How To Create An Outdoor Living Space With Stone

One of the most enjoyable home improvement projects you can undertake is adding outdoor living space to your backyard. In the warmer months, friends and family will enjoy congregating on a backyard patio, around a pool deck or for social gatherings in an outdoor living room. And adding these kinds of features using natural stone hardscaping is also a great way to add to the re-sale value to your home. Consider these popular applications for natural stone and stone veneer products:

Flagstone, cobbles or slate tile for patios

The patio is a classic outdoor renovation project. Newer, more durable furniture products make it possible to create outdoor rooms with different areas for dining, lounging and other activities. Incorporating a natural material that has been used for centuries, flagstones and cobbles add a rustic English country garden look to your patio. They’re stable and, planted up with ground cover and perhaps a pergola or awning overhang, make for a beautiful outdoor living room. They also work without vegetation if outdoor areas are used over three seasons. Slate, traditionally available in darker shades and large tiles, lends a more sophisticated and contemporary vibe.

Stone veneer on outdoor kitchens

Stone veneer is a popular choice for outdoor kitchens, increasingly a feature in new homes. Used as cladding around BBQs and grills, it allows for the integration of all outdoor kitchen elements. Stone veneer can also be used as an accent material to decoratively demarcate an area for food preparation. Many cooks are fanatical about grilling outdoors and will want to incorporate natural stone into their backyard kitchen to allow for all-season open flame cooking.

Stone Walkways using Cobbles

Walkways can delineate private and more public space as well as direct foot traffic to the various areas of your property – garage, backdoor, pool area, storage shed, front to backyard, etc. Ocean Pearl Cobbles can be used for edging or for the walkway itself to lend a country feeling. Available in a vast number of sizes, cobble stones can also be laid in diverse patterns.

Retaining walls using cut wall stone or stone blocks

Stone retaining walls are often more than just decorative. They can help manage irrigation, drainage and soil erosion, as well as building up areas for seating or as containers for gardens and heritage trees. Solid stone blocks or self-supporting cut wall stone adds texture and architectural heft to outdoor areas.

Around pools and on hot tubs

Natural stone lends itself to a more sophisticated treatment on pool decks or for the enclosures of pools and hot tubs than plain concrete and iron or other types of fencing. It also makes an attractive coping (the sloped top edge of a wall or structure) around the edge of an in-ground pool. These treatments can blend in or contrast with natural stone treatments used elsewhere on walkways and patio areas.

Fireplaces in an outdoor living area

A built-in outdoor fireplace is the ultimate in luxury. Many can be utilized all seasons. Styles vary but natural stone makes great aesthetic sense and can also be used to create a feature wall or adjacent seating. Choose stone textures and colors carefully to complement materials used for other parts of the patio and nearby retaining walls. Using stone is a natural when creating outdoor living areas for your property. Hard-wearing, good-looking and relatively easy to install, use it anywhere for an inviting ambiance and architecturally interesting home improvement. The pleasure and enjoyment you and your family will get from it will last for generations.