We Do NOT sell “Broken” Materials
Surface Variation, Weathered Edges & Why Your Kit Might Look “Imperfect” (By Design)
Thinking about one of our outdoor fireplaces or kitchen kits? Here’s what to know about how our concrete blocks look—before you ever open the pallet.
We use solid concrete blocks that are mechanically tumbled to achieve a timeworn, rustic look. This gives our kits their signature character—more like stone, less like concrete blocks. The process creates variation, chips, rounded corners, and surface texture that help the structure blend beautifully into a landscape. This allows the structure to look more natural and, moreover, to age gracefully. By making your hardscape feature look “old” on day one, it will look just as “old” twenty years from now. Choosing a crisp architectural material may look sleek now, but it looks old and worn (in a bad way) after years of service. That is why we choose and recommend the natural and unoque beauty of tumbled blocks- the nicks and chips are the character you are paying for.
Here’s what to expect from every kit:
- Rounded edges and worn corners (intentionally distressed—not damaged)
- Color and texture variation across different blocks
- Some scuffs or surface chips—again, part of the aesthetic
- Solid structural integrity behind the weathered exterior
- Extra blocks included in every kit to account for visual preferences or minor damage
- No-hassle replacement of any truly broken or unusable blocks (which is rare)
We encourage you to rotate or reposition blocks as you build to get the look you want. You’ll likely have enough flexibility to swap in your favorites and set aside any with edges or faces you’d prefer to hide.
We Don’t Hide the Imperfections—We Highlight Them
We believe in showing exactly what you’re getting. If you look closely at our product galleries, you’ll see we don’t crop out chipped edges or scuffed corners—we actually leave them in plain sight. In fact, we’ve even circled and highlighted those weathered blocks in several of our photos to make it crystal clear: this is what a tumbled block looks like, and this is exactly what you’re getting.
We do that on purpose—because the last thing we want is a customer surprised by something that’s actually a feature, not a flaw.
We’ve spent years refining these kits, and we’ve made a conscious choice to keep the photography honest. No filters. Just real kits, real materials, and real surface detail you’ll actually see when you unpack your pallet.
If you ever have a question about what’s shown—reach out. We’ll show you exactly where it appears in our product photos.
What it’s not:
- A perfectly smooth or uniform block
- A faux-stone veneer or modular panel system
- A “clean face” paver product or architectural block
If you’re looking for clean edges and pristine surfaces, tumbled block may not be the right aesthetic. But if you’re after something timeless, grounded, and hand-built in appearance, you’ll love it.
No Gimmicks. No Surprises. Just Real Materials.
We work hard to accurately represent our products across our site. Every swatch photo, texture close-up, and lifestyle image is chosen to set honest expectations. If you ever have concerns after delivery, just reach out—we’re here to help, and we stand by the quality of our kits.
What about the photos? Renders and AI vs. Real Builds
All of our product pages feature real photos of completed builds, but with over 750 possible fireplace configurations, it’s not possible to photograph every single layout. To show scale, layout options, and combined configurations, we also use highly realistic 3D renderings. These are designed to help you plan and envision the possible configurations—but they may under- or over-exaggerate the “worn” effect slightly due to the way digital rendering emphasizes edge radius and lighting. This is also true of photographs. By using standardized renders, we can show different products at the same scale and from the same angle so you can better see the differences between them. This is impossible to do across all products on outdoor builds using only photographs.
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There are imperfections shown in renders. -
The real blocks fit together tighter than the render -
We strive for realism
A word about AI images
We design our products, build our prototypes, film our videos, and take our photos. We do not use AI to try to skirt paying professionals. But AI is a great marketing tool, and we do implement it on some images. We do not use AI to trick or deceive you. On the contrary. We use AI images to show our products (real and rendered) in generated settings with AI models. There are so many configurations and possibilities when building an outdoor living area with our kits that there is no way to build and photograph them all. We use AI to show our kits in realistic ways and settings to give you ideas and inspiration for what can be accomplished with them. Think of it as the modern-day illustration from catalogs of years past. Many of our customers are nice enough to leave reviews and photos of their builds on our Testimonials page. We recommend checking those out for real-world customer-built project photos.
If you’re ever unsure whether something is a render or a real photo, just ask—we’re happy to show real examples.