Kitchen Peninsula vs Kitchen Island

If you’re designing your dream kitchen or attempting some renovations to make the space more practical and functional, you might be wondering which is best: a kitchen island or peninsula.

As with most choices when it comes to home design and construction, the right option will depend on personal factors, needs and preferences. The same is true with kitchen peninsulas and islands. Everyone’s home is different and unique and the way you use your kitchen should be complemented by its design.

However, there are some clear differences and key benefits between peninsulas and islands. Let’s dive in and find out more.

Kitchen Island: what is it?

Kitchen islands have become increasingly popular over the last few years. As its name suggests, the island is a free standing kitchen benchtop that allows one to stand on any and all of its sides. Kitchen islands come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and styles and can incorporate benchtops of a variety of different materials, such as natural stone.

The purpose of a kitchen island is to try and open up the space to free flowing movement around and in/out of the kitchen itself. As more and more homes are moving towards open plan designs, the preference for an island in the kitchen has increased as it decreases the barriers and obstacles in the room.

Kitchen Peninsula: what is it?

The kitchen peninsula is similar to an island but with one key difference: Instead of being completely free standing and open on all sides, the peninsula is open on all but one of its sides. Instead, like a peninsula landform, this kitchen bench is actually an extension of the main kitchen cabinetry, sink and benchtop space.

Very versatile in terms of design and use potential, kitchen peninsulas allow one to make the most functionally of any space and in turn compromise on free flowing movement on all of its sides.

Should you choose a kitchen island or peninsula?

As mentioned above, the right option for your kitchen will largely depend on your particular context and needs. However, to help you out, here are the main factors to consider when making your decision.

How big is your kitchen?

Small, compact and tightly designed kitchens may not be suitable for a kitchen island. While designed to allow people to pass on either side, an island still takes up space and being free standing it needs enough room on every side to allow someone to pass unobstructed. The kitchen is a room of the house that sees a lot of activity and movement, so adding a feature that will cause congestion is not a great idea.

A kitchen with a peninsula, on the other hand, allows for an extension of benchtop space for food prep and cleanup but will not necessarily restrict the space too much. While islands need to be in the middle of a kitchen, peninsulas by their nature can be tucked into corners or economically designed to add a bit more surface area without taking up too much floor space.

How is your kitchen laid out?

The layout of a kitchen is a very important and influential thing. You may have heard of the kitchen triangle: The classic design approach seeks to ensure an unobstructed triangle of access between the stove, the refrigerator and the sink. This highly practical kitchen ‘rule’ allows you to work and prepare food without having to move too much and without too much interruption.

Think about how a kitchen island or peninsula will change your access to the important areas of your kitchen. For some kitchens, adding a peninsula is the smart way to increase benchtop space without impacting on the general flow of the room. Whilst in other kitchens the benefits of having an independent and free-standing island is your best bet.

What is your preferred aesthetic?

Both a kitchen peninsula and an island can look utterly fantastic in a kitchen. There are a wide variety of materials, colour schemes, tones, patterns and shades to choose from. Whether you opt for opulent marble or even engineered stone, the potential for creating something beautiful and bold is nearly limitless.

Having said that, kitchen islands do offer more design versatility than peninsulas. Being attached to the rest of the kitchen, your kitchen peninsula needs to match in terms of material and colour. Otherwise it could look disjointed. A kitchen island, on the other hand, stands apart. This gives you the creative space to either choose a complementary colour and style or to design something bold and different as an independent feature.

What is your budget?

Price is a pain point for just about every construction and renovation process. While the size, material and design of your kitchen benchtop is going to be hugely influential in the end, generally a kitchen peninsula is the more cost effective option. With less structural work needed, often less material, and probably less labour, you can save more by opting for a peninsula.

Kitchen islands, depending on your application, can require significant work and structural construction. This is especially true if you’re adding sinks, cooktops, dishwashers or even internal storage to your kitchen island.

Are you hoping to resell your home?

Thinking about your long term plans and goals for your home is another smart way to approach the choice between a kitchen island or peninsula. Kitchen remodels and renovations can drastically increase the resale value of a home, when done cleverly and right.

To that end both a peninsula and an island in a kitchen can offer a strong long term return on your investment. As mentioned above, the choice will ultimately come down to the size, layout and overall style of your kitchen. The more complementary and suitable your end decision, the better its impact on the appeal and value of your house will be.

Want to discuss your kitchen? Call Euro Marble today!

Still not sure whether to choose a kitchen with a peninsula or an island?

Need some professional advice regarding your particular kitchen?

The Euro Marble team can help! Why not give us a call on (02) 8585 2999 or come on into our showroom. We’d be happy to talk about all things kitchen peninsulas, natural stone and more.

Modern Wall Cladding for an Elegant Touch

Interior wall cladding offers a lot of scope and opportunity for infusing elegance, warmth and personality into your home.

Whether you’re planning a renovation on a budget or just looking for a simple way to reinvigorate the style and aesthetic of your living room, there are many ways in which modern wall cladding can be utilised to great effect.

What is Wall Cladding?

Cladding, in construction, refers to attaching a material to the exterior or outer skin of a wall. Cladding can be made from a variety of different materials, including natural stone or wood. Even metal and fibre cement have been used in wall cladding applications.

In essence, it can be considered as a form of ‘skin’ placed over the existing walls.

Understanding Interior Wall Cladding

Interior wall cladding is applied to the internal walls of one’s home. Whether it’s the bathroom or living room, using cladding on the walls of your home can change the entire look of a space. Generally, it is used purely for aesthetic purposes but there are occasions where there can be a functional element to its installation as well.

While some home renovators opt to rather paint a wall (or walls), wall cladding offers a greater opportunity to infuse elegance, warmth and homeliness. By attaching a new material to the wall itself, it’s not just the colour scheme that can be transformed, but the texture, style and overall visual appeal of the entire room too.

