Outdoor Spaces

Even on the thumb tip of northwest Washington state, decorative concrete is making its mark, thanks to this father-son outfit.

People have enjoyed sitting outside around a fire since, well, since they discovered fire. Besides the practicalities of fire for warmth, light and cooking, the comfort and romance of fire make us want to pull our chairs up to the hearth and turn our backs on the daily grind.

Steelhead trout rivers, bear dens, salmon runs, bighorn sheep ledges, Jurassic fossils - all hallmarks of eastern Washington state. All available for touching, climbing, wading and digging at the Discovery Playground in Mirabeau Point Park, maintained by the City of Spokane Valley, Washington.

Looking for a way to expand your business’ offerings or add a little more creativity to your life? Either way, the vertical surfaces market may be for you.

This working Roman aqueduct, completed in the fall of 2005 for a home in Dove Canyon, Calif., wasn't built in a day.

Imagine this: You own an estate in the California hills overlooking Monterey Bay. You are a lover of art and natural beauty. You want a swimming pool complex with a large concrete deck and pool house. You want it to accentuate the surrounding landscape and incorporate the feel of the bay, but you’re not sure how you want to achieve that. Who do you call?

Bruce Williamson, of Carrollton, Texas, and a team from French manufacturer Decopierre used a unique limestone veneer to give this bell tower a historic look.

Located in the East Bay District of Olympia — Washington’s capital city — the East Bay Public Plaza celebrates a theme of water stewardship with interactive water features that re-create natural shoreline, streambed and wetland areas.

In Los Angeles, and in particular the Beverly Hills area of the city, there are many OMG backyards. This one, though, created by Scott Cohen’s company, Green Scene Landscaping & Swimming Pools, was over-the-top enough to have been featured last summer on the television show “OMG Backyards.”

When a pair of homeowners put their heads together with concrete maestro Tom Ralston, the result was three levels of outdoor grandeur.

Complementing all the glitter and glam are concrete creations that make heads turn. A 144-foot-tall mountain peaks above the resort’s sprawling 192 acres.

Scott Cohen, artisan and construction defect expert witness, whose company The Green Scene makes decorative backyards and pools in Southern California, has observed problems around salt-chlorinated pools too, but he is far from certain that all salt pools are problematic.

Trying to manage ultraviolet light exposure in California isn't an easy thing to do, particularly when it comes to its effect on concrete sealers. For Napa, Calif., homeowners, contractors were able to get a handle on the situation, creating a countertop for an outdoor kitchen that still looks great more than a year later.

Four decorative concrete projects were among the winners in the 2013 American Residential Design Awards, announced in July by the American Institute of Building Design.

Lightweight and ultra-high-performance, fiber-reinforced Ductal offers advantages over traditional construction materials in interior and exterior applications: strength, durability, aesthetics and ductility.

Justin Brown, owner of 2Stone Designer Concrete in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, had the idea for Luna Loungers for quite a while. “It’s basically a round take on a square chair,” he says. He finally made the idea into something tangible.

Outdoor kitchens are becoming more and more popular, and special considerations must be made in order to ensure concrete's durability, longevity and aesthetics in these applications.

Contractors are increasingly using shotcrete for making artificial rock. The equipment is expensive, but the results are spectacular.