Thank you Yardvaark and Revolutionary Gardens for the feedback! So I went to the supplier and found out the product is black basalt 24"x36" x 3/4" thick, thermal face and sawn edges...not manufactured stone as I had previously thought. Yes I used the big wet sploot method Revolutionary Gardens mentions, and did not use a mold but sculpted up edges of the concrete around the sides of the stones to retain them as best I could. The mixture was roughly 1 part cement/5 parts sand/5 parts water but I was mostly eyeballing it to get the consistency I thought I needed. The small cracks I believe are actually not cracks but a function of the natural stone having veins that are visible when wet, as I havent sealed the stone yet and its absorbing water. My next task is to clean off the dried cement stains from the top face of each stone and will be applying Aqua Mix enhancer (I realize now I should have used some kind of sealant beforehand to make easier work of cleaning off the cement residue....). I also bought a replacement stone at $72 to replace the one that cracked through, and will use the cracked one to test how the enhancer affects the stone before using on the others...good times! Thanks again for the input

Better photos, thanks. I would remove the shutters. They are overwhelming. Paint the body of the house, the board and batten, the taupe you love. Paint over the brick (or maybe a stain would be a better solution) black (and support columns black). Your house has a great look to it, but with all one color, it looks like a flat front. The wood stained wall by the garage...I like it. I would frame around the front door the same stain and a choose a black mid century style door. Found a photo that can give you an idea

I have two tub options: Krion tub by Porcelanosa and Blu stone by Blu Bathworks. Has anyone had any experience with either material? Will they turn yellow easily? The second question is on vessel sink options. Should I opt for the above stone options, or ceramics? Both have similar styles but I'm not sure of the durability as sinks - for instance, can these stone material survive Draino? I'm assuming ceramic is okay with it. If you have any experience with these materials, please do share. I appreciate your thoughts.

Katie, beautiful house. let me post a bunch of photos so you can see what you prefer. Some are w/the stone you've chosen, and other pics are other surround ideas. here is the shiplap w/diff color/size stone veneer hard to find your smaller size fireplace paired w/shiplap and larger stone. I think a smaller stone might look better, but here are options: This is the only large stone I actually like w/this size fireplace. I like it because of the heavy mortar wash around the stone, I like like the silver/white colors, along w/a few charcoal color stones. This seems to be a big contrast. It might look better if the shiplap was painted dark charcoal or black? Or have you thought about doing the entire thing like this? not really a fan of this color or style. meh also meh don't really care for this one. I was trying to find a white stone, but found this what appears to be a limewashed rock, or, this white quartzite. I think I like a smaller, whiter stone if you want to go this route. here are some w/other tiles and marbl.e I kind of like this look, but using a diff tile, maybe a mosaic marble tile I like this option. the marble herringbone mosaic but with a diff hearth. Or, could you have solid pieces of stone cut and fit around the box? maybe a slate or a basalt or a large format tile? I like a dark stone like basalt or soapstone, but you could choose to do a marble of some type too. Shown here w/a dark mantle. ( I think a whiter stone would have looked better) and if you just did a smooth coat of cement or stucco, or even a Roman plaster Maybe some larger, patterned tile? (I'd use a solid hearth tho) this one is kind of cool.