Benefits of Wall Cladding

Affordable

Renovations can get expensive! If you’re working on a tight budget or just looking for ways in which you can save some extra dollars, opting for wall cladding is a smart way to go. Instead of replacing a wall completely and requiring materials for rebuilding the structure from scratch, wall cladding simply adds a veneer of material over the existing walls. Less material and less labour translates into money saved!

Effective

Adding cladding to your interior walls is an effective way to painlessly achieve a whole new look in your home. By carefully choosing the right material and aesthetic, wall cladding allows you to overhaul the style of your home without making structural or extensive changes. Whether you’re wanting to merely refresh the overall look or achieve something more substantial, cladding is a highly effective way of going about it.

Practical

Many of the benefits of wall cladding revolve around the aesthetic visuals of adding a new material to an existing wall. But there can also be significant practical value. If you’re looking to add better or new insulation to a wall or wanting to add a protective outer layer to an interior wall, cladding can be just the solution.

From a maintenance perspective also, well chosen and professionally installed wall cladding doesn’t require extensive tender love and care to keep it looking and functioning beautifully.

Living Room Modern Wall Cladding

The living room is a popular space in the house to add some wall cladding. As its name suggests, a lot of time is spent in living rooms simply living! That’s why it’s important that you absolutely love the look and feel of the space itself. If it needs a bit of a refresh or even a top-to-toe redo, wall cladding can be an excellent option.

So how do you infuse a touch of elegance through modern interior wall cladding? Two words: Natural stone.

Stone Wall Cladding

At Euro Marble, we specialise in all things natural stone, including wall cladding. We’ve been involved firsthand in transforming living rooms by using stone cladding.

While some customers make the mistake of assuming that there is a single visual aesthetic to natural stone, the truth is there is a ton of variety in shade, tone, colour and patterns. From the classic look of white and grey to blues, reds, golds, greens and pinks, there’s truly something for everyone.

When it comes to elegant interior cladding, however, we highly recommend two different options:

Marble Cladding
Limestone Cladding

Marble Cladding

Nothing symbolises elegance and opulence quite like marble stone. There’s still plenty of variety in terms of colour and shade. While we, and many of our customers, absolutely love the iconic milky white/grey veining visual of classic marble, there are many other options as well.

Marble is a highly durable natural stone, which makes it perfect for interior wall cladding as it’s both fashionable and functional. Thanks to its timeless aesthetic, marble is great for application in both traditionally-styled and modern living rooms.

Limestone Cladding

Limestone is another excellent choice of natural stone. The unique way in which this stone is formed at the bottom of water repositories endows it with a visual style that simply can’t be matched. The earthy and natural shades and tones make for an excellent choice of modern interior wall cladding.

Much like marble, limestone is durable and hard wearing with the right maintenance and care. While the range of colour options available is not as wide as with other stones, there are still a number of different shades of limestone ranging from beige to grey and brown.

Euro Marble – the elegant touch!

For over 30 years, Euro Marble has been using our craftsmanship and passion for all things marble and natural stone to achieve wonders for our customers.

Over this time, we’ve developed a reputation for delivering high-end products and services, on time, on budget and on point! If you’re considering options for your modern interior wall cladding, or need that elegant touch to achieve something truly spectacular, reach out to our team today.

Our 15 natural stone experts are more than happy to talk and walk you through different modern wall cladding options for your living room!

12 Modern Bathroom Tiling Ideas

There are many ways in which you can easily and affordably create the modern bathroom of your dreams. Bathrooms need to be functional as well as stylish, and one of the best ways to achieve the best of both worlds is through tiling.

To help you on your journey to achieving a bathroom that will excite and delight you day in and day out, we’ve put together some modern bathroom tile ideas.

Stick to a Colour Tone

Keeping to a single colour tone makes a lot of your bathroom design easier. Apart from the fact that light colours in a bathroom add a sense of visual space, it also allows you to keep the design both modern and timeless. Of course, there’s no reason for your entire bathroom to be devoid of other colours. But with a single colour tone for your tiles, it’s easier to achieve that modern look. When it comes to infusing other colours elsewhere, keep reading our other modern bathroom tiling ideas.

Use Simple Colour Contrasts

Colour can be really effectively used to create a sense of visual depth to a space without cluttering the room. For a bathroom, this is invaluable. That’s why we love the modern design style of using white or off-white tiling across the floor and walls juxtaposed with dark or black accents, tapware and cabinet handles. This simple and minimalist contrast achieves a lot with a little in a modern bathroom aesthetic.

Tile the Shower with Stone

Perfect for those of you on a tight budget, tiling just your bathroom shower with beautiful natural stone can actually bring your entire bathroom to life. As it is likely the largest section of your bathroom, the shower offers plenty of scope to work as an independent design feature, and the gorgeousness and practicality of stone tiling is the perfect answer.

Subway Tiles

There are a lot of fantastic ways in which you can utilise tiles in your modern bathroom, but if you’re looking for something that strikes a delicate balance between modern and classic subway tiling is a safe bet. This standard tile style is clean and minimalist to look at but offers enough complexity and depth to infuse your bathroom with personality.

Herringbone Tiling

Subway tiling might not be for everyone. If you like your tile design to be a little funkier without jumping off the deep end, herringbone floor tiles are an excellent option. While you certainly can opt for bold and strong colour schemes, we do recommend sticking to neutrals if you really want to achieve that timeless yet modern bathroom style.

Marble

We just love marble. This classic stone tile really does look great anywhere in the house, your modern bathroom included! Stunning to look at and durable for an environment exposed to a lot of water, moisture and steam, marble stone is as practical as it is beautiful. Importantly, the classic white-toned with grey/silver veined aesthetic of marble is an excellent way of creating a bathroom that is simultaneously classic and modern.

For those of you who love marble but want to utilise this amazing natural stone in new and interesting ways, you can consider hexagonal tile designs.

Marble Hexagonal Tiles

As far as modern bathroom tile ideas go, this one is among the more bold… And beautiful. Marble stone makes for an exquisite choice of tiling material to turn any bathroom into something luxurious and modern. While you can choose more generic rectangular, square or larger slabbed tiling, hexagonal tiles are a modern design trend that can really do wonders to a space. Whether you opt to tile the entire bathroom floor or just the area around your bathtub and/or vanity is up to you and your budget.

