Limestone as a floor
Limestone is a sedimentary stone, made largely of calcium carbonate from shells and marine sediment, and many limestones still show small fossils or shell fragments in their face. On a floor it reads calm and even, with less contrast than marble and fewer holes than travertine, which is why it has been a favorite of European country houses and of modern minimalist interiors alike. Limestone as a material, its colors and its fossils, is covered in limestone tile.
Limestone is a relatively soft stone, roughly 3 to 4 on the Mohs scale, so a limestone floor develops wear and patina over the years, especially in its softer varieties. Most interior limestone floors are honed, a matte finish that shows that wear gracefully, and they are usually sealed, since limestone absorbs liquids more readily than porcelain.
Honed floor tile
Interior limestone floor tiles are honed in most cases: Seagrass in 12x12, Jerusalem Light in 12x12, Lymra in 12x24 and Verde Cordoba in 12x24. Honing grinds the face flat and matte, which brings out the soft color of the stone and is less slippery when wet than a polished face. Paris limestone comes polished in 12x12 as well, for a smoother, more reflective floor in dry rooms.
Each of these stones has a different character. Jerusalem Light is a pale cream, the classic warm limestone. Lymra is a light, even beige with very little movement, close to a plain stone floor. Verde Cordoba is a green limestone, unusual and calm. Seagrass is a green-gray with darker flecks and fossil traces, and it is used for floors, shower walls and outdoor paving alike.
Seagrass limestone
Seagrass limestone is a gray-green stone with darker flecks and small fossils scattered through it, so it reads like a natural, slightly textured surface rather than a flat color. It suits bathrooms, kitchens and sunrooms, and it pairs well with white walls, wood and brushed metal.
Seagrass is also one of the few stones here that runs from inside to outside: honed 12x12 tile for floors, a textured 3D hexagon mosaic for a shower wall or backsplash, and sandblasted pavers, pattern sets and pool copings for a patio. One stone can therefore cover a bathroom, the shower and the terrace outside it.
Jerusalem and the light limestones
Jerusalem Light is a warm cream limestone in honed 12x12 and in a 2 3/4x5 1/2 subway size, with a waterjet Gothic Arabesque tile cut into the pointed arch shape of Moorish and Gothic architecture. Together they let a bathroom floor, a shower wall and an accent panel share one warm stone.
Light limestones like Jerusalem and Lymra make a room feel bright and soft at the same time. They show less contrast than white marble, so they suit rooms where the floor should feel warm without drawing attention.
Paris limestone
Paris limestone comes in more forms than any other stone in this collection: polished 12x12 tile, tumbled pavers in 12x24 and 24x24, and a family of mosaics, a honed basket weave, rock face strips in 1x2 and 2x6, a honed Cascade pattern and a Rhomboid Blend. The polished and honed versions give a classic French floor, and the rock face mosaics add a split, textured surface for a feature wall. The Rhomboid Blend alternates champagne and charcoal diamond shapes in a geometric pattern, and the Cascade mosaic arranges rectangular honed pieces in a flowing, dimensional layout, both suited to a bathroom floor or an accent wall where a plain tile would feel too quiet.
Can you use limestone in a shower
Limestone can be used in a shower, most often as honed tile on the walls and small mosaics on the floor, where many joints follow the slope to the drain. The limestone mosaics include the Paris basket weave, the Hanalei mosaic in slim 5/8x1 1/2 pieces, the Paris rock face mosaics, the Seagrass 3D hexagon and waterjet Winter Leaf mosaics in Gray Fousanna and Thala Gray, cut into a leaf pattern.
A honed limestone floor with a limestone mosaic in the shower keeps one stone through the bathroom while changing the scale where the floor gets wet. Honed and tumbled faces are the usual choice underfoot in a shower.
Is limestone good for a kitchen floor
Limestone is a good kitchen floor for those who want natural stone: a honed limestone floor brings warmth and a soft, European look to a kitchen, and its muted colors hide crumbs and dust well. Limestone is calcium carbonate, so acidic spills such as lemon juice, vinegar and wine dull the surface where they sit, and oils can soak in if the stone is unsealed. A sealed honed floor gives time to wipe spills, and over the years the floor develops an even, lived-in patina.
In a busy family kitchen, a harder or denser stone, or a limestone look porcelain, is the lower-upkeep choice; real limestone is chosen by those who want the natural stone and accept its aging.
Entries and mudrooms
An entry or mudroom floor takes grit, water and salt from shoes, and a honed or tumbled limestone copes with that well: its matte, slightly textured face hides scuffs and dust, and wear blends into the stone. Mid-toned limestones such as Seagrass hide everyday dirt better than the palest creams, which show dark marks sooner.
Living and dining rooms
In living and dining rooms, limestone gives a calm, light floor that works with rugs, upholstered furniture and both traditional and contemporary interiors. Larger formats such as the 12x24 Lymra and Verde Cordoba suit open rooms, where fewer joints let the stone read as one continuous surface. The soft, low-contrast color lets furniture and art carry the room.
Grout and joints on a limestone floor
Limestone floor tiles with straight, calibrated edges are traditionally laid with narrow joints, so the floor reads as an even field of stone. The grout is usually matched to the stone, a warm beige for Jerusalem and Lymra, a soft gray or green-gray for Seagrass, so the joints disappear. On mosaics the grout covers more of the surface, and a matched color lets a basket weave or leaf pattern read as one stone.
Polished limestone floors
Polished limestone, such as the Paris polished 12x12, has a smooth, softly reflective face that looks elegant in entries, living rooms and dining rooms. Because many limestones are less dense than marble, a polish on limestone often reads more satin than mirror. Polished stone becomes slippery when wet, so polished limestone is usually kept to dry rooms, with honed limestone in kitchens and bathrooms.
Pavers and outdoor floors
Outdoor pavers and pool copings make up most of the limestone floor collection. Caribbean Blue is a blue-gray limestone with a natural face, in sizes from 6x12 to 24x30 and pattern sets, with pool copings in several profiles and thicknesses: 12x24 at 1.25 and 2 inches thick, and larger 24x24 and 30x30 pieces, so the coping can match the scale of the deck around it. Its natural face keeps the stone's split texture, which gives grip and an unpolished, coastal look. Shell Reef is a tumbled and brushed shell stone, and Myra Shellstone a brushed shell stone in sizes up to 18x36 and a French pattern, both showing fossilized shells in their faces. Paris and Seagrass come as tumbled and sandblasted pavers too.
Light limestone pavers stay comfortable underfoot in the sun, and textured faces such as tumbled, brushed and sandblasted give grip around a pool. The outdoor range, including shell stone and blue limestone, is covered in detail in limestone pavers.
Indoor and outdoor in one stone
Because Seagrass and Paris come both as interior tiles and as exterior pavers, a limestone floor can run from a kitchen or family room through a door to a patio in the same stone. The finish changes at the threshold, honed inside and sandblasted or tumbled outside, and the pavers are thicker, mostly 1 1/4 inches against 3/8 inch for interior tile, but the color carries through and makes the two spaces feel connected.
Limestone or limestone look porcelain
Limestone look porcelain reproduces the soft, even color of limestone on a porcelain body that absorbs almost no water, does not etch and needs no sealing, and it often comes in larger formats. Real limestone is the natural stone: each tile varies, fossils appear where they fall in the block, the floor develops a patina, and it can be re-honed. The two serve different priorities, natural character or low upkeep, and both are common on floors.
