20 AUGUST 2026 — DESIGN
A Study in Natural Stone
From subtle movement to statement-making veining, natural stone has the ability to shape an entire room. As a material core to the design of Stoneford Cottage, we considered each slab not just as a surface, but as part of the larger material story of the home.
Natural stone is one of those materials that can set the tone for an entire room. We thought about that throughout our Stoneford Cottage project, where the goal was to create spaces that feel collected, enduring, and connected to the character of the home. Because every slab is different, we like to consider the stone as a whole—its color, the scale and direction of the veining, and how that movement will interact with the other materials in the room.
Quality is just as important as aesthetics, and with natural stone, there’s more to consider than color and veining. We partnered with Aria Stone Gallery because of the way they source and hand-select each slab, looking at structural integrity alongside the richness of color and movement. From there, we consider the practical details: finish changes how the stone reads and feels in a room, thickness informs the profile and edge details, and slab dimensions help us understand how the veining will carry across a surface and where seams may fall. For Stoneford Cottage, it was about considering all of those elements together to find stone that felt distinctive, but still at home within the larger material palette.
When selecting stone, we start with the role we want it to play in the room. Does it need to bring movement, add warmth, or act as a quieter counterpoint to the other materials? At Stoneford Cottage, we used both Calacatta Gold Borghini and Calacatta Lincoln, looking at the scale and movement of each stone in relation to the architecture and surrounding finishes. When you’re narrowing your own selection, Aria Stone provides a great resource for seeing variation from slab to slab—and we always recommend looking beyond the stone on its own. Consider how the veining will move across the finished surface, what it’s sitting next to, and whether you want the stone to lead the room or simply add another layer to it.
Some of our favorite design decisions happen when we leave room to be surprised. April Renne Graves, Aria Stone Gallery’s COO, gives similar advice: “Keeping an open mind and viewing natural stone as a work of art—not just a material specification—can help shape the story of your space and its design in a way that feels natural, intentional, and uniquely true to you.” It can be tempting to begin a project convinced that you need a particular marble or quartzite, but sometimes the slab you respond to most isn’t the one you originally imagined.
Ultimately, our approach to stone selection at Stoneford Cottage is the same approach we take to most materials: start with quality, pay attention to the details, and consider how the material contributes to the larger story of the home. Look at the entire slab rather than a sample, and think about its movement and scale in relation to the architecture. The best selections balance those practical considerations with a little instinct—which is often what gives a room its most memorable moment.
