6 ways to enhance your home with natural stone cladding

Stone cladding is an eye-catching exterior for a home, making it look classic and timeless no matter the architectural style. But that’s not the only way this type of masonry can transform a home. From major projects like a complete home exterior renovation, to smaller jobs like resurfacing a boring fireplace or flooring to create depth of character in a single room, stonework can make your home feel like a brand new home.

The variety of options available is dazzling. From rustic brick looks to sophisticated cream stone looks, today’s stone cladding is revolutionary in both appearance and ease of installation. So what can you do with it? How can you use it to create a completely new and beautiful look for your home?

Stone cladding for the exterior of the home

• The exterior of the house: The most obvious use of stone cladding is to cover the exterior of the house or to create an accent wall or two on the exterior. With a certain sophistication, a house with the appearance of exterior walls of carved gray stonework stands out, and a porch with sandstone walls is a bright and welcoming entrance. A stone-clad house has a timeless appearance because it recreates an old material for a fresh new look that makes it stand out.
• Garden walls: The garden is an oasis in good weather and even in winter it can be a pleasure to look at from the comfort of a chair by the window. Garden walls can be simple boundary markers or, with the right stone cladding, they can be a landscape feature that serves as a stunning backdrop for plants and other garden features. Stone cladding can also be used on lower walls, such as retaining walls around a landscaped slope.
• Paths and patios – An easy way to add style to your home’s outdoor space is to redo patios and garden paths with stone cladding. Patios are an outdoor living space and coordinating the stone cladding for your patio with one used inside provides continuity between inside and outside. Gravel can lend a certain charm to a driveway, but it quickly becomes scattered and dirty, creating a lot of extra work. Stone work offers the visual appeal with much less hassle and maintenance. The driveway to the front door is the introduction to a home, so this smaller-scale project packs a big visual punch and can add substantially to a property’s curb appeal.

Stone cladding for the interior of the home

• Interior Walls – A very large space can display striking character when an entire room or more has stone cladding walls, but even the smallest of spaces can be enhanced with an accent stone wall. An entryway or hallway sets the mood for a home, and cladding those walls with stone tells guests that your host has distinctive good taste. A rustic brick clad wall can create a warm, homey feel in a kitchen, and stone cladding in a conservatory with a solid wall can really give it the feel of an outside space but without the exposure to the elements.
• Fireplaces – The fireplace is often the focal point of a room, and a boring fireplace can undermine a charming décor. People are drawn to fireplaces even if there’s no fire, so redoing a fireplace is a big impact change to a room. In the kitchen or living room, a stone veneer finish adds to the primitive appeal of the fire. Stone veneer also provided homeowners to change the overall shape of the fireplace. An arch can be created, for example, in a square opening, creating a dramatically different look and feel for the entire room.
• Floors – Using stone floor coverings is a great way to add the beauty and charm of stone to a smaller space or one with lots of cabinetry or other wall features. Stone cladding creates the feel of an old space without limiting how the wall space can be used. It’s a wonderful choice for kitchens or narrower hallways that would feel cluttered with stone-clad walls. Floors and fireplaces can be done by coordinating stone cladding to develop a strong decorating theme for a single room or the entire house.

Stone cladding can be a reasonably priced investment to give a home a complete makeover, whether homeowners are looking to upgrade their living space or increase its value because they plan to sell. This is a lasting change for a home, but one that means enduring beauty and less maintenance than paint or pebble for the exterior and a stunning transformation for the interior.