Our AirStone Wall

Many months ago, I shared with you about our first ever DIY project, which was the Giani kit that transformed our 80's peachy leafy kitchen counter top into something that looked a bit more this-century and granite. It was a weekend project that took relatively little time and really enhanced the look of the galley kitchen in our first house. It was still holding up great three years later when we moved out, and I would 100% recommend it to anyone looking for a kitchen overhaul!

So our huge DIY project at our new house was the stone wall. And today I thought I'd tell you about the good, the bad, and the ugly of that in case you're interested in trying it in your house!

It all started with this pin from Pinterest, which I found months {maybe even years} ago when we were merely dreaming of a new home that might have some sort of open concept transition from kitchen to living room. I tucked it away, and when Ryan and I were dreaming specifically of the changes to make in this house, I casually showed it to him. He was on board with it in about eighteen seconds and started researching companies that made stone to use in such a manner.

If you didn't know this {and I most certainly did not}, you have to be very careful if you use real stone on a wall like this because it is {obviously} heavy and can actually pull down a wall if it's not done properly. Plus, stone is just expensive. And you know expensive is not our love language.

So Ryan found a company called AirStone and did some research, read some reviews, and declared this was the company for us. This product can be used inside or out {though we can only vouch for its inside use} and is 75% lighter than true stone. It really does look like stone and feels that way to the touch - until you pick it up and feel how light it is. You also do not use any kind of mortar or grout that has to be mixed. There's an adhesive that you put on the back {like buttering bread} and that is what keeps it in place. And if you need to cut a stone, you can do it with a hacksaw, so you don't even need any special fancy power tools.

There are two color ensembles to chose from: Autumn Mountain, which is a brown tone, and Spring Creek, which is a blue/gray tone. We used Spring Creek in our house. They sell flat stones, which are the ones that you put on a regular wall surface...natural edge stones, which we used on the end of the wall that did not meet up to another wall...and corner edge stones, which we did not use, but you would use that if you were wrapping around a corner onto another wall you planned to cover with stones. And we used the bucket of putty they sell.

Now, I will say, the online calculator failed us. {And if I had been the one doing the calculating, I would absolutely claim user error because we all know my math skills. But Ryan did it and he's both good at that stuff and accustomed to that stuff, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't his fault.} The calculator recommended two boxes of the flat stone to cover the living room side of our wall, and we needed somewhere between six and seven boxes. {We ordered eight total when it was all done, but that was after we also decided to also do the backsplash in the kitchen.} So I'll just throw that out there for what it's worth. Obviously it did end up being a more expensive project than we planned, given we budgeted for two boxes and had to buy eight {and a second bucket of adhesive}, but we still feel the end result was worth the extra funds, because this is our favorite part of our house.

I absolutely giggle at the cute girl in her white mini skirt and perfect pedicure in the installation videos, because our experience at this process was nowhere near as neat and tidy as this. We had a whole lotta dust, a whole lotta stone fragments hanging around, and a whole lotta adhesive mess, but again, worth it in the end. I would NOT recommend wearing a white mini skirt for installation, however.

Each box of stone comes with multiple sizes and color tints of stones, and Ryan learned, after he got his groove down, that it was good to work two rows at a time and alternate the sizes and colors of each stone. {Some stones, as you can see in the picture, are long and some are short. Some are narrow and some are thick. Some are light and some are dark. You want to puzzle it together so you have a good variety of thicknesses, lengths, and color tone.}

We painted the wall the Autumn Fog color we used in the kitchen, since it coordinated with the stone, and that way if there would happen to be any paint showing through between any stones {which I don't think ended up being the case} it would at least blend in. Ryan "buttered" the stone with the adhesive, which worked really well. It stays soft for about 30 minutes, so if you need to pull a stone down and reposition it, you can. And we haven't had any issues with falling stone since it was installed, so I would say it holds well! Ryan did have to pull a few stones off after the adhesive had "cured" so we could install the counter top, and they did pop off without breaking, but the removal damaged the drywall on the way off. That was totally fine, since we put them right back on after the counter top was in, but I wanted to let you know that if you do this and undo it someday, you'll have some wall repair in front of you. Also - the adhesive has a pretty strong smell, and that's saying something from the girl who wishes Sharpie made a candle. I didn't get a headache or anything, but you'll probably want some good ventilation or a fan going if you're sensitive to smell.

Ryan is a perfectionist, so every stone had to be tested with the level, and now and then - especially when he got started with the bottom row - he had to use shims to hold things in place until the putty hardened. This part of the process slowed us down quite a bit, but I know the end result was worth it, because we didn't get to the top to find the entire thing was not level.

One HUGE frustration he had was that one of the two boxes of edge pieces we purchased was not level. Like every single stone had to be filed down to make them level. That was probably the biggest holdup of the project. I would say that's probably not typical since only one box was that way, and thankfully it was just the edge pieces, which meant a much smaller box. But it did happen and it did cause a slow down, frustration, and a few cuts on his hands!

The stones were easy to cut, but they did leave a dusty mess. Definitely put down towels or tarp if you're going to do this inside!

In the end, I would estimate Ryan put about sixty hours into this wall. But we do love it, we think it makes an incredible statement, and we both feel it was a good investment!