Grey, uninviting, cold was the first impression that concrete provokes, but not anymore. With its simplicity, concrete turns out to be a vast field for exploring new techniques, thus new and exiting finishes would be possible. May be in a few years no one would remember the basic look of concrete a part of specialists. An example for a concrete performance is these genius floral design imprints providing a wonderful counterpoint to the cold surface on which they are impressed. Of course, with the technique all kinds of possibilities are opened up – geometric patterns, realistic floors capes and other approaches are all possible. Also, these can be functional and provide different textures and grips underfoot on what would otherwise be a smooth and sterile concrete floor surface. This is also just one of the features of the modernist Transparent House shown in the images above.

Metal leaf gilding is the application of thin leaves of metal to any surface. Firstly the glue is applied, then the metal leafs and finally the excess is brushed out. It allows builders and designers to highlight architectural finishes, create shimmering feature walls or feature ceilings with a variety of unique effects. It can be used internally and externally on residential, commercial and historical buildings. The ceilings reflect the luxuriant attitude of the residents. The world’s greatest artist preferred to convert ceilings into art marvels. The brilliance of gold was always added to further adore the beauty of the ceiling décor.

Daylesford Organic, a growing chain of organic food store/cafés in the UK. Their stores are filled with simple clean contemporary lines and soothing earth tones that are perfect fit for their brand of organic living. The technique used to achieve marble look is called marbling faux finish and it consists of applying the grains with paint (with rug or brush) then brushing with dry and wide brush for smooth colour mixing. The top finish is transparent high gloss glaze to give the polished- marble-look-like appearance. An alternative of this faux finish is called Venetian plaster technique achieved by application of primer, Venetian plaster, coloured Venetian plaster, stucco and wax. Actually these are basic techniques which pattern can vary in many different ways, as it is the final effect.

A staircase with patterned walls which overall look is like damask wallpapers. In fact, the designers have chosen stencilled moss, cut and glued to the walls, to produce that unique look. Using stencils gives the freedom of pattern designing and perfect coordination of the wall finish.

Michael Hellgren is a landscape architect who specializes in creating vertical gardens such as the one in the photos above, located in the lobby of a new office building. There are some unusual wall finishes on the relevant picture namely the garden – wall in combination with faux stonework on the ceiling. It is amazing how the designer finds a way to incorporate these two finishes to reproduce a real natural environment inside the building. By genuinely being combination of nature, plants and stone could not work better together.