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Exterior Building a Home

Exterior stone too dark

last month

Currently building a new house. We chose our exterior stone based on another house we saw. Our stone started to go up a few days ago, and it seems much darker than what we anticipated. Builder and mason both said that it will eventually get lighter over time as it dries and UV light hits it over the summer. What are your thoughts? I’ve attached pics of the inspiration house, and of our stone so far. Note the color difference in our stone as the mason tried to dry a portion, and acid washed it.

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Comments (11)

PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last month
The snow on the ground may be adversely effecting your perception of the color. Also mentally compensate for it being real stone and colors do have a tendency to vary especially when photographs are involved.
palimpsest
last month
Honestly to me it does not look darker than the other house.
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Wow, thank you so much for all the feedback! jck910 and suezbell, yes, the porch floor is wood painted in the same maroon color. I'd like to paint it a lighter color but unsure what color to use. I'm not sure pure white will work, and I feel like painting it a gray or slate color will not help with brightening up the front/entry area. Any thoughts on a good color? Would a light sage green for the floor and door work? Celery, good point about the railings, I think we're going to leave those alone. suezbell, great ideas on removing the shutters to paint and for upcycling them if we go that route! houssaon, I really like the idea of painting the shutters and door black but wouldn't this make it look even darker? decoenthusiaste, thanks for the inspirational pics! We have thought about painting our siding, we'd been considering something like a slate blue color but unsure what would work best with the architectural roof color. Any feedback on this?
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N S
Original Author
last month
The snow/perception may very well be a factor. We are seeing the stone as having more brown tones as opposed to gray tones that we wanted. We’re hoping as it dries that it will seem closer in color to the inspiration house
cpartist
last month
It definitely has more brown tones. However, I'd bet what is going up on your house will withstand the test of time better than all that gray.
Little Bird
last month
I think what looks most different from your neighbor’s stone is that theirs has many different sizes from tiny to extra large bricks, and they seem to be placed more artistically. Your bricks are mostly medium sized, and they kind of line up in a grid pattern
David Cary
last month
Yours also seems to have a bit wider mortar lines. And your mortar looks lighter in color - and will certainly get lighter.
PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
last month
Your stone is spectacular, IMHO better than the inspiration. Unless you get natural stone from the same general spot in the same quarry, its always different.
Allison0704
last month
Another vote for your stone over your inspiration photo. Here is a house we previously built. Mortar is still wet, and you can see how much lighter it and the stone became once dried.
sheepla
last month
Your stone is prettier!
Donna Sluder
last month
It’s beautiful!! Our brick looked too dark when it was going up. I panicked! But after it dried and the bricklayer cleaned it up, it was perfect! It really is gorgeous. Don’t worry about it! Trust you initial instinct, you made a great choice! I’m a little jelly…lol!
Donna Sluder
last month
Trends😑 sometimes equate regrets. Lol I love painted brick but leave that gorgeous stone alone! 🫣

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