Concrete Patio Design Ideas

A patio is an extension of your living space where you spend your leisure time with your friends and family members. A concrete patio is a popular choice among homeowners because of its durability. It can withstand forces of nature year after year. Cleaning and maintenance of this patio is not a big hassle. Another reason behind its immense popularity is that there are several attractive concrete patio designs available that can make their backyard look simply stunning.

Stamped Concrete
If you prefer simple designs, you should opt for this one. Here, concrete is poured on the patio, and designs and texture are impressed upon it using a form or stamp when it is still wet. You can make so many colorful patterns and designs on it. Some popular stamped concrete designs include flagstone, brick, natural stone, tile, etc. In order to achieve these looks, you have to prepare the concrete by adding the specific colored dye into it. Then it is poured on the patio and impressions of desired shapes of tiles or brick is made on it.

Exposed Aggregate Concrete
In this type of design, the aggregate or the heavier rock material of the concrete are exposed or showed off. This gives an altogether new dimension to the patio with concrete finish. You can use colored glass, pebbles or various other decorative items that you want to make visible on the concrete surface. You can create an aggregate border and keep a simple design for the center of the patio. In that case, let the border be of darker shade and the main part of the patio a lighter shade. Pour the concrete at the center of the patio and create a simple design such as pattern of a leaf, or a tree or a bird or any other things that are inspired by nature. These designs will make you feel closer to nature. After that, prepare a separate concrete for the border work in which aggregate stone is added and pour it over the borderline. In order to expose the aggregate rock properly, use a pressure washer once the concrete is dry.

Poured Concrete
It is not at all necessary that the poured concrete should only have the typical gray slabs. Make it interesting by using concrete dye in it. You can use just a single color dye for the entire patio or you can combine two or more contrasting colors. When you have decided to use more than one color, then you have to pour different colors of concrete in different parts of the patio. This idea can be used to create a checkerboard pattern. Concrete staining is another technique that can be used to give such colorful look to the poured concrete. The advantage of patio concrete staining is that it can provide protection to the concrete surface. However, you have to reapply the stains from time to time as weather elements tend to make the stain lighter.

Stenciled Concrete
Paper stencils can be used to produce beautiful designs on the surface of the concrete. It is a simple method and does not require any specialized skills to make those designs and can be made in a very short time. If you are looking for some small concrete patio designs, use stenciled patterns as its decorative accent or focal point. Place a small-sized or medium-sized stencil design on the concrete and apply color to the surface and then remove the stencil. Thus the colored part and the gray concrete will make a nice contrast and improve the visual appeal.

Acid Stained Concrete
This will add a lot of sophistication to the gray concrete as it will look more like a natural stone. Acid stains are available in a wide variety of earth tone colors. Basically, the acid stain reacts with the chemical substances that are present in the concrete to create some wonderful colors. You can use one acid stains or use two or three of them to decorate it further. These are all permanent colors on the concrete slab and there is no chance of fading, peeling or flaking of the colors.

With a little bit of careful planning, you can do the task of designing concrete patios on your own. While selecting the designs, two thing have to be kept in mind. First, it should be appropriate with the surrounding of your landscape and secondly, it should also be a reflection of your personality.