How to Choose a Color Palette for Exterior Stone & Pavers

Updating and Improving your home’s appearance can be exiting, but how do choose the right colors for your driveway pavers, pool and patio pavers, and walkway bricks? It can be a challenge to pick the right colors to compliment your house style, color, and landscaping.

Finding inspiration for your color choices is the key to success. You could look at homes in your neighborhood as well as homes in magazines and online sites like Pinterest and Houzz. These sources can make your whole life easier, but before finalizing your choices, it is always a good idea to talk wit ha local professional about your choices. Our experienced professionals are “at your service”. Just give as call at 941-544-1793.

Here are the main points to consider when choosing your design and color options.

Existing Decor & Style: The first important item to think about is the color palette and style used on the exterior of your home. You’ll want to choose pavers and wall stones that complement the design of your home. It can be very complementary to tie into accent colors on your home, like roofing or trim. If you have existing hardscapes, you’ll likely want to choose complementary colors and paving patterns to tie the design together. High contrast with complementary colors can be very appealing. If you bring a photo of the outside of your house our designers can help you identify colors and styles that would be complementary.

Sun Exposure: If your patio area has long hours of sun exposure, pavers and wall stones may fade or shift color slightly over time. This change may not seem drastic but if you must replace a paver after a few years you’ll probably notice a difference. Hours and hours of sunlight can also significantly raise the temperature of dark colored materials. Our beautiful summer days in Moline can get quite hot. You probably want to make sure your family can safely walk barefoot on your patio, so think about how much sun it gets. Options like black slate can become painfully hot and even dangerous to walk on after too much sun exposure.

Warm vs. Cool Colors: Colors exist on a spectrum of warm to cool temperatures. Warm colors have yellow or orange undertones and cool colors have blue or green undertones. Classic red bricks, terracotta roof tiles, and most tan or brown siding options are warm. Grey or black river rock, concrete breeze blocks, and slate are generally cool. You’re existing exteriors, siding, roof, or brickwork, will fall into either a warm or cool spectrum. You don’t want to mix warm and cool colors; they don’t usually complement each other well. It can be quite jarring and unpleasant to see warm colors next to cool colors. We can help you figure out what color temperature you already have on your home and find options to suit it.

Accent Colors: With paving stones and rock work you can add accent colors in a variety of ways. You could add a design or pattern or contrasting edging to a path or patio. With stonework you could add contrast with the cap row, or with layering. You can also pick an accent color from your home’s color palette, perhaps from painted shutters or trim work, or from your landscaping, like a swimming pool or from a favorite feature tree. Adding an accent color ties your home, patio, and yard design together cohesively.

Style: The type of material you choose will affect the color. With commercially produced options, like red brick, you’ll have consistent color across the batch. With black slate you’ll also have consistent color. But other natural rock, like granite and river rock will have color variation within each piece. The texture of a material will also affect the appearance and vibrancy of colors.

Before you commit to any style or color palette, it’s a good idea to take home samples of the pavers and wall stones you’re considering, and see how they look in your yard. It can also be helpful to see the options you’re considering as an installation. Whether that’s in photos or at a location in Moline that you can check out, it’ll help you get a sense of how the options will look on a grander scale.

It might seem like choosing a color palette for pavers and wall stones in your new outdoor living space is overwhelming and difficult. But it doesn’t have to be. Our design experts can make the process fun. With photos of your yard and home, and of patio designs you love, we can brainstorm ideas together and come up with a plan that will complement your home perfectly. Whether you want to make a bold statement with strong colors and textures or blend new with old to emphasize and highlight the landscape, we’ve got ideas.