Bathroom Vanities: It's All in the Details

One of the things I love about working for a custom stone fabricator are the fun details that we are able to provide our customers.  Nothing that we do in our shop would be defined as "cookie cutter".  Every job is unique.
The saying "Love is in the details" is true in the design of stone as well.
Here are five examples of some of the details we are able to provide our customers with...

This marble backsplash on a bathroom vanity has an Ogee edge detail to match the edge detail of the countertop.  The little curved design detail on the ends of the splash are really what makes this so great though.

Photo: Grant K. Gibson Interior Design

A little shelf was built above the backsplash on this vanity using the same white marble.  I love this decorative and functional design detail.

Photo: Urban Grace Interiors

This next vanity has a beautiful, unique backsplash on the vein-cut limestone.
The radius is a beautiful look and it fits nicely with the faucet coming out of the wall.  It's also a taller backsplash than normal, which looks great!

Photo: Design in the Woods

The unique design of this vanity countertop and backsplash is in a whole category by itself.  It's amazing in that 'you-don't-see-this-everyday' sort of way.
The tile is quite wonderful as well!

Photo: Lance Jordan Creations

The bump out and curved design of this marble countertop is a great way to accentuate the beautiful cabinet.  Also notice the sink cut out has an Ogee edge instead of the typical square edge you'll see in sink cut outs.

Photo: Habersham Home

What's your favorite added design detail in a bathroom?

Slab Sunday: Desert Brown granite

Desert Brown is quarried from a bedrock quarry in India.

Desert Brown is pretty consistent in coloring and pattern but I'd still recommend selecting your exact slabs.

Photo: Sandstone World

Other names for Desert Brown include: Nova Brown & Copper Silk.

Photo: mistones

Desert Brown is available in 2 cm and 3 cm slabs.

Saturday Link Up!

Here are a few articles from around the web that I enjoyed this week and wanted to share...

• An Ode to the Geode on Mountain Living Magazine's blog.  If you know me you know I love a geode!  ;)
• New at Matter: Marble Heaven on Design Sponge.  Marble lamps and tables, so beautiful!!!
• 8 Steps to Surviving a Remodel on Houzz.

traditional kitchen design by philadelphia design-build Echelon Custom Homes

FAQ Friday: Two-Toned Kitchens

This question comes from reader Liza...
"I have a question for you as we plan our kitchen... I'm thinking of doing a two-tone kitchen, with espresso bottoms and white uppers with White Fantasy quartzite countertops and either cararra or plain white subway tiles for the backsplash.  I'm having some trouble finding two-tone images with white uppers and espresso bottoms (I have no trouble finding contrasting island/wall images) so I'm wondering... it's this something you've seen before?  I'm afraid it might be one of those things that sounds good in theory but looks silly in real life!  We have a pretty basic L-shaped kitchen and we'll be doing an 6x4 island as well if that helps!  While I LOVE the look of white cabinets, I am not the neatest person so I'd rather not set myself up with something that will chip, stain, etc especially with all the cooking I do!"

Thanks for the question Liza.
I actually have a love/hate relationship with a two-toned kitchen.  If they are done right I think they are amazing.  Unfortunately I've seen a lot of ugly ones in my day.  :)
What you have described though sounds great!  I like using a darker color on the base cabinets.  We were talking at our shop just the other day wondering how homes with lots of kids keep all white kitchens clean.
Espresso colored base cabinets would be much lower maintenance than white.

Here are some pictures of two-toned kitchens that in my opinion look great.  They aren't necessarily your same colors, but I think this will give you a good visual.

modern kitchen design by san francisco architect John Lum Architecture, Inc. AIA

Photo: The Kitchn  This is a really cool kitchen, you should check out more pictures of it here.

contemporary kitchen design by minneapolis architect RoehrSchmitt Architecture

modern kitchen design by san francisco architect John Lum Architecture, Inc. AIA

contemporary kitchen design by boston kitchen and bath Venegas and Company

contemporary kitchen design by austin architect dement harris | design

Thanks again for the question Liza. Hopefully this helps!
If you have a stone or design question you'd like to see answered here send me an email.

Whiteout Wednesday: 5 White Bathrooms

White kitchens and baths are definitely the hottest trend I am seeing right now. It's also the subject I get asked about the most. From white Carrara marble to white quartz there is a lot to consider when using white countertops.
Whiteout Wednesday is a weekly feature where I show five kitchens and/ or baths that have used white in a beautiful way.
If you have a white kitchen or bath that you would like to see featured here please email me.
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 Hello, hello!
I have five beautiful bathrooms today for Whiteout Wednesday.
Enjoy!

Photo: Inspiring Interiors

Photo: Wild Ink

Photo: Stay at Home-ista

Photo: Cococozy

Photo: Country Living

Breccia Capraia Marble Floor by MGS by Design

Last year I posted pictures of the monolithic coffee table we built out of Breccia Capraia marble.  It was for the showroom of one of our suppliers, Adamas Stone.
A few months ago Adamas had us build a slab floor that the coffee table & end table now sit on and let me tell you, it's so gorgeous!

Photo: MGS by Design

 The floor is actually raised about 6".  We built a "box" by mitering the Matrix granite with a Brushed finish.  The Breccia Capraia marble is in the frame of black granite.


Photo: MGS by Design

Photo: MGS by Design

As you can see, the marble was bookmatched, so the veining flows perfectly from the middle of the floor.  We used four slabs of the marble plus one slab of granite for this floor.
The answer to your next question is yes, this is a very expensive floor!