Mix and Match Styles

For modern bathrooms, we often recommend sticking to neutral and minimalist tones. However, that doesn’t mean your aesthetic needs to be boring! One excellent tile idea is to actually use different tiling styles across different sections of the bathrooms. This keeps a sense of motion and complexity to the space without actually causing a headache. It gives you plenty of opportunity to mix and match different layering styles you like and highlight certain sections of your bathroom.

Feature Walls

In contrast to our very first tip in this list, if you’re feeling bold and want your bathroom to reflect that you can always consider putting in a feature wall. (Sometimes referred to as a statement wall as well.) This provides an opportunity to express a little creativity by choosing alternate colours or patterns of tiling that will contrast but also complement the rest of the bathroom space. Carefully consider which wall is best in your bathroom. For example, the wall behind a bathtub is an excellent place for a feature wall.

Grey and White Tiling

A delicate mix of grey and white floor tiling might not sound exciting, but it can look utterly stunning in a modern bathroom context. This minimalist colour palette keeps your overall tone consistent but allows for a bit of visual depth and interest without becoming overpowering or overwhelming.

Natural Stone

While both stone (in your shower) and marble have appeared on this list a few times already, we think natural stone deserves an entry of its own. Hard wearing, long lasting and utterly beautiful there is still plenty of scope to choose material, style, shade and colour with natural stone. As far as modern bathrooms go, nothing brings classy and contemporary styling to a space better than stone.

Play To Your Bathroom’s Strengths

Every bathroom is different. When thinking about how to incorporate tiling, think about what your bathroom’s strengths are. For example, high ceilings should be capitalised on with floor to ceiling wall tiling. Bathrooms with a lot of natural light and windows can be brought to life with brighter coloured tiling. Simply put, make sure to play to the strengths of your bathroom.

For More Tile Ideas, Give Us A Call!

As the leading supplier and fabricator of marble and stone throughout Sydney, we know a thing or two about putting together modern bathrooms!

So, if you’d like more custom advice about how to incorporate modern bathroom tiles into your home, make sure to give the Euro Marble team a call.

10 Timeless Kitchen Designs That Don’t Age

We all want that timeless kitchen.

The kitchen is one of the most frequently used areas of the home and is likely centrally located–literally and figuratively–in your house. There are a ton of elegant kitchen designs out there. However, many of them can seem outdated and out-of-fashion after not too long a time.

Knowing what is and isn’t timeless can be tricky. For many people engaging in home construction or renovation the line between boring and timeless can be blurred, but it doesn’t have to be. There’s no reason why you need to compromise on fashion for the sake of longevity.

To help you find designs that won’t age, we’ve curated 10 traditional yet timeless kitchen designs just for you.

Design #1 – White Kitchen

The classic white kitchen is timeless in every way. When you keep your kitchen–from the accessories to the cabinetry–as light and bright as possible you’re future proofing the design against changes in aesthetic preferences.

White never goes out of style because it’s perfectly inoffensive without being bland or boring. Besides, if you do want to infuse a bit of colour there are plenty of opportunities with decorations and appliances. When you feel the need to change up the colour palette, these temporary or independently standing items can be easily swapped out and replaced.

Design #2 – Neutral Colours

While white is as classic and timeless as it gets, it’s not the only option when it comes to your kitchen design. Neutral colours in general are effective in maintaining an ageless aesthetic whilst incorporating a visual depth.

Many materials, including natural stone, come in a wide variety of shades. So whether you opt for grey or beige colour tones, you can customise the depth of shading as well to suit your tastes.

Design #3 – Island Benchtop

The kitchen island benchtop is truly timeless. There are still plenty of opportunities to customise and tailor your island to suit your needs, yet the structural practicality of such a benchtop is certainly self-evident.

While some kitchens incorporate sinks, wine fridges and other amenities into the island, the safest way to keep the benchtop as timeless as possible is to keep its design as simple and straightforward as possible.

Design #4 – Stone Splashback

The splashback is not just a functional element of the room but an opportunity for some wondrous design decisions. If you’re wanting a traditional timeless kitchen design but also prefer a bit of colour or a particular aesthetic a stone splashback can be very effective.

Why? It allows you to bring some fantastic patterns and/or colours to your kitchen without it having to take over the entire area and thus risk becoming outdated over time.

Design #5 – Natural Look

Going natural is going timeless. A combination of timber veneers coupled with marble benchtops or wall cladding is an excellent option for straddling the perfect visual balance. Of course, the extent to which you design to incorporate wood and timber into your kitchen is up to you.

While some kitchen design styles come and go, infusing a natural feel and look is certainly not going to date.

Design #6 – Subway Tiles

If you’re wanting a tiled pattern in your kitchen but not sure which options are timeless, we like to recommend subway tiles. Subway tile patterns don’t make a kitchen feel cluttered or overwhelmingly busy, while offering enough of a timeless and elegant aesthetic to make you feel perfectly at home.

Of course, subway styling is far from the only tiling pattern available, but as far as timeless kitchens go, it’s your go to.

Design #7 – Marble Benchtops

What could be more spectacular than a marble benchtop as the centrepiece to your kitchen? Whether or not the rest of your kitchen is similarly constructed from this fabulous stone, a marble benchtop is an excellent way of infusing a sense of luxury to the kitchen without risking an outdated aesthetic in a few years time.

One of the appealing aspects of marble and natural stone in general is that apart from being a timeless addition, every single slab of stone is unique. Quarried directly from the earth, there are no two slabs exactly alike in the world. That’s why we simply love marble benchtops for 101 reasons.

Design #8 – Stainless-steel Appliances

Nowadays you can find kitchen appliances in just about every colour, style and design imaginable. While some trends come and go, stainless-steel is here to stay.

If your aim is to truly capture the feeling of timeless design, opting for simple and minimalist stainless-steel appliances is your best option.

