By Abid Haque

"Whose idea was it to lay a walkway from 'Game of Thrones' inside a residential home?" opined one cobblestone-flooring skeptic in the r/CleaningTips sub-Reddit. Turns out quite a few designers are installing materials once reserved for old-world streets -- minus the hobbling unevenness and gaps that make touring quaint European towns grueling.

The Appeal

Pros deploy the blocks and look-alikes in transitional spaces such as sunrooms and mudrooms, linking outdoors and indoors with pavers that stand up to dripping Wellies and mucky paws. The application suits spill-prone kitchens, too. In a log cabin snuggled in forested, rocky hills outside Seattle, designer Jessica Nelson laid limestone kitchen tiles made to look like Belgian block, a cobblestone alternative. "This is a high-traffic area, and we wanted a rustic, vintage, natural-stone look because of the home's setting and the natural wood throughout," she said.

The Tips

Purely modern homes don't wear the stony style well. "I think it lends [itself] to any traditional space where classic elements come through," said Laura Lubin, of Nashville's Ellerslie Interiors. The designer chose a brown-tinged cobblestone to complement a traditionally trimmed mud room. Lubin also notes that cobblestone averages a chunky 1/2 to 3/4 inches in thickness. Be aware that such a floor might not sit flush with an adjoining floor.

The Caveats

Installation of real stone can cost from $28-$145 a square foot. Contractor rates vary widely, says Corrin Thomas of Leestone Interiors, a design and contracting firm in New York. Genuine pavers will need resealing annually, which is why many pros go for ersatz. "We chose a damn good porcelain replica of authentic old Chicago bricks," said Krista Nye Nicholas, whose Ann Arbor, Mich., design firm, Cloth & Kind, laid the doppelgänger tiles in a mud room. "They look amazing and are easy to maintain, clean and live with."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 13, 2025 18:00 ET (23:00 GMT)

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