We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristi O’Rorke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kristi, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

CHICCRETE was born in 2022 out of pain and brokenhearts. We bought our dream home sight unseen and had a made for TV reveal, only to weeks later be left with a mess of a basement with water pouring in our home on Mothers day weekend. Once the dust settled, we needed to creatively an cost effectively fix what was handed to us broken. CHICCRETE was born in the pain and we turned that into purpose. We have become masters at turning lemons to lemonade in life and we are proud to take a very negative time in our lives and turn it into a business.

Kristi, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

At Chiccrete we believe that Texture=Character. We are passionate about transforming ordinary spaces into works of art. Our decorative concrete overlay system which we refer to as “Chiccrete” is more than just an interior upgrade to your elevate space but truly a hand made one of a kind creation that will surely be the focal point of any room. Chiccrete is timeless and brings a natural element to any new or existing space. Chiccrete can be used to create accent walls, fireplaces, kitchen hoods/islands, backsplashes, bathrooms/showers, flooring, basement walls, arched built in bookcases, arched framing on any interior walls, patios and so much more. We also offer interior/exterior design services to help our clients choose the shape, texture, design and custom finishes of your new one-of-a-kind space created with Chiccrete. Our small husband and wife crew gets the strength + manpower from Shaun and the interior design + artist eyes of Kristi. Dream Team loading…

Our Business was born from pain, we turned it into purpose.

Why we are different:
‌New Home Construction/ Home Builders: We love new construction but have seen the struggle many new home builders and homeowners have with the lack of texture and character. We aim to bring in the old home feeling and create a more worn, cozy, lived in feel. Our goal is to create spaces that even if brand new feel like they have existed forever! Our interior designer can work with your team of carpenters/ framers (or bring in our own) to plan your Chiccrete rooms, accents and finishes. New builds benefit from Chiccrete upgrades such as kitchen hoods, Backsplashes, island wraps, flooring, accent walls, overlay of arches, built ins, full bathrooms, showers, fireplaces, patios and so much more!

Why we are different: Existing Homes/Remodels: Our concrete overlays can be installed over any existing surface such as tile, stone, wood, drywall, cinder block, cement truly anything that is structurally sound but in need of an upgrade or update. And yes… TILE. One of our favorite no demo renovation solutions is helping clients transform outdated tired tile bathrooms and showers into sleek, clean, and textured spaces that will leave you feeling like you’re in the Mediterranean! The best part is the majority of our Chiccrete solutions for existing spaces do not require any demolition. NO DEMO RENO! We love offering our clients a quick turnaround time so they can enjoy their new space without the mess and extended time involved with traditional construction and demolition

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think how we started and to be honest we are not fully running off to the races. We have limited funds and are experiencing hardships in trying to get clients and business is slow/non existent. We are determined to make this work because we are passionate and know that once the word gets out to the right people, with the right home needs, we will be successful. Our focus is timeless design, Minimalist approaches and organic raw natural finishes that will last a lifetime. We are struggling to get started but are Walking by faith that the lord will make a way for CHICCRETE to be successful in Pittsburgh. While everything is pointing to us to quite and give up, we are pushing past possible and wont give up on our dreams!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Everything came from our own pockets and being we are slow we are very much in the negative. We hope to one day be a well known thriving business but in all honesty we are in the trenches and not profitable. We need help and have limited funds for advertising so things have been slow but we are walking by FAITH!! We hope that as we continue to meet the right folks, a path will be made. We believe that our finishes speak for themselves and that the right people will come into our lives and help us make CHICCRETE a great success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chiccrete.com
• Instagram: @Chiccrete