Natural stone is a gorgeous and creative material to build your patio, walkway, fire pit, seating wall, or other outdoor project out of. It comes in a vatiety of thicknesses, shapes, sizes, colors, and more.
Natural stone comes in a range of colors from tan and brown to gray, black, and even blue or red! When selecting the right color for your Natural stone surface, it is imperative to keep the colors and theme of your house in mind to keep everything looking cohesive and put together well.
If you are building a walkway or patio, larger pieces of natural stone will look better and be more comfortable to walk on. However, a fire pit or garden wall will look much better with smaller pieces for the sides and medium pieces for the cap. There are also varying thicknesses of natural stone available that are used for different things. If you are looking to put a cap on your retaining wall, you do not want to use any pieces less than 2" thick, or else they may break, and will not have much presence.
For every natural stone patio, there is mortar holding the pieces of stone together and attaching them to the base of your surface. Mortar is available in a variety of strengths and colors. The color mortar you select should compliment the color of the stone you are using in order to stay on theme as much as possible and keep your space looking beautiful.
There is no real pattern with natural stone placement, since the pieces do not fit together in the same way that pavers do, however, there are still important things to note about the layout of your natural stone. Smaller pieces should be located towards the outer edge of a walkway or patio, as they will make the edge more even. Likewise, larger pieces should be located more centrally.