Instead of settling for bland, uniform countertops in your kitchen, you can have so much more. By using decorative concrete countertops, you can invent your own creative works of art that you and your family, friends and guests can enjoy for years to come. Even better, you can do this yourself in a variety of ways using a number of materials.

You can choose to add your artistic touches to the concrete as you or a contractor pours it to form the countertop or even once the concrete has dried and hardened. Concrete dyes allow you to instantaneously transform the color of the concrete to almost any color that you prefer. You can use these dyes to create your own amazing art. The dyes tend to last against the sun for years due to their composition, including ingredients such as acetone.

Water or acid-based stains also act as tools for your concrete canvas. Water-based stains can be transparent or opaque, depending on your preferences, and make a great finishing touch over concrete dye. Acid-based stains, on the other hand, include a mixture of mineral salt, acid and water that you apply over the concrete. Next, you need to apply baking soda and ammonia to the concrete for pH neutrality. Acid-based staining produces more unpredictable results than water-based staining.

Once you finish coloring your concrete countertop, you can also consider stamping it. This changes the textural appearance of the concrete so that it looks like something else entirely, such as wood, cobblestone or brick. Stamped concrete certainly makes an impact.

If you need some help creating your own decorative creative countertop, feel free to work with a contractor such as Deco-Crete Supply, which is owned and run by Jason Geiser, a decorative concrete contractor. You can learn more about decoration options, how to do them at home, and how long that your decorative touches will last. You can also get stamp rentals for stamped concrete jobs, sealers, other concrete tools, and stains.