Quick things to know before you start:
- Travertine cladding comes in two very different looks: split face (linear, 100mm courses) and random cladding (irregular, up to 350mm). Pick the look before you pick the colour.
- Order corner pieces with your cladding. They're what stop a clad wall looking like tile stuck to a box.
- Random cladding weighs around 50kg/m². Your substrate has to be up to it.
- 12mm is a tile that needs a slab underneath. 30mm is a paver that can take load. Getting this wrong is expensive to unwind.
- Travertine is porous. Pre-seal before grouting, penetrating seal after. Both, every time.
- Order samples and look at them on the actual wall, in your actual light, wet and dry.
Travertine has been used in buildings for thousands of years: the Colosseum, half of Rome, structures that have outlasted the empires that built them. It isn't going to look dated in three years, because it was never really in fashion to begin with. It's just stone that happens to look good.
What's changed recently is where Australians are putting it. Five years ago travertine meant a pool surround. Now it's going up walls: entry facades, fireplace surrounds, feature walls in living rooms, accent walls in bathrooms. This is a rundown of both: walls first, because that's where the biggest transformation is, then the paving applications travertine has always been good at.
The look that stops a room
Nearly every decision about a travertine feature wall follows from one choice, and it isn't colour. It's whether you want linear or irregular.
Split face: controlled, contemporary, quietly confident
Split-face cladding is cut into consistent 100mm-high courses with random lengths, 20mm thick. The face is split rather than sawn, so every piece has a broken, three-dimensional front that throws shadow across the day. From a distance it reads as clean horizontal banding. Up close it's all texture.
This is the one to use when the architecture is contemporary and you want the wall to feel deliberate rather than rustic.
Silver Travertine Split face Cladding on an entry blade wall. The linear coursing emphasises the height of the wall and the stone turns the corner as a solid mass with dedicated corner pieces.
That's the single best argument for split face: on a tall wall, horizontal coursing draws the eye sideways and the wall reads wider and calmer. On a chimney breast it does the opposite and emphasises the height. Same product, opposite effect, depending on the proportion of the wall you put it on.
Shop the split face range:
- Classic Travertine Split face Cladding — $109.99/m², 100mm width, random lengths, 20mm thick
- Silver Travertine Split face Cladding — $110.00/m², 100mm width, random lengths, 20mm thick
Random cladding: organic, layered, full of character
Random cladding is the opposite approach. Irregular pieces in random sizes up to 350mm, 20-40mm thick, fitted together like a dry-stone wall. There's no repeating course, so the eye never finds a grid.
We stock two travertine options here, and they're genuinely different stones rather than two names for the same thing.
Toscana Travertine Wall Random Cladding runs flatter and tighter-jointed with more buff in the mix.
Shop the random cladding range:
- Toscana Travertine Wall Random Cladding — $127.99/m², random sizes to 350mm, 20-40mm thick
- Troy Travertine Wall Random Cladding — $128.79/m², random sizes to 350mm, 20-40mm thick
Crazy travertine gives you a third variation on the irregular look: larger, flatter pieces with wider grout joints. Both crazy products are sold as paving and cladding, so the same stone can run up a wall and across the ground beside it.
Crazy Silver Travertine Paving & Cladding on a rendered facade. Wide joints and large flat pieces read quieter than random cladding from a distance.
Cobblestone as a wall
Less obvious, and one of the better-looking things we sell. Travertine cobblestone laid in a running bond gives you a fine, brick-scale texture: more regular than random cladding, more tactile than split face.
Silver Travertine Cobblestone laid as wall cladding. The tight, regular bond suits fence faces, garden walls and low retaining walls.
Feature wall ideas we've supplied in other stone
Travertine will do all of these, but we want to show you real finished rooms rather than renders. The projects below were clad in other stones from our range: the application is what to look at, and the travertine equivalents are noted underneath each one.
Photographed in White Mix Sandstone Random cladding, not travertine. A bathroom accent wall behind a freestanding bath. In travertine, Toscana is the closest match.
Classic Travertine Split face Cladding on a double-height fireplace wall. The stone runs floor to ceiling and wraps the return, so the chimney reads as a solid stone mass. The linear coursing pulls the eye upward and emphasises the height of the room.
