When most people think granite and marble, we think of countertops. But your kitchen and bathroom counters aren’t the only places you can accent your home with gorgeous solid stone. While we often talk about countertop design, today, we’re taking our stone exploration in a different direction. What other ways can you use granite and marble to make your home more elegant, luxurious, and even more functional? Explore with us the possibilities of installing large and small pieces of granite or marble throughout your home to create a theme of timeless refinement in every room.
1. Built-In Desk with a Stone Desktop
With remote work at an all-time high, home offices and desks are at the top of this year’s list of home renovation projects. One of the most elegant things you can do with a home office is to create a built-in desk, perhaps an L-shaped desk taking up an entire corner of the room in a wide, spanning workspace. With solid dark hardwoods and fine carpentry, the perfect top to your built-in desk is a granite or marble desktop cut to fit.
2. Half-Walls Capped with Granite or Marble
Many homes have elegant half-walls separating the entryway from the living room, or the kitchen from the breakfast nook. These half-walls usually have a simple painted wooden cap, but they don’t have to be simple. Add a touch of timeless class to your half-walls and make those architectural features an unforgettable accent with granite or marble caps. Create a cool surface to lean on and a beautiful sight to enjoy each time you walk through your home.
3. Granite Laundry Room Counter
Your laundry room is another perfect place for a countertop, one we rarely talk about when discussing granite or marble. But who doesn’t want a beautiful space to do laundry and a wide surface on which to fold? Whether you already have a laundry counter or you’ve decided it’s time to build one, granite is a wonderful and nearly indestructible choice to make your laundry room a beautiful (and functional) part of your home design.
4. Stone Fireplace Mantle and Surrounds
Fireplaces are a classic place to install more granite or marble to accent the countertops and other features in your home. Clad the surrounds of your fireplace in the liquid look of veined marble or the classic grace of granite. Not only can you surround your fireplace with stone, you can also build yourself a beautiful fireplace mantle on which to place your family photos or favorite sculptures.
5. Marble Topped Bar
Does your home have a built-in bar, or are you building one? Instead of wooden bar top, cap your bar with solid marble or granite instead. With countertop quality stone, you can mix drinks or prepare snacks at your home bar in style and ease. If your countertops in the kitchen are already granite or marble, extend that style or even contrast it with a different color of stone mirrored in the design of your bar.
6. Solid Marble Vanity Top
Vanities are a luxury in many master suites and walk-in closets. There is something personally wonderful about having a distinguished place to prepare yourself each day or wind down each evening. Enhance that feeling of relaxed luxury with a marble vanity top. Feel the cool stone under your forearms when you lean forward to examine your appearance in the mirror and see how much lovelier your personal effects are when laid out over beautiful stone.
7. Cold Stone Serving Boards
For smaller pieces of marble or granite, you can decorate your home and make your events exquisite with stone serving boards. While granite and marble should not be used for cutting, there are few sights more appealing than a serving board with a lovely piece of polished stone supporting your deliciously dainty hors d’oeuvres. Chill the boards before serving for a delightful cold platter that keeps the snacks upon it cool.
8. Granite or Marble Windowsills
Want to truly wow your guests with elegant home design? Try thin strips of granite or marble installed into each windowsill. Windowsills of wood and paint slowly take damage from moisture and use, but stone lasts for decades. Never needing a new coat of paint or protection from outdoor moisture, a marble or granite windowsill is an incredible, subtle accent to any classical style home interior design.
9. Stone Tub and Shower Enclosure
Don’t forget your bathroom enclosures. Your shower stall and tub enclosures are the perfect places to line the walls with creamy marble or polished granite. Treat yourself to cool, smooth stone each time you bathe and complete your bathroom design – reflecting the stone from your bathroom countertop or inspiring your new sink design.
10. Shower Seats of Granite or Marble
You don’t have to stop at the enclosure walls. If you’ve been dreaming of a shower seat for relaxation and hot water bliss, then granite or marble can also make the perfect shower seat. Enjoy the feel of cool stone against your skin and the delicious option to kick back as the warm water washes over you.
11. Granite Outdoor Kitchen Surfaces
Granite is the second most durable stone in the world, after diamond, so it’s perfect for your outdoor kitchen. If you’re designing or upgrading your backyard cooking space, then extend your stone countertop design to your outdoor kitchen as well. Give your built-in grill the adjacent countertop of a lifetime or design a fully functioning kitchen on your patio that will be the envy of every neighbor.
12. Built-In Stone Shelves
Thin pieces of granite or marble can even be installed as unforgettable built-in shelving. Built-in shelves have always added a touch of class and timelessness to home design and you don’t have to settle for wood. Once you have framed the shelf, use granite or marble of your color choice to design the perfect combination of useful decor and beautiful storage.
13. Slab or Tile Backsplash
Want to use granite in a new way? Another use for marble or granite is as a backsplash anywhere water is run or food is cooked. You can clad your wall in a beautiful slab or use matching stone tiles to perfectly accent your kitchen and bathroom countertops.
14. Granite Dining Table or Coffee Table
A wonderful use for granite outside the kitchen is to create a custom dining table. Granite is durable and can withstand years of active family use – for more than just eating meals. The solid stone will both look and feel amazing to gather around, sharing mealtimes, homework time, and family game nights. You can use a similar slab design to create a centerpiece coffee table of granite or marble to bring that stone solidity to the soft chairs of your living room.
15. Granite or Marble Lined Sink Basin
You can also use granite or marble to line your sink basin. With custom cut pieces fit together perfectly, your sink can be as beautiful as the countertops themselves. You might enjoy choosing a contrasting color of stone to truly make your granite or marble sink stand out in your interior design.
You can always find uses for granite and marble outside the kitchen. There are many other uses for granite and marble is a classic material to accent your home with. For more creative or classic ways to install beautiful stone surfaces in your home, contact us today!