Finding the right stone for a home usually comes down to seeing it in person, next to your own brick, siding, and countertop samples, rather than scrolling through photos online. That is exactly what customers get at Elite Stone & Supply in Cartersville, Georgia, a showroom serving homeowners, builders, and designers across North Georgia and metro Atlanta. Elite Stone carries Horizon Stone through North Georgia Brick, one of our dealers, and their team walked us through how they help customers choose the right stone, what a first showroom visit looks like, and a few of their favorite Horizon Stone installations.
In This Post
Meet Elite Stone & Supply
Elite Stone & Supply serves homeowners, builders, contractors, and designers across North Georgia and metro Atlanta, with projects as far north as Knoxville, Tennessee and as far south as Perry, Georgia. The business grew out of years of experience supplying stone and understanding how it performs once installed, which eventually led to building a showroom where customers could see a wide range of products in person and get real guidance choosing the right material.
Today, Elite Stone carries both cultured and natural stone, with Handcrafted, Ledgestone, and other Horizon Stone collections making up an important part of their manufactured stone offering. Carrying so many options lets their team compare choices side by side and help customers land on a product based on look, application, and budget, not just what’s in stock.
What sets the team apart, in their words, is the combination of selection and experience. They aren’t limited to one type of stone, so when someone walks in, they can really listen to the goals for the project and guide the customer toward what makes sense instead of simply selling what’s available. Horizon gives them a wide range of colors, profiles, and styles to work with, and their experience with natural stone adds a strong understanding of color, texture, scale, and installation on top of that.
Your first visit to the showroom
Stone is a hands-on product, so the Elite Stone showroom is built around letting customers see, touch, and compare it in person rather than deciding from a photo. Customers can look at real displays, compare profiles and colors, feel the textures, and see how different products look once installed.
Horizon Stone plays a big role in that process simply because there are so many looks within the line. Someone might walk in expecting one style and leave with something completely different after seeing another profile or color in person.
Visits usually start with a conversation about the project itself, whether it’s an exterior, fireplace, outdoor living space, or accent wall, along with the home’s overall style and other finishes involved. From there, the team narrows things down using Horizon Stone alongside other cultured and natural stone products, aiming to make a large selection feel manageable instead of overwhelming.
Choosing the right color and profile
Mossy Creek and Harbor Bluff are two of Elite Stone’s most popular Horizon Stone colors, largely because they’re so versatile. But narrowing down a choice usually starts with the home itself: its existing brick, siding, stucco, roofing, trim, and flooring, and whether the customer is leaning warmer, cooler, lighter, or darker.
Bring everything you can. Photos of the home, inspiration images, brick or paint samples, cabinet colors, countertops. Elite Stone’s team puts those materials next to actual Horizon Stone samples and displays, which is usually what turns a list of dozens of options into two or three clear favorites.
Profile and texture matter just as much as color. The same color family can look completely different depending on the stone’s style and grout choice, which is why that side-by-side comparison in the showroom makes such a difference.
Homeowners vs. builders and designers
The products stay the same, but the conversation looks a little different depending on who’s shopping. Homeowners often need more guidance understanding the differences between profiles, colors, grout treatments, and cultured versus natural stone, plus how a small sample will translate across a larger area. Builders and designers, on the other hand, often arrive with plans, elevations, or an established palette already in hand, so the conversation shifts toward refining that selection.
Horizon Stone works well in both situations. It gives homeowners plenty of choice while giving builders and designers the consistency and repeatability that matters when specifying materials across multiple projects.
Featured installations
A few recent projects show just how differently Horizon Stone can read depending on the architecture, color, and grout choice around it.
Handcrafted in Hermitage
This home’s clean, contemporary architecture is a good reminder that manufactured stone isn’t just for traditional or rustic looks. Handcrafted in Hermitage adds texture and dimension against a smooth stucco exterior, while the Ivory Buff grout keeps the palette light and lets the home’s black windows and roofline provide the contrast.
Placement matters here too. The stone is concentrated around the entry, a tall central architectural feature, and beneath the windows rather than covering the whole exterior, which lets it read as an architectural element instead of just a covering.
Ledgestone in Mossy Creek
This project leans natural and rustic, and Ledgestone in Mossy Creek fits right into its wooded outdoor setting. The color’s variation pairs well with the wood ceiling and dark structural beams nearby, and the Ledgestone profile adds the texture that gives the fireplace and outdoor kitchen a substantial, handcrafted feel.
It’s one of the reasons Mossy Creek has become such a popular choice. Depending on the architecture and materials around it, it can take on a very different personality from one project to the next.
19th Century Sedona with Ivory Buff grout
19th Century Sedona brings the character of an older masonry installation, but its lighter palette keeps the look fresh. Ivory Buff grout softens the overall appearance and lets the stone’s varied sizes, shapes, and textures show without feeling heavy, especially next to the warm wood ceiling and darker architectural details surrounding this fireplace.
Grout color, joint style, and installation technique can change a stone’s final appearance just as much as the stone itself, which is why Elite Stone talks through all of those pieces with customers rather than choosing the stone in isolation.
What’s trending in stone projects right now
Fireplaces remain one of the most popular applications, along with interior and exterior accent walls, entryways, columns, indoor and outdoor kitchens, bathrooms, and larger outdoor living spaces. Customers are also getting more creative about where they use stone. It doesn’t have to cover an entire exterior to make an impact, and a cultured stone product like Horizon Stone can introduce texture and architectural interest in more targeted areas instead.
Quality manufactured stone has also come a long way. A well-installed product like Horizon Stone carries real depth, texture, color variation, and character, which is part of why it now sits alongside natural stone as a serious option rather than a substitute for it.
Advice for starting your stone project
Come see it in person. That’s the biggest piece of advice Elite Stone gives anyone starting a stone project. A photo is a good starting point, but stone has enough texture and dimension that it’s hard to make a final decision from a screen. Seeing colors and profiles in person, next to your own paint colors, brick, siding, or countertop samples, makes it much easier to picture the finished result.
And stone color is only part of the decision. Profile, grout color, joint style, and installation all shape the final look, so it’s worth thinking through all of them together from the start.
Visit Elite Stone & Supply
Ready to see Horizon Stone in person? Stop by the Elite Stone & Supply showroom in Cartersville, Georgia and bring your paint colors, brick, siding, or countertop samples along. Their team will help you compare colors, profiles, and grout options side by side until you find the right fit for your project.
