Decorative stone walls, partitions and wall cladding

Decorative stone wall in a luxurious apartment fabricated from granite Absolute Premium Black / fabricator - Arsenalas

Decorative white and grey marble wall in the bedroom

Hanging partition wall from light marble with grey veins

Apartment with white marble walls with delicate veining

Bathroom walls and door clad in thin white and grey porcelain

Porcelain wall of light and warm colours

White marble wall with mirrored veiny pattern - two slabs of marble mirroring each other placed side by side

Blue marble wall as a fireplace decoration

Natural stone wall behind the fireplace fabricated from Absolute Premium Black granite / fabricator - Arsenalas

Marble wall with white and blue pattern of dramatic clouds

White marble wall with strong grey veiny pattern

Shower wall clad in sintered stone panels with rustic pattern

Translucent partition wall from green onyx backlit by natural light source coming through the window

White and grey porcelain walls in the bathroom

Shower walls from acrylic solid surface / fabricator - Gforma

Translucent green quartzite wall backlit by natural light

Porcelain walls with light marble pattern in the bathroom

Porcelain wall with white and cream pattern

Opinion: material for decorative walls

Marble is an excellent choice for decorative walls. Marble walls transmit the feeling of classical luxury. Marble as a vertical surface will not require that much care and attention as marble stairs or marble worktops do. Obviously, you are not going to walk on the walls, and less likely can you spill liquids on them. That's why marble's high etching, acid sensitivity and porosity are less important. Walls are just the right element in the interior where marble is both beautiful and practical.

Translucent marble onyx slabs have similar properties to marble, but they are even more fragile and softer than marble. The ideal use of onyx is for partitions and translucent walls. Semi-transparent onyx looks fabulous, even mystical, when illuminated naturally or artificially from the opposite side. Entire onyx slab can be used as a bathroom wall which would allow some light into otherwise dark room during the day, and would transform into a fantastic natural painting when the light is lit in the evening when looking from the other side. Onyx partitions and walls look great in bedrooms, they can be seen in the lobbies of luxury business centres, hotels, restaurants, bars.

The walls clad in granite slabs or tiles are perfect for high traffic areas. Granite is low-wear, low-scratch and non-porous. Granite walls are strong and durable, resistant to temperature changes, therefore suitable both for indoors and outdoors. Granite can come in fantastic patterns and colours, but a distinctive patterned slab will cost several times more than the more familiar economical price granite.

Another exclusive stone particularly suitable for making luxurious walls and partitions is quartzite. Translucent quartzites look just stunning, though this natural stone does not always have the quality to transmit light. Just as quartzite patterns are spectacular, so is the price. The budget for such walls must be impressive.

When talking about exotic (precious or semi-precious) stone walls, the budget will also go up to be multi-digital. Exotic stone slabs are about 3-4 cm thick and, depending on the type of stone they are made of, more or less translucent when backlit. Just imagine the serene glow of blue agate, purple amethyst, pink quartzite walls. Exotic stone slabs can reach up to three metres in hight and one and a half metres in width. Dramatic walls can be made from red jasper, green amazonite, grey petrified wood, brown or orange tiger's eye. Some exotic slabs are composed entirely from fossils. Each precious stone slab is a painting created by nature, a one-off work of art.

Two other types of natural stone used for cladding walls are travertine and sandstone. These modest stones are particularly suited to interiors that aim for restraint and hidden, unobtrusive luxury. Travertine and sandstone have a natural, warm and cosy look. Like other natural stone interior pieces, stone walls need to be impregnated, however it can be done much less frequently than in the case of worktops, stairs or floors.

A great alternative to natural stone as a material for cladding walls is artificial stone. Artificial stone walls do not need to be impregnated and are easy to clean, which is also true even in high traffic areas. Walls covered with sintered stone, engineered quartz, ceramic and porcelain slabs are much lighter than those clad in natural stone, as the sheets of artificial stone are thinner. Walls covered in ultra-thin sheets of sintered stone and ceramics with their thickness ranging between 6-10 mm look modern and elegant. They will also save 1-2 centimetres of your interior space which would otherwise be absorbed by more bulky natural stone slabs.

The hardest and most resistant to wear and tear artificial stone material that tolerates maximum everyday human traffic is sintered stone. The softest but most flexible and particularly comfortable material in irregular, oval, circular or other irregularly shaped spaces is acrylic stone. Walls can be clad with sheets of sintered stone, acrylic solid surface, porcelain or ceramic that are only 6 mm thick. All types of artificial stone are non-porous and water-resistant. The thinness and lightness of artificial stone slabs make them convenient to install in multi-storey buildings and in small spaces.