Beautiful, practical and timeless, stone floors are a design choice that can bring the beauty of natural materials into your home. The choices of color and variety of stone materials is nearly as wide as that available for wood, and ranges in price from as little as $2 a square foot to upwards of $25 per square foot for imported, rare marbles. Stone floors are practical in places where wood isn't an option - outdoor rooms like patios and pool areas, bathrooms and basements are all suitable for stone floor treatments. With the addition of a sub-floor heater, the stone can be welcoming to bare feet and its heat retention properties make it a popular choice in solar and partially solar heated homes. In any home, the heat retention is an energy-friendly choice, bringing down heating costs.
While many people think of marble when stone floors are mentioned, there are many other varieties of stone that are used in flooring. Fieldstone and flagstone can set off a rustic decor, or add a striking note of contrast to a sleek contemporary design. Marble and granite give a more classic, elegant feel to any room in which they are used, and are especially beautiful in spare, modern kitchens and living rooms. A look at the variety and styles of stone floors is like taking a walk through history.
Marble
Some of the oldest surviving floors in the world were created in marble. The floors of such masterpieces of craftsmanship as the Curia in ancient Rome were created by master craftsman - who took their marble chips and pieces home with them to create elegant and beautiful terrazzo floors with the leftovers. Marble is durable and beautiful, but costly. The colors range from ivory to black, with veining in patterns from extremely fine, to open and spacious.
Slate
Natural slate is another flooring material that has been used for centuries. The cut stone shows patterns that can be subtle or bold, depending on the variety of the slate. Often thought of as a rustic choice, a floor that combines the rich gray patterns in Grecian Black slate with a border or accent stripe of deep purple Andes dawn shows that slate is just as comfortable in elegant, sleek contemporary settings.
Travertine
A name unfamiliar to many, travertine has been used for floors since early Roman times and before. Rougher than marble, the stone is naturally porous, with pockmarks and fissures that give it a characteristic texture. Travertine ranges in color from pale creamy white to 'noce', a deep walnut or coffee brown. The patterns in travertine seem to ebb and flow like a river, making it a perfect stone to blend with natural materials in furnishings and appointments.
Besides the variety and color of stone, the style of laying the tiles can change the entire look and feel of a room. Most stone tiles are available in sizes from 6" to 24", with a variety of shapes from squares through rectangles through custom cut mosaics. Regular, symmetrical patterns, like the popular octagon dot, have a classic timeless style that suits contemporary and continental decor, while a seemingly haphazard arrangement of different sizes of squares and rectangles has a casual, rustic flair. Medallions and borders created of pieced stone mosaic tiles can form a focal point that will transform any room with the beauty and timelessness of stone.