You should stick with the pre-mix stuff and DO NOT worry about any of the latex admixtures. TRUST ME. My DH has been in the decorative concrete business for more than 10 years. Do not use old cement. It WILL cause trouble down the line. Use up your bags of mix ASAP, don't use some then put it away for a year or you'll either have a hard rock or you'll end up with crummy concrete pieces. I like to paint my concrete, or you can use wood stain to give it a nice look. Do this once your piece is cured out...at least a few days old to ensure the paint won't peel off. If you're in California, you shouldn't have to worry about stones cracking, so no need for the latex stuff. Go as cheap as you can for better results. 8 years ago I made some stepping stones for my mom using the quick mix stuff. She's moved four times and taken those stones with her and they're still just fine.

We are looking for grey tile for our master bath and our bedroom (we have 3 dogs who allow us to share the bedroom with them, and even though they are housebroken, they love to swallow weird stuff and then vomit on the carpet ugh) Here's what we have found so far: The 'iron' is very nice but has a hint of green in it http://bedrosians.com/catalog/m=Porcelain/s=Linen Tilecrest "silk road" Iron http://www.tilecrest.com/silkroad.htm (we got prices for the first two tiles of about $2.80 sq ft.) Daltile Linen Gris or Noir http://daltile.com/series.cfm?series=228&next=7&pg=2 Marazzi Soho (lots of different shades of grey) http://www.qualityflooring4less.com/marazzi-soho.html

Gray has an undertone of green, purple or blue... best to match those with the surrounding colors. Maria Killam (of Colour me Happy blog) has a few rules for selecting gray shades. She is working out of Canada, but translation for the paint names should be available. Her posts on gray undertones including color samples are also very informative. -VW Working with Grays: 5 Rules of Thumb By Maria Killam 1. Decide whether you want your gray to have a green, purple or blue undertone, it will make it much easier to choose. 2. Consider your fixed elements when choosing a gray undertone. 3. Work with the light in the room. 4. If the house is empty at the start of a project, do not fill the walls with 10 samples of gray paint colours. 5. Choose your fabrics first. If you look closely at this kitchen (above) the stone countertop and flooring and subway tile have a green undertone while the interior panels of the doors have been painted a blue-gray. It's subtle and doesn't look necessarily wrong (to the untrained eye) but can you see it now that I'm describing the difference? Most people can. Here is a link that might be useful: Image Source: What Everyone should know about Gray

I am on the search for gray too and currently have TWENTY-TWO samples laying all over my kitchen from five different stores!! What I found was samples will look different home than in stores! Plus it gives you a chance to see next to cabinets, etc. and in your own light! I also have found there's different SHADES of gray. Thought I'd list for you what I have home at the present time. Maybe you can check 'em out online first and then find different store locations that handle the brands you're interested in (that's what I did). THEN, after you find something you really like, get that same sample from various stores so you can place them altogether to get a better idea what it'll look like (also what I'm doing-it helps). Here's the list: BLUE-GRAY: Mohawk (laminate) Concreto-Gray CAD24 42 Quick-Step-Quadra-Charcoal Gray Tile Dura-Ceramic Plus-Polished Concrete PS34-Weathered Gray Dura-Ceramic-Sierra Slate Sl-34, Rain Cloud Wilsonart, Red Label Tile, Urban Slate BROWNISH-GRAY: Stairmaster-SM Ashmore-SM5000 Duraceramic Plus-Rustic Stone-Natural Gray Multi (purplish) Duraceramic-Sierra Slate Sl-43-Chocolate (more brown) Konecto-Safari-Capetown-80030 Wilsonart-Red Label Tile-Clift Slate GREENISH-GRAY: ALLOC-Commercial-Vermont Slate ST-674952 WHITISH-GRAY: Duraceramic-Roman Elegance-RE43-Light Greige Mannington Revolutions-Venicia-Graphite 138531 EarthScapes (vinyl) I was able to bring home the whole sample book & there's various shades of gray in there. Good luck! I feel your pain!