Design #9 – Oversized Sink

Oversized sinks are immensely popular. The more space for cleaning up the dishes the easier the process. Fortunately, a simple yet large sink is also a timeless and elegant kitchen design option. You can match the sink to suit your already existing aesthetic or use it as a design centrepiece. The choice is truly up to you.

Design #10 – Shaker-Style Cabinets

A shaker-style cabinet is a type of kitchen unit with a central panel and square edges in a flat design. This minimal profiling and symmetrical nature is timeless in every sense of the word. For a kitchen designed not to date, we highly recommend opting for shaker cabinets and drawers.

We’ll Throw Everything Including The Kitchen Sink Into Your Timeless Design

At Euro Marble, we love nothing more than helping our customers create the home of their dreams. Natural stone is one of the excellent ways in which you can achieve a timeless, elegant kitchen design, and our friendly team is here to help make that happen.Ready to get started or just want to find out more? Contact us today!

Australian Kitchen Trends That Are Here to Stay

Australian kitchens come in an endless range of styles and designs. While, of course, there are certain trends in each decade or generation and Australian country kitchens will differ from modern, contemporary designs in key ways, there are certainly trends that are here to stay.

If you’re building your dream home or renovating your house, here are the Australian kitchen design trends that are certainly timeless.

The Open Plan Kitchen

Kitchens are no longer simply places of cooking and cleaning. They’re an integral part of the home and a place where families gather, friends congregate and hosting occurs. The open plan kitchen merges the living areas of a home with the kitchen itself making it easier than ever for interaction with family members, visitors and guests.

Spaciousness is always an important priority, and de-segregating a home with an open plan kitchen is an excellent way to achieve that. Not to mention the ease with which parents of younger children can keep a supervisory eye on them without having to leave the kitchen itself.

Natural Stone Benchtops

If the kitchen is the centre (not necessarily physically) of the home, the kitchen benchtop is the centrepoint of the kitchen. Natural stone benchtops have been and continue to be a staple of Australian kitchens. Popular for many reasons, stone is extraordinarily hard wearing and durable. Stone is perfect for a benchtop that will see its fair share of activity, mess, food and meal preparation.

Of course, stone is most certainly a style choice in and of itself. With an almost-overwhelmingly wide choice of styles, patterns, colours and shades there’s a stone slab to suit any kitchen and personal preference. Plus, with proper maintenance and sealing, it can also last for many decades so neither the material or style will date.

The Island Bench

Island kitchen benchtops are popular the world over but especially in Australia. Paired with either of the ideas above–an open plan kitchen or stone benchtop–island benches are versatile and practical.

Not only do they provide immense surface area on which to work but they also declutter and contribute positively to an opening up of the space. There’s a lot of potential with an island countertop as well. You can incorporate sinks, dishwashers, drawers or even a cooktop. Additionally, you can turn it into a legitimate piece of art by opting for a waterfall style, rounded island benchtop or one of the myriad other options out there.

The Breakfast Bar

While often referred to as breakfast bars, they could just as easily be used for any other purpose. Many Australian kitchens incorporate a countertop that doubles as an eating area of quick meals or general socialising. Both island benches and more traditional designs can be complemented with a series of fashionable stools.

It’s yet another way of adding something practical and timeless to your kitchen. Trust us, with this kitchen design, your kids are going to love breakfast time!

Feature Countertop Colours

While uniform coloured countertops that match the rest of your kitchen colour scheme is certainly a safe way to go, adding a bit of visual flair in the form of a feature coloured countertop is another trend that’s here to stay.

You don’t have to opt for something out there and zany, however. A stylish and understated coloured stone slab can make for an excellent addition to most Australian kitchen designs. Try mixing up your colour scheme by opting for a darker toned benchtop in a lighter kitchen, or vice versa as the case may be.

The Humble Nook

Kitchen nooks come in all shapes, styles and designs but there is one thing they have in common: They’re endlessly useful! Breakfast nooks (probably unnecessary if you have a breakfast bar) or desk/work areas can be worked into the family kitchen design offering additional utility without crowding the space.

The nook is one trend that while timeless will depend on the space and structure of your kitchen. If it does suit your home, it offers additional opportunity to infuse colour and style, however, which will help bring your kitchen to life.

Under Cabinet Lighting

Under cabinet lighting is an Australian kitchen design choice you won’t regret. Of course, it allows for much better visibility when preparing food in a space often overshadowed by hanging cabinetry.

But there’s a lot of design potential as well. With simple LED strips, downlights or even more extravagant feature lighting, under cabinet lighting adds visual flair to your kitchen.

Stone Splashbacks

There are many ways Australian kitchens incorporate beautiful natural stone and a splashback is just one of them! Like many other features of the kitchen, the splashback is a necessary practicality but still provides opportunity for sophisticated styling. Stone, available in many colours and patterns, can be tiled in a variety of ways to help bring a subtle area of the kitchen to the fore.

Integrated Appliances

Microwaves and ovens have long been integrated in the surrounding cabinetry and walls of a kitchen, but an increasingly emerging trend of Australian kitchens that isn’t going out of fashion any time soon are more integrations.

From the fridge (which can be hidden behind matching cabinetry veneers) to dishwashers, pull-out bins and more, the flush, there’s an invaluable quality to the seamless and contemporary design of integrated appliances. And, of course, it saves on space which is at an absolute premium in the kitchen!

Marble

What stone brings more luxury and style to a kitchen than marble? Having been used for years and guaranteed to be used for many more years, this gloriously iconic and spectacularly practical natural stone is a staple of Australian kitchen design.

While marble may not be the cheapest of materials to use in your kitchen there are many ways in which you can use this stone even on a budget. Keeping its application to a benchtop or even a splashback (see the ideas above) are excellent ways to make the most of marble without having to go wall-to-ceiling.

Your Classic Australian Kitchen Starts With Euro Marble

We might be called Euro Marble, but we do a LOT more than just marble. If you’re looking for assistance with achieving an Australian kitchen design that will look and function fantastically today and for many, many years to come, contact us today. Let’s explore how we can help you!

