a special type of decorative concrete mix that "exposes" the rocks in the concrete. The rocks are exposed through spraying a retarder onto the surface of the concrete, and then washing the surface off to expose the rock. This is a lower cost alternative to stamping or coloring the concrete, but still looks as classy.

Borders and Combinations - If you want to avoid the cost of full concrete stamping over your entire patio, have your contractor saw cut decorative borders or stamp/stain or color borders only. Or, another option is to have borders done in exposed aggregate and leave the rest of the patio in standard concrete. Here is an example of this technique done on a driveway:

If you live in the Minneapolis and surrounding area and would like a free estimate from Cornerstone Custom Concrete for your concrete patio project, please fill in a bid request.

Return from Patio Ideas to Minneapolis Concrete Home