Bluestone Limestone Porch and Travertine Pool Coping

(Pearl River, New York)

Hello. I hope you can help me. I have a question or two about mixing different varieties of stone.

I have a brick house. There is a bluestone porch on the front of the house, with a limestone tread on the perimeter. That's the way it was when I bought the house; is that OK, to mix limestone and bluestone?

Second, I was planning to use a sort of beige travertine pool coping for my new pool. Do you think that works? You can see it from the front porch, but I'll have bluestone, limestone, travertine and brick. Help?

Are you aware of any books on the subject of mixing stone?

ANSWER


I've used limestone and bluestone together and the two types of stones compliment each other. Often limestone is used for treads, wall caps, etc. So, unless something is not right, it most likely is ok on
your porch.

If the travertine color looks well with the brick on your house, I would go ahead with it. You really have to use your eye to see how it looks. It would be a good idea to get a few samples of the travertine, place
them in the pool area, and see what you think.

I recently did a project where there was a brick house and the entire pool paving was a beige/caramel colored travertine It looks great together. There was also bluestone steps (treads), natural stone risers and stone walls. All the stone types and colors blended well and made the project interesting.

I am currently working on a project where there is bluestone, cobblestone, beige travertine and natural stone. You would think will all those different hardscape materials that it might be crazy, but on
the contrary everything works well together. The key is to look at it all together on site.

I don't know of any books on combining paving materials. As mentioned above, by getting some samples and viewing the stone materials together, you should be able to tell if they work. It sounds fine to me.

Good luck, and if you have any further questions, let me know.

Susan