I don't think stone has to be cold, but the trick is to pick a material that has some variation, so that it feels a bit natural and has some leeway in terms of "matching" the house and the environment it's in. You might try some photo searches for stone walks and see how the various approaches affect the feel. Some of it will depend on design -- straight walks and angular walls will feel harsher (or sometimes more modern), while curved walks and more organic shapes will feel softer. It depends on the landscaping context too, as plantings along the walk will make it part of the landscape in a way that grass won't. Short of your having stone on the house itself, I'm not sure there's a strict requirement that the stone "match" anything, but I think you want it to harmonize with the colors of your house and landscape. I tried to find examples that had different levels of grayness and of match between house colors/roof and stone colors. It's all over the place, they all look great. :)

Yes, I got a little woozy just from the picture. Is covering just the treads an option? I have a distinct border on my stairs- block end treads with black risers. I thought my husband was crazy for that idea, but did it anyway. And it has worked for everyone from little kids to 70yr+. I am a fan of sisal, it wears like iron, easy to clean & available with a color border.

We had a sunken living room right in the middle of the house. No good reason for it, just an 80's thing. We got it filled and it's all one level now... 1000x better. But we did it during a whole house renovation which we are in the middle of right now. So we were replacing windows and sliders, updating electrical, etc anyway. It's a big job, especially how you explained yours and especially if you have sliding doors, baseboard heat or anything that will need to be replaced by filling it in. What about just filling the "seating area"?

Wow thank you both so much for your insights! I did not know maple Is so hard to stain! Does painting maple still have the same outcome as staining it? I chose maple because my contractor said that would be a more durable choice :/ my vinyl is shaw floorte vinyl and it snaps together. if I chose to do vinyl on the stairs my my guess is I could glue it to the maple stairs? sorry for all of the questions but know that your help is very appreciated! I am new to this! Thank you