How to create designer home interiors in natural stone

For centuries, marble, Travertine and limestone have been used in the design of bathrooms, from rudimentary facilities to sheer opulence.

Its hardwearing properties and breathtaking beauty have made it a perennial favourite when it comes to designing stylish bathrooms with interior designers pushing it beyond mere functionality to create stunning decors, furnishings and accessories.

Monolithic or freestanding bathtubs never fail to capture the imagination with their majestic proportions, but even the smallest details can make an incredible difference. A wall in Pietra d’Avola in Lithoverde® becomes a dark, moody backdrop that is offset to perfection by the combination of cool white marble and burnished brass that make up Silvia Fanticelli’s TABL-EAU towel rails.

While an all-white bathroom is a popular option, introducing darker shades can also produce stunning results. In this example, the chocolatey tones of Pietra d’Avola in Stone Parquet on the floor anchor the entire space, allowing the focus then to fall on the sculpted lines of the Anima bathtub in Bianco Carrara marble.
On the wall we have Lithoverde® once again, but this time in its timeless white version, combining with the other elements to create an unusual but eye-pleasing balance of colours, patterns and forms that play with the inherent qualities of the stone. The result is a welcoming haven in which innovative textures and the simplest of shapes make you feel as though you are in your own special bubble, far from the stresses of the world outside.

Among the many advantages of natural stone is the ease with which it can be combined with other stones without creating a disturbing or busy visual onslaught of colours, effects and patterns. Marbles such as Nero Marquinia, Gris du Marais®, Bianco Carrara, Rosso Francia and Verde Alpi sit effortlessly alongside limestones such as Pietra d’Avola, Silk Georgette® and Crema d’Orcia and travertines such as Imperiale or the classic light version.

Interior design has come a long way from the traditional marble floors of centuries gone by which were often imposing and ostentatious. Today they reproduce the softness and warmth of wooden parquet and are paired with walls in innovative textures designed to bring vitality and depth to a space, and make the most of a precious natural resource. In fact, this latter concept was behind the invention of eco-friendly textures such as Lithoverde® and Romboo.

With imagination and vision, natural stone is transformed into a malleable material, in the sense that it has all the potential of clay to be moulded by creative genius into surprising and innovative products that have universal appeal for their timeless, understated elegance.

When two or more stones are combined in modern design, the results can be truly stunning, but while the material itself is already extraordinary, great lighting is the magic ingredient that adds yet another dimension, creating settings that please the eyes and the soul.