Stepping Stones

Stepping stones create interest, texture and colour in your garden. Use them to make informal paths that wend their way through your property, cross wet areas, connect areas of interest and create a visual tie between architecture and the landscape. Stepping stone paths break up expanses of turf and accentuate attractive areas of your garden. They also work well as borders.

Creating a path using stepping stones instead of paving a large area is less expensive and preserves the natural look of the landscape. Stepping stones can also be placed between paved surfaces to minimise expanses of pavement, connect separate activity areas and create variety in your garden.

Stepping stones also play an important role in stabilising soil, minimising wear in turf and providing a safe, attractive way to traverse slopes. Outdoor & General has the widest range of natural stone stepping stones in Sydney. Choose from natural stone steppers, creative wet cast concrete steppers that look and feel natural, and concrete pavers that accentuates the outdoor features of your home or business.

Attractive landscaping is often the first impression of a business establishment. For homeowners, an attractive garden adds kerb appeal and value to a property. Natural stone complements any landscape design and all architectural styles, creating a cohesive look to your property.

We offer a variety of natural garden stepping stones or walkway stepping stones in natural finishes. Choose from Athenastone® hand-cut stepping stones, bluestone organic steppers or even Italian porphyry steppers. You can even choose from our range of natural stone pavers ranging in sizes to complement existing outdoor designs. Natural stone pavers add distinctive colour, texture and appearance that can be used to advantage in your design.

Bluestone pavers are basaltic stone with a blue-grey colour: basalt, which is volcanic, and metamorphic rocks, including porphyry, schist and siltstone. Distinctive cat’s paws markings are common in basaltic bluestone, the result of pores and fissures that developed in molten lava as gas escaped during the cooling process millions of years ago. Designers often feature these natural markings when laying the stones for their unique appearance.

Outdoor and General’s bluestone pavers come in sandblasted and sawn finishes. The sawn finish is sanded after cutting to give a smoother yet anti-slip surface. Sawn finish highlights the beauty of bluestone’s structure and minerals. Bluestone is water-resistant, durable and strong. We can help you select a style that complements your design.

Organic bluestone step pavers add beauty to your landscape. The slightly rounded shapes and irregular edges give a somewhat rustic look. They are available in a variety of sizes creating a unique stepping stone path. Outdoor and General’s organic bluestone step stones predominantly grey-blue, they often shimmer with shades of gold and tan, hues that complement Australia’s natural landscape. The random shapes of bluestone crazy pavers give an informal look to a garden path or walkway.

Basalt pavers are dark coloured popular choice for homeowners, like bluestone, they are strong and dense, which increases its weight-bearing strength. The finishes on our basalt garden pavers are available as exfoliated or bush-hammered, both are slip-resistant. Exfoliated finishes highlight the crystalline structure of the minerals. This finish weathers well, tolerating both hot and cold environments. Bush-hammered finishes have a weathered look that brings out the colours of the minerals.

Travertine, a sedimentary rock, comes in several colours, including light grey-blue, grey with silvery tones, tan and cream. This porous, soft stone forms as water percolates through limestone, which releases gas from the parent material of calcium carbonate. Over time, holes develop as gas escapes. The material recrystallises into calcite, absorbing aquatic bacteria and plants from the wet medium around it. Travertine has a spongy appearance with cavities and holes throughout.

When cut parallel to the layers, the cavities look circular, giving a flowery appearance. When cut perpendicular to the layers, the holes appear as elongated fissures. For outdoor use, our travertine pavers are perfect for stepping stones, have a tumbled finish that gives a distinct look to the natural cavities in the stone. Tumbled finishes wear well, are slip-resistant and require minimal care.

Premium travertine are available in pre-cut squares and rectangles of several sizes, all 30 mm thick ideal for outdoors. The cream-coloured background of Valencia displays highlights of reds, golds and greys. Silver highlights with inclusions of dark grey and swirls of brown, light grey and beige define Afyon Silver travertine. Classic Cream pavers feature a taupe-brown base with golden striations, milky white veins and grey tones.

Our travertine stepping stone blends include Silver Blend, silvery grey with speckles of dark grey and cream, and Tuscan Blend, with rosy, golden hues and veins of black and dark grey. The warm hues of brown with veins of milky white and grey define Sunset Blend travertine, available in pre-cut slabs that are 30 mm thick.

