Can outdoor stairway be different from the walkway leading up to it?
Hi,
We need to cover our existing (leaking) stairs with new tile, and plan to also cover the existing concrete walkways leading up to the stairs and toward the side of the house. The pictures below show the current appearance of the house. We have settled on keeping the stairs with a similar color as they are now, since that color matches other accents on the house. Specifically, we are getting a porcelain tile with a marble look, for the stairs, shown in one of the photos below.
The question is what to do about the walkways. One idea is to put a light colored slate mixture (shown in last photo) leading from the front sidewalk up to the stairs, and also on the adjoining sidewalk that leads to side of house. Will it look odd to have the walkway leading straight up to the stairs be one one thing, and the stairs themselves be something else?
A couple important notes: We are also tiling along the side of the house continuing from that sidewalk, all the way to the back yard where we'll cover the concrete back patio. So the front is just step 1, and our thought was to keep the front and side walkways and back patio (which will all adjoin) consistently the same thing, with only the front stairs being something different. Also, note that we already have pavers as the front driveway and extending all the way back around the other side of the house, to the front of a garage in the back. So you can see these pavers (which are a mix of gray, and brown with red accents) in both the front and back of the house, just like you would see whatever new tile or stone we put in. We were thinking of mixing in a few reddish tiles to make the colors of these two sets of stone match even better. But, they totally will not match the stairs.
So, any suggestions on what is best to do?
Comments (8)
PROPatricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
PROSabrina Alfin Interiors
4 years agoYou're tiling the side of the house? What about using stacked stone instead that picks up the colors of the walkway pavers? And yes, I'd use the same pavers on the stairs as you would on the walk way.
Put the stacked stone on the wall under the stairs and up to that same level on the garage, i.e. to just under the balcony over the garage.
Some photos to show you what I mean:
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The Adriana · More InfoMichael Harville thanked Sabrina Alfin InteriorsRelated Discussions
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4 years agorachann61
4 years agoMichael Harville
4 years agoThanks, all, for the comments so far! I would love to get even more feedback particularly on the design aspect of this. These photos illustrate the problem a little better. (Houzz could not seem to handle my initial post if it included a total of 5 photos, so I originally left them out.)
Here is a picture of more of the house, and you can see the driveway which is NOT changing. People will be able to see this driveway plus the stairs and front walkways (lower left of picture) all at the same time. Also, to clarify, we were not planning to put anything on the side surfaces of the building, but the pavers (lower right) continue as a driveway along the right side of the house, all the way into the back yard. The new stone or tile will start on the walkways near the stairs, and extend around the left side of the house (on a narrow sidewalk) to a back patio that runs along most of the back side of the house. When people are in the back yard, they will again be able to see both the existing pavers (the back end of the driveway) and the new stone we put on the patio. So, matching these pavers to some extent is desirable.
And here is a better picture of the front stairs and walkways. When I look a the stairs and walkway straight on like this, I hesitate more about not having them match. But on the other hand, I think the current light color of the stairs is a good choice for the house, matching many other accents. I just don't think the walkways need to stay "concrete" color.
The house is in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I'm hoping endurance of weather is not a big factor. Endurance of abuse from kids, though, is more of a worry.
PROBeverlyFLADeziner
4 years agoNo to the tile. Maybe stone or a thin set paver, but as mentioned that will not solve any leaking problems
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Michael Harville thanked BeverlyFLADeziner
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