Look! Rock Step

Remember these grass walls? Well on our neighborhood walk, we saw some loose gravel at the bottom of a landing got replaced with very orderly pebbles:

We loved this use of small smooth pebbles on their sides in such a small space. They give such a beautiful texture and the variety of color is amazing. What we really love is that pebbles aren't that different but the simple act of putting them on their sides totally changed the feeling of this small space.

Comments (7)

These are very common in China, sometimes whole streets are made of them in villages. They often have a pretty inlaid design; you may also see pieces of broken teacups (like teacup bottoms) used for mosaics. I was fascinated with them and took lots of pics.

posted by wally3 on August 25th 2008 at 9:21am
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This must take some real patience to create!

Love it!

posted by spinsLPs on August 25th 2008 at 9:25am
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I've seen pebble rocks set on end like this on mesh backs for use as tile - I'm sure that's what these homeowners did.

posted by bepsf on August 25th 2008 at 9:34am
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Yeah, they sell these in sheets - just add grout.

posted by Laura on August 25th 2008 at 11:45am
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These are standing pebble tiles and you can buy them online at costco.com - they are super easy to install and really look dramatic!

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11223038&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US

posted by evesie on August 25th 2008 at 1:03pm
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How on earth do you add grout to this? That would take longer than placing the pebbles in wet cement one by one.

posted by spinsLPs on August 25th 2008 at 2:53pm
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oh, i would love to walk on that with my bare feet!