If you want to extend your living area to the outdoors, choose stone for its versatility to create the outdoor space of your dreams. Stone is a beautiful choice that can add luxury for entertaining or increase the charm of a rustic retreat. It can also help increase your property value.

Ideas for transforming your outdoor space:

Customized walkways

Create ambience immediately with a customized stone walkway that leads you and your guests to your paradise. When you replace the concrete, you have many beautiful options such as laying flagstone. Lay the flagstone down in a regular pattern for a sophisticated setting or mix the flagstone with aggregates for a rustic appearance.

Raised garden beds

Go vertical with your garden when you stack drystone to raise your garden beds. By using varying heights and textures of stone to show off your beds you can add amazing visual appeal. Use larger stone products to make your space appear larger and smaller aggregates to draw attention to the details. Place stones uniformly for a structured look or randomly for a more casual look.

Outdoor kitchen

The outdoor kitchen has become a central gathering place for many backyards. Think beyond the standard grill when you add all the essentials – oven, fridge, sink, wet bar, etc. – for your outdoor convenience. Stone veneer is a great product for building your outdoor kitchen and will impress everyone.

Fire pit

Imagine having a relaxing fire pit area to head to once the grilling is done and the evening sets in. Design a fire pit with pavers or stacked stone. For the full luxury experience, expand the stone area to include a paved area and built-in seating.

Columns and retaining walls

Increase the glamour of your space when you dress it up with stone veneer columns. Add the feeling of a private room when you build a retaining wall enclosure. Or choose to partially enclose the area. A wall along the back gives the appearance of privacy because it sets the area apart.

When you transform your outdoor space using stone, you have a wide selection to choose from. Stone products offer abundant color palates and unlimited pattern options to create the look and feel you want. Contact Fieldstone Center at 770-385-7708 for assistance in selecting the right stone to use in your space.

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If you are looking to add upgrades to your landscape, whether for your own personal wants or to prepare to sell your home, consider hardscaping improvements. To maximize your investment, think of hardscaping as a way to improve your property so that it is more “green” and low maintenance. The key is to blend the living environment with hardscaping elements so that they benefit wildlife and provide healthy outdoor spaces.

4 ways to add hardscaping to your landscape

Walkways

Add a gravel or paved walkway through your garden. This allows you to enjoy the garden with a material that is low-impact. When choosing gravel or natural stone as the material for your walkway, you can avoid the harsh chemicals that are found in asphalt and use a more environmentally-friendly surface compared to concrete. Plus, gravel and natural stone have naturally high permeability rates so water can flow through them instead of as run-off, helping to minimize erosion.

Patios

Get rid of the concrete pad and install a patio with flagstone that is low maintenance and gorgeous. This is a luxury that is hot in today’s marketplace. Flagstone is natural so it works well in blending your outdoor area with the surrounding environment. And if you convert a place where grass is hard to grow for your new patio, you can further maximize your outdoor space with a low-input material that reduces your maintenance. You’ll have more time to relax and less time needing to mow, weed, seed, or otherwise waste your energy maintaining the area.

Retaining Walls

Stone retaining walls are some of the best ways to help conserve water and minimize soil erosion in your landscape. By adding a drywall stone wall to a sloping area, you can better control erosion while using a material that is hard and durable. Plant some low maintenance groundcover behind the wall and you’ll have a feature that can be appreciated for years.

Garden Features

Incorporating in stone water fountains or ponds can help attract wildlife while also filling in areas that minimize your maintenance. Interspersing stone garden features in your landscape can help reduce the need to buy plants and other landscaping products, and they are durable and long-lasting. Consider constructing a pond that is surrounded by various sizes of boulders or riverrock, or design a water fountain with thin stone veneer.

It’s important to blend your hardscaping in with your natural landscape to maximize value in your home. People want to see something that is appealing besides being “green”. Too much greenery can be intimidating to a person who doesn’t want to spend all their time in the garden, while too much “hardscaping” can be overly intimidating to someone who wants to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.

Fieldstone Center, Inc. has stone products for all your landscaping needs. Contact us at 770-385-7708. We can help you decide on the best upgrades to add to your landscape with the right stone for an amazing result!

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Good planning is needed to add the proper balance in material and style. You should understand the size of the project so you can select the right materials. Some projects are smaller in scope and others larger.

3 Hardscaping Ideas

Functional Patios

A patio is the backbone of your outdoor living space. It is the gathering place for friends and family to enjoy the outdoors. It compliments your landscape by creating a transition from the inside to the outside. With hardscaping, you can add function with a relaxing sitting or eating area. Frame your area with a rock wall and use your natural landscape as the backdrop.

Since your patio will be an area of high traffic, flagstone is a favorite choice for the surface. It is durable and low maintenance. It is a good option no matter what size area you are working with. And the natural color hues help to transition from indoors to outdoors while providing many ways to be creative with the stone’s numerous patterns and uses. Mix in thin stone veneer when building luxury features like an outdoor kitchen or fireplace. And add in drystack stone for a bar.

Low Maintenance Lawn

Replacing portions of your grass with hardscape materials is becoming increasingly popular. Besides decreasing your maintenance and conserving on your watering needs, aggregates like river rock, pea gravel, and crushed granite can be a beautiful compliment to the rest of your landscaping.

You may already have an area where the grass is difficult to grow. Think of how much easier it would be and better it would look if you didn’t have to struggle with caring for those bare patches. Instead, redefine the area with stone or aggregates. If the area gets a lot of traffic, you can design a wide gravel area bordered by low maintenance plants or beds. For an area that is not used often, spread pea gravel and add iron or wicker furniture for a cozy resting place.

Walkways

A stone walkway can compliment a landscape by bringing diversity and creating a natural flow for traveling through an area. There are a number of hardscape materials with different shapes and sizes to compliment every type of outdoor environment. Design a simple gravel path for low maintenance and quick access through a landscape area. Or design an intricate stone walkway that leisurely winds through a garden with several drystacked stone water features and other points of interest. Plan a rock retaining wall as an added feature to compliment a property boundary. Your options are plentiful.

To design the best compliment for your landscape, the amount and type of hardscaping you add should blend with the surrounding area. You don’t want to overpower a quaint, cottage garden. Although you can still add in a strong structure such as a stone fireplace or wall to a small area, be creative with the greenery hanging or growing alongside the structures so that you maintain the cozy feeling. A scenic landscape that has more open space or a grand view is typically more suitable for standalone hardscape feature that creates a statement.

When you are ready to add in hardscaping to your landscape, Fieldstone Center has the natural stone, thin stone veneer, aggregates, and other materials for your project. Contact us at 770.385.7708 for more information.

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