Categories: ChappaquaWestchester NY

Make Your Stone House Feel at Home in the Landscape | Chappaqua Real Estate

Stone is one of the predominant materials used for house exteriors today. Whether your home’s style is colonial, traditional or contemporary,stone lends a timelessness and an organic connection to the earth. But stone homes in the U.S. have historically had an austere look, sitting atop the landscape with little or no connection to their foundation plantings, let alone their gardens.Let’s look at ways to make your stone home feel at home in your landscape.

Jay Sifford Garden Design

Consider how to design a purposeful landscape. While foundation plantings of green boxwood and hollies may be the norm in suburbia, Houzzers want and deserve something more. What works for your neighbor’s home may not work for yours. To make your home feel truly at home in your landscape, begin by taking an objective look at its style, siding, coloration and textures.

This house, covered in gray stone and brick in tones of pink and orange, appears to be happily nestled on its lot because careful attention was paid to color and texture. The blue and purple tones of the lyme grass, Russian sage and purple salvia pull from the stone; their verticality speaks to the height of the home. The pink coneflowers pull from and brighten the tones in the brick, while the texture introduced by the blue atlas cedar visually reinforces the texture of the stone.

Carney Logan Burke Architects

Add boulders. It may at first seem counterintuitive to add more stone to a landscape that surrounds a house of stone, but doing so can ground the home in a meaningful way by visually pulling it forward into the space. Make sure to match the scale of the boulders to the scale of the house. Undersize boulders can look like an afterthought, or worse yet, a weekend DIY project gone awry.

The many boulders in the landscape shown here accentuate the concept of juxtaposition by giving the appearance of deconstruction. Additionally, the water softens the vignette by adding a sense of flow and continuity.

Avant Garden

Consider an entry gate or fence. What better place to set the tone for your home than at its entrance? By doing so thoughtfully, you can pull your home’s color, texture and style forward in smaller doses to encourage curiosity, exploration and the sense that your home is a special place. I realize that not all of us have the space or homeowner’s association approval to do such things, but if possible, make that connection by adding an appropriate gate or fence using the same stone.