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Rarely are specifications for interior concrete floors clear-cut, even on commercial projects. In most cases, clients will welcome your design ideas and even expect them. After all, they are choosing a craft product for a unique look — and you are the craftsperson.

Design ideas are out there in this world waiting for you to grasp. It is just a matter of being alert and collecting good designs when you see them so you have ideas to draw from. I keep a stock of patterns, layouts and sketches, and add to my collection constantly with clippings from magazines, design books or ideas I get from being out and about.

For example, when traveling I get ideas from the terrazzo or marble flooring I see in airports. If I am in a retail store and see interesting designs in a floor of any kind, I will take notes. Start paying attention and taking notes to document what you see in your daily travels. Use Mother Nature as a source of inspiration whether it is an awesome sunset or the color changes of the leaves during the fall.

You would be surprised where you can pull from for ideas. Take for example the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. If you freeze-frame certain segments during the movie you will be surprised to find some of the most exquisite floor designs.

In a nutshell, good flooring designs will come from everywhere. In one instance, I told a student to go to Borders and buy a book on quilting to glean ideas from. The student came back to class the next day thrilled because he had found three books with quilting patterns on the discount rack. Good ideas can also be found in hardwood flooring books, faux painting manuals and even books with vinyl flooring patterns. Oh, yeah — check out your material suppliers’ brochures for design ideas.