The Romance of Stone Walls

What is it about stone wall? I don’t know if it was fictitious Rosehill Cottage in The Holiday that started a revived love of these natural beauties, but they certainly are gorgeous and quite popular.

The Holiday Rosehill Cottage exterior stone walls

The English cottage, Rosehill, was built on site for the movie and the sets were shot in a studio. It was torn down after filming. How warm and cozy are these thick (looking) walls and low slung beamed ceilings?

The Holiday Living room stone walls

This is fun, though I always thought a little chilly looking for a bath tub!

The Holiday Bathroom Cameron Diaz stone walls

One of my most popular blog posts has been a real English stone building – The Bastle. Stone walls galore inside and out!

 Tudor-stone-cottage-bastle-photography-Brent-Darby-bedroom-stone walls

I love this combination of stone walls and warm wood floor in the image below from Anne Evans, Architect.

Anna Evans Architect Hollybrook08 stone walls
Anna Evans Architect

Brooke and Steve Giannetti’s Patina Farm dining area features a plaster/stone wall – the epitome of romance and old-world glamour.

giannetti-patinafarm-dining room with stone walls
Brooke and Steve Giannetti

I wish there was more of the room showing in this bathroom – but it looks like a glamorous bathroom added to the garret of an old building somewhere in Europe.

pexels-monstera-stone walls
Photographed by Monetera via Pexels

I’m not sure, this might be an outdoor space, but I do like the white washed stone wall and textural furniture, pillows and rug.

pexels-rachel-claire-Stone walls
Photography by Rachel Claire via Pexels

Stone walls work well in more modern spaces as well such as this beautiful kitchen by Marie Laure Helmkampf Design. The building was an old stone mill but the modern kitchen keeps it fresh and clean.

Marie-Laure-Helmkampf-design-Old-Mill-stone walls
Marie-Laure Helmkampf Design

This space below looks like James Bond just walked out of frame doesn’t it?

pexels-terje-sollie-stone walls
Photographer Terje Sollie via Pexels

Can’t you just imagine a romantic wedding dinner in the dining room of the Masseria Le Carrube in Puglia?

Masseria Le Carrube dining room stone walls
Masseria Le Carrube

A couple of years ago I designed a basement space for local clients looking to turn their “builder’s special” basement into an English pub feeling entertainment space. The intention was to add stone veneer to one of the outside walls of the basement. Unfortunately, what with one thing and another (coughglobalpandemicough) the build-out never happened.

 Linda Merrill British pub basement design Stone Walls

Of course, we can’t always find or build the perfect stone building and full size stones are heavy and not the right choice for most interior applications. Stone veneers are real stone, but thinly sliced – 3/4″ to 1.5″ thick –  and applied to the wall by a stone mason so that they look like the real thing.

Veneers are available online, such as this below by Quarry Mills, but usually they can be purchased at a local stone center.

Quarry Mill Cape-Cod

Here’s some great info from the folks at This Old House.

If real stone isn’t in your budget or possibly you’re in a rental and you cannot do this level of construction, there are interesting stone wall murals available such as this from Ever Wallpaper.

stone walls

 

Have you installed a stone wall in your home? I’d love to hear about your experience!

xoxo Linda

8 thoughts on “The Romance of Stone Walls”

  1. Hello Linda, I too love stone walls, the older the better! Near me is a dealer in jewelry and minerals who on their outside wall adhered all kinds of crystals and colorful minerals. If we ever get a sunny day, I’ll get a picture and send it to you.
    –Jim

    Reply
  2. There is something about stone that is full of charm and romance and this post certainly captures that mood! I do wish people appreciated stone as much as we do, I see more and more “designers” painting over it on design shows and it breaks my heart every time! Great post Linda!

    Reply
  3. Oh I love your rendering Linda, it’s beautiful. We’re so lucky that our suburban 1930s cottage has Chicago limestone walls along with charming leaded divided lite windows (unfortunately cold as heck in the winter time). These were some of the architectural details that drew us to purchasing our originally very dilapidated cottage. It gives our home a casual almost-equestrian vibe.

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