Bluestone has proved to be a popular choice for homeowners in Hudson Valley, NY. Famed for its beauty and versatility in landscaping, as well as its toughness and durability, choosing the right materials alongside your bluestone walkways and patios can play a major role in enhancing the aesthetics of your landscape.
Bricks
Bricks offer natural contrast to bluestone in both texture and color. The softer, earthier feel of clay bricks, as well as the deeper, more vivid rust hues offset the dense texture of bluestone as well as its usually more subdued colors. This combination works especially well when you want to create vivid borders and accents or embed patterns in the surface of a patio or walkway. The resulting combination couples the sophistication of natural bluestone with the rustic charm of clay bricks for a truly unrivaled blend. For those favoring a more conforming design, consider a variation of materials between different features such as bluestone flooring with clay brick walls for a more compliant but still contrasting design.
Natural Stone
Using other types of natural stone can be an easy way to accentuate the bluestone in your design while also retaining the theme of natural materials. Contrasting the unique colors of bluestone with the earthier and lighter hues of sandstone and limestone is one easy route to achieve this, bringing the understated hues of the bluestone to prominence. With stacked limestone walls, you can also offset the sophisticated sheen of processed bluestone patio flooring with the discordant array of stones making up the wall for a contrast in both design language and colors.
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With natural stone, you also have the option of complementing the subtlety of granite in matching colors. The speckled texture will create some contrast while still holding true to the overall theme of your yard. Textured slate is another material that accomplishes a similar effect.
Concrete Pavers
Concrete pavers are a favorite of homeowners and contractors due to the range of design possibilities they enable. This, coupled with their ruggedness and durability, makes them an easy pairing for natural bluestone in all manner of applications. With bluestone walkways and patios, you have the option of a variety of pavers with contrasting textures and colors to use in both borders and patterns. Quality concrete pavers also do an excellent job of mimicking natural stone so you can forgo the cost of using actual natural stone to complement or contrast your bluestone hardscaping while still retaining the natural stone look for your design.
Wood
As with clay bricks, wood does an excellent job of bringing the natural beauty of bluestone to the forefront, complementing each other while still sticking with natural materials. Such hybrid designs are in vogue nowadays as they merge the more modern design language offered by the subtle bluestone with the traditional natural softness of wood.
Porcelain
Porcelain is an unconventional choice but does an excellent job of pairing up with bluestone to create an interesting yard design. The more glamorous sheen often found in porcelain will bring out the subtle natural glow of your bluestone flooring while matching the materials in terms of high density and durability.
Image courtesy of Cambridge Pavers
