Everything negative you've thought of is true. Nothing loose as patio material. You might check into aggregate that has the pebbles imbedded in it.

I think that you already hit on many of the cons. Yes, furniture ” sinks” and will not slide. Weeds can take root, stones get caught in the tread of shoes, stones push out of the designated space, they get tracked into the house, etc. Maybe you can wait a little longer until you can afford something more desirable.

Pea gravel is certainly cheaper than bluestone but wrong for this application for all the reasons outlined previously. Poured concrete is relatively inexpensive (more than the pea gravel - much less than the bluestone) and the suggestion for an exposed aggregate concrete patio by decoenthusiaste is an excellent one!

NO NO NO how would you move chairs and they will never sit level . Even the exposed aggregate is a bit of an issue but a lot better than gravel. If we could see the space that would be good and also the house . Have you looked at stamped concrete it might be the answer. I need a bit more info as to why bluestone so pics help.

Exposed aggregate is NOT an issue!! 95% of builder installed patios, walkways and sidewalks in my area are exposed aggregate concrete and they work just as well and efficiently as any other type of concrete finishing. There may be some concerns in snow country with a need for plowing or salting nut they are minimal.

I'd also argue that photo are unnecessary in this instance as is any explanation as to why the preference for bluestone. That should be pretty much self evident and a personal choice that requires no justification.

Kitchen designers do not always provide the best landscaping advice :-))

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=concrete+like+bluestone&atb=v181-1&iax=images&ia=images

Concrete can be made to look like bluestone, but don't know the price difference.

Ooh, thanks, everyone. I feel like there's a consensus on that gravel. :) I'll talk to the designer about sticking with bluestone or some kind of substitute. Anyone have any other favorite kinds of patio material (can't do wood)? I have a bad relationship with exposed aggregate as there are a lot of aggregate sidewalks here in Seattle and they get super slippery in our constant rain.

Patricia Colwell, the whole back of the house and the yard are torn up so you wouldn't be able to glean anything from photos. If it helps, the patio will be just off a set of french doors in the back of our house (they're not in yet - back of house is just plywood at the moment). It will be relatively small and surrounded on three sides with a low retaining wall. It's contiguous with a path that runs along the entire back of the house from the side gate to the back door, but the designer would use pavers for that path so no pea gravel right up to the house. I suppose that's all hard to follow, so not helpful after all. :-/

But the main point is, why bluestone? Because I like it! :) We might be able to stretch the budget to get it, but he also said it has crazy long lead times right now. Still, best to really like what you get after all the mind-breaking insanity of a remodel.

Thanks so much, everyone!

Zara, I also live in the greater Seattle area and one of the reasons one finds so many exposed aggregate concrete surfaces here is because they DO NOT become slippery in our wet winters. The exposed aggregate particles provide traction that a smooth finish does not. And most natural stone will also become somewhat treacherous as well. And you for sure do not want to use bluestone in the PNW as it will need to be shipped in from the east coast with a significant additional cost! Locally sourced stone will be substantially cheaper.

For economy and climate appropriateness, I'd suggest you stick with poured concrete (finish of your choice) or concrete pavers. If you really want a natural stone, check out some local stoneyards (Marenakos, Mutual Materials) to see what you might like that looks like bluestone but won't break the bank!

No on pea gravel. A bad idea all around.

But there’s more alternatives than just bluestone.

No pea gravel for all the reasons above - plus your kids might throw it or eat (if small), AND you get weeds.

I have pea gravel in part of my backyard but not where there is furniture. what i didn’t realize was thst to do it right, you must use a heavy roller to prepare the ground and then again on top of it. Martha Stewart did good segment on it at one point you might see if you can find her video. also - one man’s idea of what is really pea gravel may be different from another’s

Adding to the chorus that pea gravel is not even an option for any walkable surface, very surprising a landscape designer would even suggest that.