The Best Wet Room Bathroom Designs

Wet room bathrooms are becoming more and more popular among home-owners around Australia. Functional, stylish and versatile in design, turning your bathroom into a wet area is a practical way to make the most of one of the most frequented rooms of the house.

To help you settle on a wet room bathroom design, we’ve put together the best styles and ideas in one handy article. But before we dive in, let’s answer the basic question: What is a wet room?

What are Wet Room Bathrooms?

The term wet room is used to refer to any space in the house that is completely waterproofed. In the context of a bathroom, this means that not only is the shower itself fitted with a drain and water-sealed tiling, but the rest of the room is as well.

Wet area bathrooms allow for huge design potential and creativity as you are not required to limit or contain what can or can’t get wet.

Open layouts are extremely popular in living areas of the house, including the kitchen, and with a functional wet room bathroom design, you can enjoy the same spaciousness there as well.

Fortunately, despite the luxurious and spa-like nature of wet room bathrooms, they can be incorporated in all kinds of houses and installed with all sized budgets.

1. Use a Tanking System

In addition to ensuring the tiling–from walls to floor–of your bathroom are fully waterproofed, incorporating a robust tanking system is really a must. By adding this important extra layer between the tiles and your floor or wall, you can ensure that your wet room will remain durable and functional even after frequent and long term exposure to water. Tanking systems help ensure that the water drains properly using hidden tray systems that fit under the floor tiles. It is certainly the most important and practical design feature of a wet room to ensure maximum performance and longevity in durability.

2. Use watertight materials

Part of the appeal of a wet room is to rid your bathroom of screens, glass enclosures or other sections that will compromise the openness of the space. To that end, using the right waterproof and watertight materials is an absolute necessity.

Ceramic tiles are a popular option that can be mounted to a wet wall or used along the floor as its watertight membrane ensures any water flows across without permeating the surface itself. Additionally, porcelain is quite commonly used for a similar reason. While plastic and metal can both be practical (which is why they’re incorporated in kitchens), they are less popular in bathrooms for obvious reasons.

Natural stone is widely used for bathroom vanities and basins due to their non-porous nature and durability. Not to mention their spectacular visual aesthetics. For this reason, stone is an excellent wet room bathroom option as it offers both beautiful design value and functional utility.

3. Minimalist design

Now let’s move on to the design aspects of your wet bathroom. The openness and spaciousness is one of the main selling points of a wet room, so we recommend keeping your design minimalist to capitalise on that. Think smaller-than-average toilets, bathtubs and vanities to help keep the space clean and clear. (Obviously not too small! And the right size will depend on your bathroom size.) Floating or wall-hung vanities are very popular for the same reason, as are recessed shelves, mirrors and lighting.

4. Incorporate feature walls

If you’re worried about the minimalist approach to a wet room design, a feature wall can be the perfect solution! Simply using a composite of different tiles or panels across a particular wall can help to elevate the aesthetics of the entire room. You can opt for an entirely different material, such as natural stone feature walls against a ceramic bathroom, or just a different colour wall. Feature walls offer a huge opportunity to flex your creative muscles without losing out on the benefits of the wet room.

5. Pattern your shower

If you’re wanting to take the appeal of a feature wall but contain it somewhat, a patterned shower is a great addition to a wet area bathroom. An eye-catching tile pattern or design can help the shower area itself stand out without affecting the spacious feel of the rest of the room. Throwing a bit of colour into your shower is also a great way to liven up the bathroom without having to commit to changing up an entire wall.

6. Built-in shower seat

While we are on the topic of showers, a built-in shower seat not only completes the fantastic look of a wet room bathroom but is also very functional as well. Keeping your bathroom minimalist in design might remove some level of practicality, but you can gain it all back with a shower seat. Combined with a rainfall showerhead and non-slip surfaces, a built-in shower seat will not only help to break up the visuals of your bathroom by adding a bit of depth, it will also turn every shower into a luxury experience.

7. Highlight natural lighting

If it isn’t obvious already, one of the main attractions of a wet room is the spaciousness it offers. So, make the most of it by highlighting and incorporating natural lighting. From large windows to skylights, there’s a lot of potential! The exact solution will need to be discussed with your designer and architect, but the incorporation of natural lighting will help the entire bathroom feel more enticing, alive and beautiful.

8. Opt for underfloor heating

Thanks to advances in modern day technology and construction techniques, just because you’re incorporating a wet room into your bathroom doesn’t mean you have to forgo a luxury like underfloor heating. An all-tiled wet room can feel a bit cold to the touch during the colder months of the year. Keeping the floor nice and heated will top off your wet area bathroom as one of your favourite places to be in the house.

Thinking of a stone flooring for your wet room? Think Euro Marble!

It might come as no surprise that our preference for bathrooms, wet or otherwise, is always stone! Natural stone is beautiful, varied, and highly practical which is why it’s long been and continues to be very popular. If you’d like to find out more about using stone flooring in your wet room bathroom, give the Euro Marble team a call on (02) 8585 2999.

We’ll leave no stone unturned in finding the perfect design to suit you and your family!

Kitchen Colour Schemes For Your Next Renovation

Choosing between various kitchen colour schemes during a renovation might be something that’s preoccupying your mind. Or it could be something you haven’t yet given much thought to. Either way, whether it’s the kitchen benchtop colours or the shading of your cabinetry, there are many ways to incorporate a bit of colour to the space.

To help you find the right colour scheme for your kitchen, we’ve put together this handy guide. Remember: At the end of the day, the choice is yours. It’s your kitchen and you should be happy with its look and feel!

Kitchen Colour Scheme Options

White: clean and classy

White is a classic colour choice for a kitchen. Apart from the fact that it’s both elegant and inoffensive, white schemes don’t go out of style. If you’re a fan of minimalist and modern design, an all-white kitchen will go a long way to achieving that overall look. Plus, as a room of the house that sees a lot of traffic and business, a white colour scheme can help keep the space feeling and looking clean and spacious. Of course, there’s plenty of opportunity to infuse a bit of additional colour later on. But a white kitchen is a strong option as your initial, baseline kitchen colour scheme.

