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April 3, 2009

Hooked on… Natural Stone!

DesignTies is participating in Hooked on Fridays, a weekly blog-party event hosted by Julia from Hooked on Houses.

I’m HOOKED…

…and in love with natural stone. Granite, marble, limestone, soapstone, slate… it’s all beautiful to me!!

I had always been drawn to the beauty of natural stone, but my love affair began with my first visit to Atlas Stone Products (C&S Group). We had renovated pretty much every room in our previous home (see some transformations here and here) but nothing had been done to our master bathroom. It was still stuck in the 80s! Problem… we were getting ready to sell the place so we didn’t want to spend too much money or do too much work, but something had to be done to bring the standard of this room up to that of the others in our condo. Our solution = replace the dated sink and counter with granite and a vessel sink (we did a little more then this, but that’s a tale for another post!).

Off we went to Atlas Stone in search of a piece of granite, starting our search in the fantasy-land warehouse…

IMG_2415 WOW!blue pearl

We soon learned that these slabs were very large and more then we would need, so we made our way outside to look at the remnants… and found a fabulous partial slab of Blue Pearl. The colour was a perfect tie-in for our blue bedroom and we were able to purchase the slab for $125!! We were also able to get it cut and installed (along with a piece for a shelf in the bathtub area) for a reasonable fee, too. What a fantastic result!!

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After my first visit to the stone warehouse I couldn’t wait to go again. And go I did when choosing a granite for our current kitchen. I loved every moment of the trip and took tons of photos. Here… take a look:

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Aren’t the granites to die for?!

And two of my favourites… limestone (can you see the fossils?) and soapstone

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Again… WOW!!

But what stone did I choose on for our kitchen?

Here are photos of the stones I was considering…

Golden Typhoon 2 Giallo Veneziano 2

Ornamental 2 Crema San Marco 1

Let me tell you… it was a hard decision! It was funny; I went there in search of something like Ornamental but when I saw it I discovered that – while a lovely piece of stone – the contrast between light and dark in its pattern wasn’t what I was looking for. It came down to Crema San Marco, Giallo Veneziano and Golden Typhoon, three granites with similar tones but with different patterns = GT had the most “graining”, GV was more spotted while CSM’s graining was more subtle.

Do I sound a little like Goldilocks as she inspected her three choices?!

I chose Crema San Marco – a stunning granite with beautiful markings! Without revealing too much of my kitchen (I haven’t posted about it yet!), here’s a photo of my counter. I love it!!

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I’m so HOOKED on Natural Stone!

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m CRAZY about quartz, too and I think solid surfaces like Corian are FAB. I also have nothing against a great laminate counter – there are some terrific colours and styles, some looking exactly like natural stone. Laminate has come a long way! I used a quartz product in my condo kitchen called Silestone that I thought was the bomb (here’s that link again). I’d use it again in a heart-beat.

But Natural Stone!!

Here are some more photos I found that showcase the use of natural stone in a variety of surfaces, sinks and other great things! Click on the photo to make your way to its source.

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I can’t remember where I found this terrific, chiselled edge counter… but it’s wonderful!!

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Granite_Countertops-01

Lovely black and white!

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Take a look at fabulous Marble!

Marble

This bathroom is pure decadence!!

Marble bath

Slate & Marble Marble, marble everywhere… with slate on the benches. Love it!

Here’s some wonderful Soapstone – counters AND the sink!!

Soapstone 2

And more Soapstone…

Soapstone 3

I sooo hope I can use soapstone in a kitchen design one day!!

I’ll say it again… I’m HOOKED on Natural Stone!

Maybe you love it as much as I do?? Let me know! And then head back to Julia’s place to check see what everyone else is hooked on! :-)

Victoria from Edin Interiors

12 comments:

qerat said...

victoria, great post.
In this part of the world natural stones comes as a natural option for finshing differnt surfaces. Most of the houses have natural stone floors. When the laminated wood flooring became so cheap people started to buy it, but it never replaced stone. I guess it comes from all those roman empire roots :)

Bonnie said...

I just love the different natural stone surfaces that you've shown. The pictures are so beautiful! This is a wonderful post and what timing too. Be sure to check out my next post which will be up tomorrow. It features a home with pure white marble from Greece. :)

Kat said...

Great post Victoria. I love stone surfaces also and I love the granite that you chose for your kitchen. We used quartz in our kitchen remodel. I love granite, but alas, it did not fit our budget as this was an "emergency" remodel lol. Love all the choices that you showed us, and that marble bathroom is stunning. Kathy

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

Nice post...we used a very similar granite as you did...still lovin' it!

Michelle said...

I love that large shower...and have a thing for symmetry!

I like the less busy stones for countertops...Great post Victoria!

Cyndi said...

Victoria,I saw the title for this post and just had to click and see what you had posted.I was not let down,great post.I am also hooked on natural stone,just love looking at it.You are so lucky to have a business like that close to you,I wish!When I go to home depot one of the guys who works there says,oh you came to visit the marble again,they(meaning the marble tiles) were missing you and wondering when you were coming back! haha I finally did pick some for my bathroom that we haven't started yet,can't wait for that room to get done.

Mrs. Petrie said...

I was just looking at a soap stone figurine yesterday and thinking I really want soup stone counters!

Anonymous said...

Great post!! LOVE the color you chose for your kitchen! I cannot wait for the day that I get to purchase new countertops for our kitchen! We have dark cherry cabinets and I would love to have a creamish/yellowish granite w/ some ruby specks in it...maybe next year!
~angela @ peonypatch

Cass @ That Old House said...

Lovely post! We are thinking about granite now for our kitchen -- maybe. I'm in the researching options stage. Have been looking at the stone yards -- oh my those big slabs are inspiring. I like the Crema the best -- I laughed when I saw that you chose it for your kitchen.
I love soapstone -- even love the smell of it! My mother's laundry sink was soapstone. But -- too much maintenance for me. Thanks for a great read.
Cass

Paul Anater said...

Great post Victoria. I love natural stone with an ardor that borders on the unnatural. Except for the you-know-what kind that is.

Bonnie said...

Hi Victoria,
Oh thank you so much for visiting my blog Love Your Place and the super nice comment about the modern home. Yes... it is the place I mentioned with the pure white marble floors from Thassos Greece! It's the same house they used for Barbie's 50th B-day Party too.
Your post is excellent!! I like ALL the different stones you've shown. I absolutely LOVE the one you choose for your kitchen! I can't wait to see how the whole kitchen turned out. It looks fabulous! :)

Anonymous said...

Love the granite too! .... and the slate benches in the shower, perfect. I've been telling hubby that this would be a grand idea in our master bath and he says "sweetie, no one ever does that!" So now I have PROOF!!

Blessings ~ Eileen @ Star's Fault

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