A natural stone patio can add lasting beauty and value to your home. The design process helps you clarify your vision and flesh out ideas to marry function and beauty. To help inspire you, here are three natural stone patio ideas for your Long Island, NY, landscape.
A Central Feature
The most successful outdoor living spaces are centered around one or more features where people naturally gather. You can have a patio designed around an outdoor kitchen, or a fire feature, or an expansive view. In those cases, it’s not that the rest of the patio plays second fiddle to these features (rather, the secondary features enhance the experience), but the aim is to give your patio a focal point that serves as an anchor for the design.
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The first consideration should always be what you envision yourself doing on the patio most of the time. Relaxing and unplugging from the world? Entertaining small groups or large groups? Playing with the kids in a family-friendly space or enjoying more adult activities in a sophisticated area? In any of these scenarios, choosing a central feature (whether it’s the outdoor kitchen, hot tub, fire feature, water feature, or sunken conversation pit) is the jumping-off point for a successful design.
A bold and innovative design that includes a boulder-strewn creek running through the middle of a patio can serve as a way to provide a stunning focal point, and also help divide the space according to use. Connect the separate patios with artistic stone or wooden bridges to complete the look.
Mixed Shapes and Patterns
Let the landscape dictate the shape of your patio and the materials you use. Subtly mirroring the contours of the landscape, or features such as a waterfront or rock outcroppings, will help your patio blend beautifully into its surroundings.
Within the patio, there’s no rule to laying patterns. If you are using natural stone already cut into dimensional shapes, you can create unique spaces within your patio by altering the laying pattern: for example, you could have a curved patio made with dimensionally cut natural stone, with a random uncut flagstone gathering area around a fireplace for a rustic touch.
Related: Stylish Outdoor Furniture Options for Various Patio Designs in Southampton, NY
Mix Colors and Embrace the Imperfection
Different-colored stones can be mixed and matched. Natural stone is, by nature, imperfectly perfect. Individual stones may have colors, patterns, textures, or even blemishes that make them stand out from the rest in a beautiful way, and that’s what makes a natural stone patio so magical.
Do carefully consider the stone you choose for your patio and how a particular stone will look in the setting. While lighter stones make a space feel larger and darker stones create a more intimate space, avoid stones that contrast too much with the home and/or the landscape. You want the outdoor living space to be a perfect transition between the landscape and the home, so consider how your natural stone choice will look against your lawn, existing or planned landscaping, the color of the home on the stone you choose, and any prominent landscape features.
When it’s time to set the wheels in motion on your fabulous new natural stone patio, give Gary Duff Designs a call!
