Tip #1 - Color Hardeners
for Coloring Concrete

On this particular job the use of three different color hardeners terra cotta, sun-baked clay, and beige cream were used to give the concrete a natural stone look and a less distinct shadow-line that the house casts on the slab during most of the day. By using terra cotta, a darker color hardener in the heavily sunlit areas but transitioning to sun-baked clay, a light color in the shadow area, the end result is a surface that is easier on the eyes and never too dark in a shaded corner. Beige cream is then used sparingly across the slab for greater depth of color. The concrete was also treated with #350 desert tan, a color release, before skinning to further distinguish it with natural colors and to further blend the three colors together. The dessert tan also makes the veining from the skins consistent across the slab.

— Lee Levig, Fairfield, CA