Black: bold and impressive

A black colour scheme may not come to mind when you’re considering options for your kitchen. Yet this bold colour choice can be very visually impressive. Whether you incorporate a dark kitchen benchtop only or opt for a black splashback to pop against the rest of the kitchen, the creative options are near endless.

You can even combine the two colour schemes mentioned so far. A black and white kitchen presents an aesthetically pleasing contrast and allows you to play with both foundational colours in a way that works really well.

Grey: timeless and elegant

Grey kitchen colour schemes are equally as timeless as white designs but still brings a bit of visual depth and complexity that some might feel is lacking in an all-white space. One of the key benefits of grey is that it allows you to infuse plenty of other colours as well. Grey simply pairs perfectly with almost any colour. Not to mention the fact that the sheer amount of different shades of grey gives you the versatility to find the perfect colour scheme to match the rest of your home and your preference.

Beige: calming and unique

Beige offers a lot of benefits as a kitchen colour scheme. For one thing, its lightness and brightness will evoke similar feelings of spaciousness as white. However, the tinges of colour and pinkness will go a long way to bringing your kitchen to life without being overwhelming. Like many of the colours on this list, there’s a wide spectrum of beige shading. This gives you plenty of opportunity to mix and match until you find the right style of beige that feels both calming and unique.

Brown: Earthy and warm

Brown is another, somewhat surprising, option for your kitchen. In fact, in recent years brown is becoming much more of a trendy choice for use in kitchens and homes in general. Used considerately and sparingly it can really inject a sense of comfort and warmth by evoking Earthy, natural feelings. Darker browns can complement wooden cabinetry while a lighter brown stone countertop can perfectly match a lighter kitchen as well.

Gold: bright and luxurious

If you’re after a luxurious feel for your kitchen, nothing stands out quite like a gold colour scheme. In addition to the yellow tones providing a positive emotional effect on family and friends, gold features in a kitchen can help highlight sunlight, brightness and joy. If you’re after a more regal or royal look, gold fittings, cabinetry and even wall cladding can elevate your kitchen in wonderful ways.

Green: refreshing and striking

Green kitchen colours is yet another emerging and increasingly popular trend. If you love the thought of incorporating a green-toned benchtop or green feature walls, there’s still plenty of scope to further choose your shade. From striking lime green to the refreshing look of mint green, this colour scheme can really bring on a sense of both harmony and visual flair at the same time. While we recommend choosing lighter shades of green, especially in kitchens with a lot of natural light, carefully considered applications of darker green can truly have a mesmerising effect as well.

Orange and red: Moody and captivating

It won’t surprise you at this point but both orange and red can be incorporated into your kitchen colour schemes in a variety of shades and ways. Paired with wooden countertops or even a grey island bench, both of these striking colours can really add a sense of wonder to your kitchen. We do recommend, however, taking into consideration the tones of the rest of your kitchen of course. A darker kitchen colour scheme might require a brighter orange or red tone, while a grey kitchen could look wonderful with darker feature colours of orange or red.

Blue: Stunning and limitless

Blue, whether it’s navy or baby blue, can be used quite creatively throughout the kitchen. Some of the most recent kitchen colour trends include incorporating deep navy cabinets that pop against white tiled walls and splashbacks. Alternatively, a slab of blue natural stone for your countertop with complex veining and patterns can look an absolute treat in just about any kitchen. Blue as a colour is extraordinarily versatile and there’s enough options of shading to suit any personal preference and application.

Find You Kitchen Colour Scheme With Euro Marble

Using stone in your kitchen is highly functional and fashionable thanks to its stunning visual qualities and durable nature. Many of our customers are pleasantly surprised to discover just how many colours and options of natural stone slabs there are available: Reds, blacks, blues, greens, pinks and more!
If you’re not sure which of the above kitchen colour schemes are right for you or you know what you’re looking for and want to visit our showroom to find the right slab, make sure to give our team at Euro Marble a call today!

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12 ways to add colour to your dining room

We all love the dining room! It’s where we come together to eat, socialise and spend time with the family. Finding the right balance between a colourful dining room and a sophisticated aesthetic isn’t always easy.

To help inspire you with some colour ideas for your dining room, here are 12 easy and affordable ways in which you can add some colour.

How To Add Colour to Your Dining Room

Colourful Rugs

One of the simplest ways in which you can easily infuse colour and warmth into your dining room is through a colourful rug. Of course, there’s plenty of options available, from luxurious Persian-style carpets to bold coloured rugs and everything in between. With a wide range of price points as well, there’s a colourful rug solution for just about any budget and home.

Window Furnishings

Moving away from the floors of your colourful dining room, consider how to use your window furnishings to great effect. Bold coloured drapes or curtains adorning a dining room window can add a truly elegant and appealing effect to the entire room. Plus, by moving the feature colour away from the dining table and towards the window, you can more easily balance the aesthetics of your dining room.

Accessorise

Using accessories allows you to infuse many different colour ideas for your dining room. Whether you opt for a bold yellow lamp or choose faux indoor plants to add a bit of greenery, there’s a lot of room for personal creativity and the perfect balance of boldness and subtlety. Another benefit of accessorising is that you can change it up as you see fit without having to commit to any one colour scheme or design style for your dining room indefinitely.

Greenery

While we’re on the topic… If fake plants aren’t quite your style you can go for the real deal. Indoor pot plants and other greenery–including flowers, though expensive to maintain–can add a sense of vibrant life when delicately adorned in a dining room. It can be hard to balance a colourful dining room without overdoing it, and natural greenery is one of the best options for striking that elusive balance.

Tableware

A dining room table needs tableware, and your utensils, plates, bowls and serving dishes provide the perfect opportunity to inject a bit of pop and colour. How bright and bold you go is really up to you. At the end of the day, there’s enough variety of tableware and utensils on the market that you can mix and match until your heart’s (and eye’s) content!

