Creativity beyond your control

I’m nearing the end of my basement finishing project and I decided to use concrete stain on the floor rather than go with my original idea of bamboo flooring. At this point, I’ve sunk enough money into that room, and bamboo flooring would cost almost as much as all the other materials up to this point.

While I was doing research on the stain, whether it was appropriate as a DIY project (it is a big jug of hydrochloric acid after all), and where I could actually get my hands on the supplies, I found a bit of copy on one of the sites interesting. To the best of my memory, the copy went like this:

Each concrete slab is unique and will react to the stain in different ways, even in one area over another. As a result, the concrete will ultimately look like whatever it wants to look like.

There’s an element of surprise to concrete staining. I know what I wanted my floor to look like, but ultimately I had to concede to the wishes of the concrete. Incidentally, it didn’t let me down. The floor is spectacular because of the fact that the stain penetrated imperfectly. There are some areas of the floor that are a very rich saddle brown color. Other areas are much lighter, and there are a few areas so dark they are almost black. My concrete has become very reminiscent of marble.

Some projects are like this. Despite your intentions and the amount of control you try to have, sometimes the project wants to be something else entirely. Most of the time, that’s a good thing. Learn to have the insight to see when a creative project wants to take a life of its own, learn to let go a little and see where you get taken, and learn to love the results of something bigger than itself.