Chipped, Chopped, and Sawn Oh My!

Hi there!  We've been drowning in decisions and loan docs over here but I've managed to gather up a few pics of the process that we've taken to choose some exterior finishes.  Since the last post we've picked up some stone samples and that made a big difference when looking at colors for the stucco.  I  had previously chosen some colors that were way too light and now that I have the stone next to them we can make a more accurate decision.  

So how do you even begin to know where to start?  I've been collecting pictures, pictures and more pictures.  Even before the days of good ol' Pinterest I had a folder on the computer where I would throw anything that appealed to me in any way.  After collecting pics for some time you begin to see what you like the most over and over again.

I had many many pics of the overall look and feel of the architecture but when it came down to details I just love this one!

This was a picture that I had stored away from a picture on a real estate web site so I don't have a link or any more detailed pictures:(

I can't decide what I love the most about it.  Is it the stone, the pattern of the stone, the door, windows?  I like it all but this picture is what led me to the type of stone we will go with.  It's called Lueders stone.     

After sending this picture to the stone company that we will probably be ordering through I was told it is more than likely "antique" lueders.  Lueders is quarried in Texas but surprisingly I had never heard of it and now that I know better I see it's all over the place here in central TX.  After a few phone calls I found a place with a price for Lueders in our budget.  Yay!  Don't you hate it when you think you've found the thing that will work and yet it is beyond your reach and you have to start over?  

It's amazing how there are soo many decisions that you need to make when you are starting from scratch.  Not only will we choose the stone, but the pattern of the stone and then the grout!  Below is one of the random patterns we have considered. (yes we drive around and take pictures of random buildings with our phones)  It may very well creep people out if they see us.  It would me!  Except for the fact that we are rollin in the mini van..

This is what I'm calling a "random" pattern but have no idea if that's what the professionals call it;)

Here is another pic of the same pattern but with bigger stones.  Ah yes we need to decide the stone size too.  This was actually one of my faves at the stone yard and we brought some home to play with.

Below I'm trying the tried but not so sure if it's true...Lay it on the shingles next to a paint swatch trick.   I liked it with the Sherwin Williams Pavestone and the charcoal shingles.

Oh but it looks pretty good with the Gateway Grey too.

Oh and not to confuse you as much as we began to get confused but you have to decide if you want the cut "chopped" or "sawn".  The above stones are chopped and the pic below is sawn.  Can you see the difference?  

We actually ended up at this particular stone yard because of the Lueders prices that I mentioned above.  I had also seen grey lueders that looked great online but in person it was super blah.  It looked very bland and there was almost no color variation.  We don't want a lot of variation but don't want it to look like concrete blocks either.

See what I mean?

This Santa Maria below actually looked kinda cool in person but seeing it here I don't like it at all.  They actually achieved this look by chipping off the "skin" of the stone in some areas to give it a more rustic look. 

So just to make it more complicated you can have it "chipped" too!  You can see how we might have felt just a little "stoned" when we left now huh?

And then we came across these pretty babies.  This one is called Sonoma Tan and it made me realize that I wasn't really as in love with Mr. Lueder as I thought I was.  I think senior Sonoma may just be the perfect one for our casa.  There was some slight variation in the stones and it was laid in the same pattern as the awesome house in the first picture in this post so Mr. Sonoma stole my heart from Mr. Lueder and just so happens he is in our budget too!

I think we may have a winner in the paint department too!  As I downloaded these pics I realized that I was apparently really digging the mix of the Sonoma Tan with the Pavestone from sherwin williams, the charcoal shingles and you see that little sample there?..that is the metal roof that is a greyish color as well.  

See what I mean?  I took a ton of pics of this combo and you know what?  I like it!!  One bonus about selecting the Sonoma Tan in the pattern above (I wish I knew what it is called, I will soon I'm sure!) is that we won't have to select a grout color. Score!  One less decision in this process is a good thing!  I can't wait to see how it all comes together.  When it's all on the house and not just small little samples will it look totally different?  Only time will tell!