Good decision! I thought, too, that manufactured stone looked real, until I started looking a little closer. Outside a local bookstore they have faux stone and I thought it was real, and what I wanted. I looked closer when it got time to choose stone and could tell the pattern right way lacked depth. I went to my stone people and they recommended the Natural Stone Veneer (NSVI) to us as well. I love the look of our fireplaces and front porch posts done in it. Its called Canyon Creek. I will post below the brochure showing it and also some pictures (taken with my cell phone, so not the greatest). We're not in our house yet, but everyone that I've taken to see it loves the stonework. I'm so glad we went with real. The color in the pics is a little washed out. Partly because of the cell phone camera and partly because of all the lights on. I have to adjust my track lighting shining on the fireplace - it was just installed. I'll take some more pics with a regular camera. The color is more like the book, I'd say. Picture from NSVI book: My fireplace

I have to disagree. I dont think this material is the best choice, because you have relatively little space left and right of the firebox. I think it may look odd. I also think that the funny angle at the top of the wall will look odd when stone draws your eye to it. To me, a material like this needs a pretty good expanse and very simple lines to look right, IMHO. Sorry if im a wet blanket!

jhwu - that is fantastic, what a beautiful fireplace. That room has all my colours in it - walnut, light floors, green walls. I love it. sandnat - thanks for asking. I got sidetracked on another project for a couple of months this fall and this decision got postponed. But, I have decided not to go with stone, but rather tile as was suggested here. I've ordered samples of both the Heath Oval in new colours, and the Walker Zanger Studio Moderne tile. No one in my city carries these tiles, so it is a bit of an adventure getting samples. Although I still think I like the Heath tile just a tad more than the Studio Moderne, I also think the SM tile will better suit my space (although jhwu's photo is making me re-think that). I really like both tiles, so it will come downs to which works better with the look of my LR and DR. The WZ tile only stocks four colours: coconut, jute, ecru and clover. The others are special order. I'm not certain which colour I should go with - the clover may be too much. The other three that they stock are a bit plain. What do others think? My fav is probably the celadon matte. Once I get the actual samples in I might post again asking for opinions on colours, etc. But I'd appreciate opinions now too!

I can see why you might want to change the color. Consider a paint stain or colorwash instead. It will allow you to keep the different tones and not flatten the effect. It's just acrylic paint with a lot of water to thin it. If you use paint it will just flatten the appearance like you see below.