Travertine color changes possible?

[Nitramnayr]

First time poster and excited to join the group!

We wanted to solicit opinions on our tile/stone selection, and potentially also ask for solutions to change the color of our travertine pool tile and/or split face stone (if possible).

It’s our first pool build (apologies for not having my signature complete yet) and we chose a light gray split face stone for the raised beam and a “light” travertine for coping and pool tile. We loved both the selections- until they were installed and the pool tile got wet. I didn’t realize that getting it wet really seems to pull out tans and brown tones, which we were trying to avoid by going with a gray and white scheme.

I searched for “lighten travertine” on the forum to look at dyes or chemicals to change the color but didn’t see anything just yet. Just curious (A) what y’all think of the color scheme, B) if you’ve heard of a product to lighten or darken travertine or stone, and (C) what color kooldeck you’d use. I’ll attach some photos below.

Thanks in advance for your opinions, good or bad. Just trying to see what would be a good fit, and find a way to change either the pool tile or the split face stone (if you think we should).

Cheers,
Ryan

(split face wall tile and travertine pool tile selections before getting them wet)

(installed)

(closeup at sunset which seems to blend the two finishes together)

(kooldeck color options)

 

[kimkats]

I like your water line tile and split face tile colors. I get what you are saying about the dry and wet colors being so different but it looks fine! I think you risk doing more harm than good trying to dye it or such. IF you want to play around with it I would get a few extra pieces and experiment BUT think what you have now should stay like it is!

Decking color- I like the smokey mountain color the best with dove gray a close second.

Kim

 

[thadhunter]

This problem is the unsolvable one I have determined. Everything in our view is the lighter grays and whites but those are hard colors to get out of travertine or even granite the way my wife likes it. That very light gray look. travertine does not offer that so we are going with marble. You can see the differences in the colors below. The travertine is the lightest greyest I could find.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

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You should see what that gray marble looks like wet. Doesn't look like the same material.

 

[Nitramnayr]

This problem is the unsolvable one I have determined. Everything in our view is the lighter grays and whites but those are hard colors to get out of travertine or even granite the way my wife likes it. That very light gray look. travertine does not offer that so we are going with marble. You can see the differences in the colors below. The travertine is the lightest greyest I could find.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

- - - Updated - - -

You should see what that gray marble looks like wet. Doesn't look like the same material.

Thank you both for your opinions. We are exploring the option of a matte sealer on parts of the flat face/split rock wall to gradually blend the tan into the gray. Testing out a piece this week and will let you know how it turns out. I really don’t want to rip up a bunch of tile or stone or coping and maybe accepting the tans within the stone and blending it is the cheapest/easiest option.

 

[thadhunter]

Thank you both for your opinions. We are exploring the option of a matte sealer on parts of the flat face/split rock wall to gradually blend the tan into the gray. Testing out a piece this week and will let you know how it turns out. I really don’t want to rip up a bunch of tile or stone or coping and maybe accepting the tans within the stone and blending it is the cheapest/easiest option.

Yea its tough. I noticed it when the guy kept pushing the tans. Finally he just said its almost impossible with travertine. My wife does not like the tan look at all. We had to go with this sandblasted marble which was only a dollar more a foot.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Yea its tough. I noticed it when the guy kept pushing the tans. Finally he just said its almost impossible with travertine. My wife does not like the tan look at all. We had to go with this sandblasted marble which was only a dollar more a foot.

I found this concept and think it’s what we are going to try by staining or sealing a few of the gray tiles. Anybody done this before?

 

[riley00dog]

Hi Ryan, your split face tile looks very different to your sample. I guess it’s just the lighting or something, but I would double check. I personally like your selections, but natural and neutral is my thing. We have chosen almost identical selections, except we don’t have a split face tile. We are not looking for a grey/white colour scheme as you are, but still worried I’ll be disappointed like you’re feeling. If you’re really not happy though you could try experimenting with different sealers etc on spare pieces of coping and see if you can get an affect you like. There was a recent build where they used silver travertine pavers and it looked amazing. May be a bit dark for you though. One thing I would suggest is sorting out any changes you intend to make before deciding on your Kooldeck colour. You could end up clashing.

 

[Nitramnayr]

Hi Ryan, your split face tile looks very different to your sample. I guess it’s just the lighting or something, but I would double check. I personally like your selections, but natural and neutral is my thing. We have chosen almost identical selections, except we don’t have a split face tile. We are not looking for a grey/white colour scheme as you are, but still worried I’ll be disappointed like you’re feeling. If you’re really not happy though you could try experimenting with different sealers etc on spare pieces of coping and see if you can get an affect you like. There was a recent build where they used silver travertine pavers and it looked amazing. May be a bit dark for you though. One thing I would suggest is sorting out any changes you intend to make before deciding on your Kooldeck colour. You could end up clashing.

All good thoughts, thanks!

We got a suggestion to use a grout colorant on the split face rock and I did a test piece yesterday. Hoping it will stick and not run off with any rain or pool water after it cures for 72 hrs.

Man I wish we would’ve known about silver travertine/ that’d look great!

Good luck to you with your colors! I did mention to the builder yesterday that we wish we would’ve seen the samples as wet vs dry before installing, but it’s growing on us.

Cheers!

 

[riley00dog]

I think a colorant on the rock face would be the easiest solution if it stays put. Yes, that silver travertine is beautiful. I would typically prefer greys, but we have huge granite apricot boulders surrounding the area our pool is going, so needed to work with that. I just posted my tile/paving pic yesterday if you can find my thread. It’s very similar to your waterline and paving. I’m glad it’s growing on you. Sometimes it can just take a little while to adjust your view when it’s not quite as expected.

 

[Nitramnayr]

I think a colorant on the rock face would be the easiest solution if it stays put. Yes, that silver travertine is beautiful. I would typically prefer greys, but we have huge granite apricot boulders surrounding the area our pool is going, so needed to work with that. I just posted my tile/paving pic yesterday if you can find my thread. It’s very similar to your waterline and paving. I’m glad it’s growing on you. Sometimes it can just take a little while to adjust your view when it’s not quite as expected.

. Here’s a photo of a single split-face stone tile with the colorant on it. Should work out if we can pull it off!

 

[kimkats]

You did it on one of the tiles already on there?? You are !! LOL Or did you already try it on a left over piece?

Kim

 

[riley00dog]

You’re game! Yes, that should work well. It’s so hard to know how the whole area would look until it’s done... but that’s probably me as I find it hard to picture an end result.

 

[Foroneaudience]

. Here’s a photo of a single split-face stone tile with the colorant on it. Should work out if we can pull it off!

How did it turn out? What product did you use?