Elegant and timeless, granite stepping stones complement all types of architecture and landscape designs, appropriate for both residential and commercial properties. Granite is an igneous stone, with large inclusions quartz, feldspar and mica. The size and types of inclusions give each piece a distinctive look. It is highly resistant to moisture, making it an excellent choice for outdoor use. Granite is durable, strong and resistant to etching and staining. It has high flexural strength, meaning it can bear heavy loads if properly cut and installed.

Granite comes in a variety of colours, including shades of grey, several black tones, reds, pinks, maroons, beige, blues, gold, green and white. It is available in two attractive finishes: bush-hammered and exfoliated. Each brings out the characteristics of the stone, accentuating the variations in hues, mineral patterns and inclusions. Both finishes have a natural look and slip-resistant protection, ideal for outdoor use.

Our granite pavers work very well as step pavers, come in a wide range of pre-cut sizes, ranging from large rectangular slabs to small squares. Our selection of dark colours, such as midnight black, sesame black and raven grey, accentuate the interplay of light and dark inclusions. Our lighter-coloured granite steppers, including honey-jasper and moon white reflect heat, making them ideal for paving around swimming pools and walkways near buildings. Contact our staff for assistance in selecting colours, sizes and finishes.

Porphyry is an igneous rock with large-grained crystals of feldspar and quartz embedded in a fine-grained background that is almost glassy. It often has a slightly purple background. However, colour varies depending on the mineral content, which may include copper, gold, olivine and rhyolite. The subtle colours of our Italian porphyry include gold tones, rosy hues, tans, greens and greys.

Our porphyry garden steppers give an Old-World look to your landscape. However, they work well with all types of designs, from classic to modern. Crazy paving, made of irregular shapes and sizes, works well for garden paths. Random-length pavers, ranging from 30 mm to 60 mm, add charm to any outdoor space. Natural split finishes with sawn edges give a rustic look to this attractive stone.

Porphyry is well-suited to Australian landscapes because it has a very low rate of water absorption, tolerates heat and cold well and is slip-resistant. Porphyry is ideal for high-traffic areas because of its compressive and flexural strength. Its resistance to etching and staining makes it suitable for all applications.

Concrete pavers offer an affordable, easy-care alternative to stone, wood, brick and clay garden steppers. Our vast selection includes pavers made by trusted industry leaders, including Adbri Masonry, Austral Bricks and National Masonry. Concrete stepping stone pavers can be used anywhere in your landscape, including pool surrounds, walkways, paths and borders. National Masonry’s Stoneworks’ artisan-style moulded concrete pavers creates natural-looking pavers that are durable, weather-resistant and attractive. Mystone’s wet cast concrete is non-slip, colour-fast and durable.

Popular concrete pavers include large squares and rectangles as well as limestone and bluestone antique-look finishes. If you want a weathered timber look in an easy-care material, go for Mystone Timberstone Ironwood concrete pavers. Mystone’s randomly shaped Bush Rock pavers in sandstone, bluestone and limestone finishes look like naturally weathered stepping stones. Mystone Bush Rock steppers look like natural hewn rock. Mystone Timberstone Ironbark pavers look like weathered wood. These concrete stepping stones add charm and texture to your garden at an affordable price.

To get a better idea of the quality and variety of our concrete pavers, visit our showroom in Punchbowl, New South Wales. Our displays pique the imagination, helping your visualise ways to transform your garden into an enjoyable, unique landscape.

Outdoor and General is open seven days a week with a full range of concrete pavers on display. Our experienced staff can help make your landscaping project a success. We can recommend sizes and styles of stones, and pavers that work with your budget, help you determine quantities and arrange shipping even for out of Sydney.

People sometimes mistakenly think that porcelain pavers are fragile. They picture delicate tiles made of a material that easily shatters. The reality is that porcelain pavers are manufactured at incredibly high temperatures and emerge from the process with an impressive strength and durability suitable for a variety of uses including stepping stones. They hold up well under regular foot traffic making it ideally suited for stepping stones. Porcelain stepping stones come in an extraordinary range of colours, textures, and patterns, making them an excellent fit for different architectural styles and the atmosphere created by different kinds of landscaping. They are also low maintenance.