Add flair to home decor with something unique  or at least unusual. Human ingenuity continues to provide new ideas from unexpected sources.

Mysterious material

Who would ever imagine that concrete could be a romantic material? Someone who has is Terence Dubreuil of Glen Cove, N.Y., who makes tables, benches, lamp bases, picture frames and wall brackets out of concrete and other materials.

Dubreuil calls his material distressed concrete because he incorporates into it pebbles, small rocks, beach glass, tiny shells, marbles and other discards that he finds on the beaches of Long Island. Then he dissolves portions of the concrete surface with a high pressure jet of water to expose the various foreign objects. He also makes use of hand-cast glass in a variety of colors.

The genesis of these unusual pieces was a rustic mantelpiece that Dubreuil built for a client on Long Island, where he worked as a carpenter for 15 years. He fashioned brackets out of his homemade concrete mixture, abrading the surface to expose his additives, and then placed a large driftwood board on top of the brackets as the mantel shelf.

The success of the mantel encouraged him to experiment further with the material and to develop other designs. Growing up near Long Island’s beaches also played a role in his designs.

“As a child playing in and exploring the ruins of many of the old mansions there, I was fascinated by the rubble that had eroded into the beach sand and picked up many odd objects,” Dubreuil said. “I still love to walk the beaches.”

Dubreuil calls his work “Paradoxart,” because he sees a paradox in using common materials and throwaways to make something new and attractive. He markets the pieces at his studio in Glen Cove and crafts fairs and retailers throughout the country. Prices range from $44 for a small picture frame to $4,500 for a large piece of furniture.

When space is tight

Loren Sherman had a problem. He had to arrange sleeping quarters for his two children and himself in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City.

He gave the bedroom to his children. For himself he designed and built a table that quickly converts into a comfortable bed and is elegant enough to place in his living room-dining area.

“As a designer of theater sets and trade show booths, I was used to the idea of something turning into something else,” Sherman said. “Broadway theaters don’t have much room backstage and I have designed sets where part of the floor lifts up and becomes a wall with doors and windows in the next scene.”

After he began using the piece, a light bulb went on.

“I realized that there could be a market for this product wherever space is tight,” Sherman said.

He calls it the Inova TableBed and said the piece can be converted from dining table or desk to platform bed in something like three seconds. The TableBed is 65 inches wide and 92 inches long when made up as a bed and 40 inches by 60 inches as a table. It comes in its own cabinet and does not need to be attached to the wall, so it can be taken with you when you move.

The unit comes in a variety of woods and five laminate colors, and the company Sherman set up also will design custom versions.

Prices start at $2,450 for the queen size in laminate. Wood veneer versions are more expensive.

The company will ship the unit by truck.