Stone is the one finish you cannot fake, and in Istanbul the wrong choice shows within a season.
/ 01Porosity is the real decision
Travertine drinks; marble resists — but both stain if you ignore the sealant schedule.
We spec travertine where a little patina is welcome and honed marble where a surface has to stay unbothered — a kitchen island, a bathroom vanity.
/ 02What the Bosphorus does to stone
Istanbul's swing from damp winters to dry summers moves moisture through masonry, and unsealed stone on an exterior-facing wall will bloom.
Indoors it is gentler, but a north-facing Beyoğlu flat and a south-facing Ataköy one are not the same brief.
Choose the stone for the room's humidity, not for the photograph you saw.Yusuf Karaca · Materials Lead, SpaceUp
/ 03Cost is not where you think
The slab is rarely the expensive part. Fabrication, edge profile and waste on a book-matched run move the number far more than the quarry does.
- Seal on delivery, then annually.
- Honed hides more than polished.
- Book-matching doubles waste.
- Sample in the actual room light.
/ 04How we specify it
Every SpaceUp stone surface leaves the studio sealed, and we hand over the product and the schedule with the piece.