Artwork

The walls of your home offer a lot of potential for colour ideas for a dining room. Artwork is so vast in its style, colour and aesthetic that you can find the right piece of art that suits your chosen design. A classy displayed piece of art can add depth and sophistication to just about any dining area and will often not just introduce a bit of colour, but can also act as a central topic of conversation with dinner guests.

Ignored Spaces

Many homeowners don’t realise the opportunity the forgotten or ignored spaces in their dining room offers. It might be recessed bookshelves that can be adorned with brightly-spined books or feature a painted backdrop, a corner of the room that can house a colourful sofa, or even spaces that can sport throw pillows or a similar accessory to add a bit of colour to the space.

Statement Lighting

The lighting in your dining room serves such a practical purpose one can often forget the many opportunities available for infusing colour. Statement lighting, whether it’s an ornate chandelier or a bold blue or green pendant light, can make a huge impact thanks to its central placement without becoming too distracting.

Colourful Furniture

Among some of our favourite colour ideas for dining rooms are colourful furniture. By incorporating either colourful chairs that pop and make a bold statement, or a colourful table (and, yes, natural stone table tops do come in a variety of colours as well!) you can create a magnificent aesthetic for your family, friends and visitors to enjoy.

Differently Coloured Chairs

If you’re looking for something a little more bold and unique, you can even consider choosing different coloured fabric chairs. Having an array of colours around your table will help to make everything come alive and feel very vibrant. It also allows for you to play around with how you arrange each chair based on the various other colours and accessories in the room.

Feature Walls

Feature walls are excellent for introducing style and colour into any room, but make for a particularly effective dining room colour combination. By limiting the splash of bold colour to one wall, you won’t have to worry about your colour choice being overbearing or drowning the rest of your design. There’s a ton of options, from paint colours and wallpaper to marble wall cladding, all of which will help turn your dining room colourful.

Stone Slab Table

A dining room table offers more than just a surface on which to place food and utensils. With a natural stone slab table, you can enjoy a lot more than just a hard-wearing and durable tabletop. Stone, especially when incorporated as a single slab, makes for a breathtaking addition to any home and will serve as a central feature in your dining room. Whether you opt for granite, marble or any of the other types available, there’s a surprising range of colours, shades and patterns on offer. Practical, stylish and economically efficient, natural stone tables offer plenty of benefits for the colourful dining room.

Need some assistance? We’re a phone call away!

If you’re struggling to get the right dining room colour combination or just want some more ideas about how to work in colours to your home, give the Euro Marble team a call. We love helping our customers and the wider community to achieve the home design of their dreams. If you’d like assistance, contact us today.

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Stylish outdoor dining area ideas to inspire you

Do you love making the most of Australia’s beautiful weather and dining outdoors? There are many ways in which you can transform your outdoor dining area into something both functional and fashionable.

With so many options out there, we’d thought we’d put together a handy list of outdoor alfresco ideas to help inspire you.

1. Rustic Look

As far as outdoor alfresco ideas go, the rustic look is among the most popular. Providing the perfect backdrop for most backyards and outdoor areas, a rustic design still offers plenty of customisability. From wooden slab tables and benches, to incorporating natural stone, there’s an outdoor dining rustic look for everyone.

2. Create a Corner Terrace

A corner terrace offers great aesthetics and practicality as an outdoor dining setting. Perfect for hosting a range of meals, you can enjoy all the benefits of outdoor dining while enjoying the protective nature of a corner terrace. There’s plenty of opportunity for customising your terrace as well with red brick walls for a rustic feel or marble stone for a more luxurious look.

3. Simplistic, Elegant Benches

If you want to really enjoy outdoor dining amongst a beautiful garden or leafy backyard, opt for a simple wooden table with a few matching chairs or even a bench. This intimate setting can be perfect for a romantic evening and also for hosting friends and acquaintances, making the most of outdoor entertaining. Plus, it’s affordable and completely construction/renovation free!

4. Window Kitchen Bar

This outdoor entertaining idea is dependent upon the structure and layout of your house, but is certainly stylish, efficient and practical! Installing a window in the wall that opens your kitchen out to the entertaining patio or pergola allows for easy access for outdoor entertaining. By putting a kitchen bar there as well, you’ll even find serving and hosting to be that much more efficient.

5. White Aesthetic

Many outdoor alfresco ideas lean into the natural aesthetic of a rustic design, but if you’re wanting a style that pops without being visually overwhelming, consider incorporating a white aesthetic. Beautiful, elegant and modern, this minimalist design can be incorporated in everything from white stone walls, to white painted wooden tables, and even a light toned floor.

6. Seaside Aesthetic

Another delightful idea for your outdoor dining setting is to opt for a coastal or seaside aesthetic. With light blue-toned tables, chairs or even benches and pillows, you can infuse a relaxing and comforting feel to your outdoor area. There’s plenty of opportunity for creative customisability as well with options to incorporate shell and other ocean accessories and ornaments to really engage the aesthetic.

7. Barbeque Centred

If you like nothing more than firing up the barbeque, consider centering your outdoor dining area around the barbeque itself. Of course, if you have an in-built grill complete with an outdoor kitchen, sink, and mini-fridge you’ll find this easier. Nonetheless, even stand-alone barbeques offer excellent central points around which to incorporate benches, tables, chairs and even outdoor furniture like couches.

8. Seamless Integration

With bi-fold doors and similar options becoming more and more affordable, it’s easier to incorporate a seamless outdoor entertaining area with the rest of your home. There’s something wonderful about having the ability to simply extend your indoor dining room into an integrated outdoor dining setting. Whether you opt to put up clear glass walls around the outdoor alfresco or leave it open to the elements is up to you. Either way it’s immensely practical and looks a treat too.