You can also look up concrete or porcelain pavers resembling bluestone. Concrete pavers are more often natural cleft finish over thermal though if you have a preference. But you should certainly get firm estimates on stamped concrete vs pavers vs natural stone for your particular project so you can make the hard decision, rather than general rules of thumb (e.g. say you have to aerial pump in concrete). In some regions of the U.S. real bluestone isn't a huge premium over pavers, not sure about Seattle.

The exposed aggregrate concrete finish I always hear complaints about walking barefoot and the iron streaks.

Don't. Do. It.

you will get ants, weeds, uneven ground, it WILL migrate into your lawn, your shoes, and your house.

Bite the bullet and do the bluestone, or any hardscaping material set in mortar, not sand. Pavers set in sand have the same problems--insects, weeds, and they sink over time so your surface becomes uneven. Don't listen to your landscaper about installing matting under gravel or pavers. It works for a while and then disintegrates as if it were never there. As many here have said, "ask me how I know."

You do not need to mortar in a flagstone patio in the PNW. The ground never freezes here to any significant depth and if the patio bed is prepared properly to receive the surface material, there will be no sinking or shifting. And you would need to pour a concrete slab anyway if you want to mortar.....mortaring between joints only will crumble and break with use and weather and you will be worse off than if you skipped the mortar altogether.

Lest anyone think I am blowing smoke, I am a practicing landscape designer and have designed and overseen the installation of dozens of dry set flag and paver patios over the years without issues.

I guess being an interior designer makes one well-versed in landscape design as well.....or at least the commenting party thinks it does :-) Many of the off-the-wall comments we see here also makes me question their ability as an interior designer as well.

Ok, @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), I am not speaking as a pro, neither as an interior designer or landscape designer on this topic. I am speaking as a homeowner who is relaying my personal experience with these types of materials in two separate homes. I cannot attest to the climate in the PNW, I live in the metro NY area, so your expert opinion is clearly worth more than mine. In the future I will preface any remarks regarding landscaping with "not a pro in this field" to avoid any confusion. Sorry for any "off-the-wall comments" that make you question my ability in my field.

We used pea gravel for our fire pit area. It has worked out well for this application but we do not move the chairs. I would not want pea gravel in a dining area where you move chairs in and out. We havent had any weed issues or ant issues.

"Don't listen to your landscaper about installing matting under gravel or pavers." Well that's dangerous advice if ever I've seen it. If it disintegrated, some chuck in a truck must have used box store weed block. ICPI specs call for a geotextile fabric like Mirafi over the compacted soil before installing gravel. You need to isolate the gravel from the soil or else the soil particles mix with the gravel. That's when you start getting settling and other issues. Pavers set in sand on a compacted aggregate base should not settle if the base is properly installed. But don't take my (experienced) word for it, go to ICPI.org and check out their documentation and white papers.

Thanks again, everyone. Our designer is kind of a mad genius, actually. I trust his aesthetics - he had us come see his own backyard and it was beautiful, plus he made ingenious use of a fairly small space to create those coveted (at least by me) garden "rooms." He immediately had a vision of our yard that was so right, given its constraints - ideas/solutions that I never, in 17 years of perseverating over that space, would have thought of. And if it says anything, vis-a-vis the quality of the work itself, his contract specifies that you can only use his people if you're using his design. I appreciate perfectionistic tendencies in this field. :)

Point there is, I don't question his skills. I think what's going on is that his first estimate was a lot and, given how much the cost of our remodel has risen, I asked him if he could try to pare his down. I think some of these less-than-perfect suggestions are his effort to save us a bunch of money, which one has to appreciate. Still, I'm arranging to meet with him onsite again to go over his new, cheaper plan and discuss where we'd be okay spending a bit more (including, obviously, our patio materials). If it interests anyone, I'll update here after I talk with him.

For what it's worth, regarding the back and forth above, I've gotten good advice on my difficult yard from an interior designer - and, conversely, good advice on remodeling from a landscape designer. I'm impressed by anyone who can see things as they currently aren't. It's beyond me.