More options across our loose stone cladding and stacked stone walling ranges, and our guide to fireplace stone cladding covers the fireplace application in more depth.
Before you clad anything
Check the substrate. Random cladding is around 50kg/m². The wall behind it has to be structurally sound and clean. Cracked or drummy render has to be sorted first, not covered up.
Use stone adhesive, not tile adhesive. Ask us what suits your specific product and wall.
Order corners with the flat. Corner pieces come on separate pallets and are priced per lineal metre. Measure your returns before you order, not after.
Think about grout colour. A warm sand or charcoal joint suits travertine. White grout fights it and makes every piece pop individually.
Pool, patio and the indoor-outdoor connection
This is still where most of our travertine ends up. It stays noticeably cooler underfoot than dark stone in a Sydney summer, the unfilled surface is naturally grippy, and it handles pool chemistry without drama.
Silver Travertine Tile & Paver in 30mm around a waterfront pool.
Use 30mm pavers for the surround, and finish the edge with tumbled bullnose coping in the same stone so the pool edge doesn't introduce a second material. Coping comes in 610x406x30mm or a longer 1220x406x30mm, which means fewer joints along a straight run.
Classic Travertine Coping/Treads in tumbled bullnose. The rounded edge is kinder on shins and hands than a sharp sawn tile.
More in our pool coping collection, and our guide to pool coping materials compares travertine against the alternatives.
Alfresco, courtyards and driveways
Large-format travertine does its best work across a terrace. Silver in particular sits well against the dark cladding, black window frames and slat screening that turn up on most new Sydney builds.
Silver Travertine Tile & Paver, 610x406mm. Run the same stone inside the sliding doors and out for an unbroken floor: 12mm inside over the slab, 30mm outside on the bedded base.
For paths, side returns and courtyards where a rectangular grid would need constant cutting, crazy paving is the better format.
Crazy Classic Travertine Paving & Cladding on a side path. Available in 12mm, 20mm and 30mm.
And for driveways, mesh-backed cobblestone is the practical choice. Small units mean more joints, more grip and better tolerance of ground movement, and the mesh backing cuts labour dramatically compared with laying loose cobbles.
Classic or Silver: which mood?
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Classic |
Silver |
|
|
Palette |
Beige, cream, honey |
Cool grey with strong movement |
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The mood |
Rendered and timber homes, coastal and Mediterranean builds |
Dark cladding, black window frames, contemporary builds |
|
Wall options |
Split face, crazy cladding, cobblestone |
Split face, crazy cladding, cobblestone |
|
Ground options |
Tile/paver, French pattern, crazy, cobblestone, mesh cobblestone, coping |
Tile/paver, French pattern, crazy, cobblestone, coping |
Toscana and Troy sit outside this split: both are travertine, but they're their own colours rather than variants of Classic or Silver.
Protect the investment
Travertine is porous, indoors and out. Sealing isn't an upsell; it's the difference between a surface that looks the same in ten years and one that's held every mark since it went down.
- ProBlock Pre-Sealer before grouting. This stops grout haze staining into the stone.
- Sealer's Choice Gold Rapid Cure as the final seal. Penetrating, won't change the look or feel.
- Penetrating Sealer is the more economical option across large external paving and driveways.
See the full sealers range and our guide to maintaining natural stone surfaces.
Before you commit
Photos don't tell you the whole story with cladding. The depth, and the way a split face catches light at 4pm versus 8am, doesn't come through on a screen. And a wall isn't a floor you can cover with a rug if you change your mind.
Order samples, hold them against the actual wall morning and afternoon, and wet one: travertine darkens noticeably when wet, which matters if it's going anywhere near a pool or a shower.
Come and see it in person. Fifteen minutes with the team covers which product suits your wall, how much you need once corners and window reveals are accounted for, and what your substrate can carry. Custom cutting and supply-and-install are both available.
Get a quote | Browse travertine
Stone Oasis, 49-59 Canterbury Rd, Bankstown NSW 2200
Monday-Saturday 8am-5pm · Sunday 10am-2pm · 1300 378 901