9. Green Alfresco

As far as outdoor alfresco ideas go, this one is among the most ‘outdoorsy’. Whether you’re a fan of hibiscus, ivy or even grape vines, incorporating live greenery up the walls and along the beams of your alfresco is an excellent and stylish way of truly incorporating the outdoors in your dining area.

10. Lighting

While most of our outdoor entertaining area ideas so far have focused on where you’re sitting and what’s surrounding you, it’s important to think beyond that as well. For enjoyable outdoor dining, you’ll need some form of adequate lighting. With minimal cost and effort, outdoor string lighting can be arrayed in all sorts of patterns to highlight the feature outdoor dining table or to focus on the surrounding plants and gardens. Just because it’s practical and necessary doesn’t mean you can’t make something really visually arresting.

11. Cosy Benches

If you’re not planning on hosting large or more formal outdoor gatherings, a nice cosy dining corner can be very appealing. Complete with a foam cushioned bench and wooden, stone or cement table, your corner dining area can be the perfect place for the family, an intimate dinner for couples or even for a party with a few close friends.

12. Wicker Furniture

If you’re not quite sure what sort of furniture to add to your outdoor dining setting, perhaps you should consider wicker. Wicker furniture comes in a range of styles and colours so whether you’re going for the classic, rustic look or a modern, minimalist aesthetic there are plenty of practical and beautiful options for you and just about any outdoor setting.

13. Wrought Iron

If neither rustic nor modern is your style, you might want to consider something equally classy yet bold and unique. Wrought iron metal chairs and tables ooze style and hospitality. While most wrought iron outdoor furniture is white–for that classic garden picnic look–there’s still scope for darker options as well. Incorporated into a garden or surrounded by pot plants and greenery, wrought iron dining areas are functional and visually inviting.

14. Garden Table

We’ve saved the most striking for last. This unique and one-of-a-kind outdoor dining table incorporates greenery, plants and flowers to jaw-dropping effect. By installing a cement or stone bench table with an inbuilt water trough and plant beds complete with soil, plants and flowers, you can take your outdoor dining experience to a whole new level! It’s an effective way to make a fantastic impression on family, friends and guests.

Need more ideas? Contact Euro Marble today!

Whether one of the above outdoor entertaining area ideas have inspired you or you’re looking for something a bit different, the friendly team right here at Euro Marble can help. We love all things home design, outdoor dining settings and–of course–marble and stone. Contact us today to find out more.

New stone slabs have landed at EuroMarble!

Euro Marble is committed to being the premier supplier of natural stone for our customers. Part of that commitment is ensuring that our range of stone offers new and exciting products quarried from the highest quality of sites worldwide.

To help you identify what’s new and fresh in our showroom collection, we’ve listed some of the most recent products from Costa right here.

Macaubas White

Macaubas White–sometimes written as Macubas White–hails from Brazil and offers an untainted and utterly stunning aesthetic for use in your home. The snowy white tone ensures a lightness in any room it’s applied while the subtle shading ensures an aesthetic depth that simply cannot be replicated.

This quartzite stone is highly durable to both pressure and temperature which is why it’s commonly used throughout bathrooms and kitchens. Not to mention the fact that when heated, its internal crystalline structure begins to shimmer, bringing the surface of the Macaubas White to life. For this reason, a polished finish is recommended.

While minimalist and low key in its colour palette, Macaubas makes for a versatile addition and balances the benefits of minimalist design with fabulous luxury of high quality and exclusive natural stone.

Tundra Grey Limestone

We’re over the moon to welcome a range of Tundra Grey Limestone to our showroom floor. Quarried, as its name suggests, from the Tundra, this grey limestone is known for its evocative cloud like patterns and cool yet sophisticated grey shading.

Being a natural stone, no two slabs of Tundra Grey Limestone are exactly the same. Nonetheless, thanks to its aesthetic style there is plenty of conformity and consistency from slab to slab, making large scale applications in your home (such as the floor or wall cladding) easier to match perfectly. The lightness of this grey stone wonderfully balances the right level of visual depth with a minimalist feel, so you can enjoy both its elegance and aesthetics.

On a practical note, the high density of limestone, Tundra in particular, means that you can incorporate it wherever you want in your home, including the bathroom or kitchen. Its hardy nature–whether polished, brushed, honed or sandblasted–will ensure it retains its beauty for many years to come.

New York

New York marble, also known as lilac marble, is another new and fantastic addition to our showroom here at Euro Marble. Despite its name, New York doesn’t hail from the City That Never Sleeps. Instead, this rare marble is quarried from Turkey and shipped directly to us.

This exquisite stone features the iconic white shading of marble complete with an eye-catching pattern of dark purple veining that really brings the slab to life. Thanks to this fine balance of aesthetic depth and yet subtle colouring, New York is perfect for application throughout the interior of your home.

Popular for more than just its luxurious design, New York marble is relatively rare and for that reason makes for a wonderful addition in any home. To bring this intense and yet refined marble to life, we recommend a polished finish.

Azul Macaubas

Azul Macaubas is a truly stunning quartzite found in the mines of Brazil. Sometimes spelled as Azul Macubas, this blue stone evokes the liberating feeling of both sea and sky thanks to its unique colouring and flowing white wave-like patterns.

Being both exotic in nature and rare in the market, Azul Macaubas has only become more and more popular over time. The blue colouring does vary from slab to slab with options of deep, rich blue available as well as more subtle light blue mixed in with a more classic white grey.

Thanks to the unique feature of Azul Macaubas being both visually arresting while also suitably subtle, it’s a popular stone for use in both domestic and commercial applications. Without overwhelming the senses or overshadowing other decor, this quartzite can infuse a splash of colour in a refined, prestigious way. Azul Macaubas is available with a polished or honed finish.

View our new products for yourself!

There’s nothing quite like seeing our range of brand new marble and quartzite stones for yourself. Our showroom is located at 11 Rich Street, Marrickville, and our friendly team of marble experts would love nothing more than to introduce you to our brand new Costa products. There truly is a natural stone for everyone and no matter what sort of colour, style and pattern you’re after, we’ll find a truly exquisite option just for you.