Growing up in rural Massachusetts, summertime was not complete without a stroll through Rietta Ranch flea market. I remember one particularly successful excursion in which I spent a grand $.25 and left with a hat box, a china teacup and saucer, and a framed 1920s magazine ad for The Fabulous Miss Gertrude Hoffman’s dance recital which is still hanging in my bedroom to this day.
And I, like most Americans, can blame Antiques Roadshow for inflating the hope that somewhere out there, in a dusty garage sale on a Sunday morning, I will fall in love with some tchochke that turns out to be worth a fortune.
Thus it was that I found myself casually combing through the Free postings on Craig’s List this morning where I noted a number of ads for concrete chunks. This is no great revelation –’tis the season for DIYers to rent the ol’ jackhammer and, in exchange for a few frosty cold ones, lure friends and relatives to help remove that cracked old concrete patio or walkway.
“Urbanite” is the name that industry hipsters have coined to make this material sound more metropolitan and cool. I’ve had a number of opportunities to use urbanite for landscape projects and I must say, I’m a fan!
It’s a great material for patios, walls and stepping stones. It may be left unaltered or stained a variety of colors, and aesthetically and functionally mixes beautifully with natural stone. It is, of course, a 100% recycled material so you can feel warm and fuzzy about using it. Oh yeah, and did I mention it’s available for FREE?!
Here are some photos of a couple of ways I’ve used it.
Urbanite and stone terraces in SW PDX
Urbanite patio w stone and groundcover
