Hi there, For your reference, I will attach a link to a discussion on the technical benefits of using porcelain tiles in place of polished concrete finishes. Although you may really, really want to use this technique or polished concrete, it would be worth a read, as if these finishes aren't installed perfectly you will no doubt find that common issues with concrete finishes may occur. I will also attach a couple of images to show you some of the concrete-style tiles available from us, as the designs are incredibly similar in look and feel to concrete materials, with huge technical advantages. Best of luck with the project! Kind Regards Concrete-Style : https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/concrete-style-understand-your-options-dsvw-vd~1161877

[https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/our-garden-dsvw-vd~3711603[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/our-garden-dsvw-vd~3711603) this is my garden we decked them in pebbles similar to what you want ..found them in bags at a local nursery..they also come in various sizes..

I believe the look you're after was a traditional flooring in French country gardens and suggest a similar effect could be acheived using the same method as for exposed aggregate paths and driveways ie the stones are mixed into concrete and spread out to create the floor (including drainage) that you need and then, before the concrete is properly dry the surface is rubbed with a stiff broom to expose the top of the stones and then sealed..Depending on how wide and thick you need the area of flooring a concretor could do this for you, or in a small area with solid existing concrete floor you could try sticking the stones down very closely together with a suitable tile glue, add a thick cement grout (to help hold the stones in place) and brush to reveal more of the stones to suit and seal.. check out "exposed aggregate paths" for specifics

Comes down to taste/preference of effect and of course budget! Agree that if you select the wrong fitting it can be almost too blinding and overpowering.....strip is great, but individual spots I find are particularly effective and a softer option for highlighting external aspects, of course though it depends upon what you're endeavouring to achieve. My advice is to ensure you invest in quality for external. There is also LED and LED if you know what I mean ;) The quality LED external fitting won't require separate led globes, but is all integrated. You can also get uplights that throw light sideways to avoid the blinding effect like examples belowOther comment is that if you're not 100% sure about how/where to position/what to buy, you may be better to consider a more flexible option of say a spike spot that you can play around with the positioning and direction, and of course move around to elsewhere to highlight other external aspects Black's always a great colour option externally. I think an edge/strip (either pebbles or even soft/garden/mondo grass) particularly to a wall is a good element to include to soften/break-up the extent of hard surfaces. You could always just leave the main pour 15cm short and then fill in the edge strip later either with pebbles or garden depending upon what you think is better....just a long as you rough power cables somewhere there before you do the main section you can sort it out/finalise decisions in due course