Photo: MGS by Design

Slab floor + Barcelona chairs + monolithic marble tables.....Honestly, I wish this was my house!  :)

Photo: MGS by Design

A big thanks to Adamas Stone for letting us be a part of this fun project!

I Tried to Stain My Own Granite with Oil.

I have Lapidus granite with a honed finish in my own kitchen.
A lot of people are scared of the honed finish thinking it will stain more easily.

First, the look of honed granite isn't for everyone.  Some people want a nice and shiny surface.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Other people prefer a matte finish.  For these folks, the honed finish is great!

The granite in my own kitchen BEFORE pouring vegetable oil on it.  Photo: MGS by Design.

We recently had a customer that was debating having their granite honed.  I told them that the granite in my kitchen is honed and I love it!  They were sold until someone else told them that the reason I love it is because I'm really clean and I don't have any kids.
This is true, BUT I think the honed finish is very durable and I've never had any issues with staining.  I feel confident if I had 14 kids and was a slob I still wouldn't have any issues.

So, I did what any rational person would do to prove a point.... I poured some vegetable oil on my granite.
Not a sample, but my own granite countertops in my own kitchen.  Yes, my husband thinks I'm crazy at times.
I should mention, I sealed my granite with Enrich 'N' Seal after it was installed about six years ago.  I have never sealed the granite again.  Not once.  Why?  Because it hasn't needed to be sealed again. 
I use Rock Doctor to clean it about once a week (the other days I just use hot water) and that's it.
Granite is pretty easy to maintain my friends.

It's kind of hard to see, so I put tape around the vegetable oil that I poured on my granite.  The spot is probably about 4".  Photo: MGS by Design

 Back to the story...  I left oil on my countertop for 16 hours.  You read that right, 16 hours!
Guess what?  It didn't even leave a trace!  I cleaned up the oil with a paper towel and it was as good as new.  Honestly.

My granite AFTER having vegetable oil poured on it.  Looks just like the BEFORE picture right?  Photo: MGS by Design.

 Moral of the story... don't be scared of your granite!
The reason granite is so popular is that it's so darn durable.  Also, if you like the look of honed granite have it honed.

Slab Sunday: Juparana Arandis granite

Juparana Arandis is quarried from a bedrock quarry in Namibia.

Juparana Arandis is a golden-tan color with grey, peach, white, brown and black.

Photo source.

Juparana Arandis is one of those colors of granite that varies a lot from bundle to bundle.  So be sure to select your exact slabs!

Photo: mistones

Other names for Juparana Arandis include: Mocca Juparana, Mocha Juparana, African Gris Carmel and Arabian Sun.

Photo: A B and K

Photo: mistones

 Juparana Arandis is available in 2 cm and 3 cm slabs as well as tile.

Saturday Link Up!

We had a rainy week here in Utah, so we are really enjoying this beautiful, warm, spring day today!
Here are a few articles from around the web that I enjoyed this week and wanted to share.
Have a great weekend!

• Great post on Walker Zanger's blog...The Arabesque.
• Slab It Up-Kitchen Marble!  On Cococozy.  Beautiful post with white marble full height backsplashes.
• Totally unrelated to stone or design, but I found this quite funny... The 21 Absolute Worst Things In The World. 

via

Silestone Partners with Sherwin-Williams to Host Color Inspiration Event Series

Silestone sent me a press release that I wanted to share about their new partnership with Sherwin-Williams to host eight Color Inspiration events at regional Consentino Centers across the country.
"Through this exciting partnership, these category leaders will celebrate concepts in color and provide interactive tools to create the perfect palette for design."

The first Color Inspiration event will premiere on the cusp of KBIS  next week, Monday, April 23 from 5-8 pm at the Chicago Cosentino Center.

Consentino Showroom.  Photo:  Consentino.

"The Color Inspiration series will enable architects, designers and their clients looking for the latest color trends for the kitchen and bathroom. to be inspired by clever color matching combinations from Silestone's natural quartz surfaces and Sherwin-Williams dynamic hues.
Select events will also take a look into the future, with a special color forecast presentation."

Coffee Brown Silestone.  Photo: TMGW

"Each event will showcase the full range of more than 75 stylish Silestone colors including the new Stonium collection.  Attendees will be able to digitally mix and match Silestone products with a coordinating palette of more than 1,500 Sherwin-Williams paint colors through the "Chip It" program.  Additionally, attendees will receive a new Silestone color wheel to take away, which architects and designers can easily take to client meetings to help with the color selection process."

Additional markets that will host a Color Inspiration event include: Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas, Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Sounds like it will be a great even.  I wish there was one in Utah!

Whiteout Wednesday: 5 White Kitchens with Grey

White kitchens and baths are definitely the hottest trend I am seeing right now. It's also the subject I get asked about the most. From white Carrara marble to white quartz there is a lot to consider when using white countertops.
Whiteout Wednesday is a weekly feature where I show five kitchens and/ or baths that have used white in a beautiful way.
If you have a white kitchen or bath that you would like to see featured here please email me.
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Photo: House Beautiful

contemporary kitchen design by san francisco interior designer Fiorella Design

contemporary kitchen design by chicago interior designer jamesthomas, LLC

Photo: Lisa Luby Ryan

Photo: Studio ten 25

A Big A#$ Island Made of River Bordeaux Granite

Here at MGS by Design we do everything we can to make our customers happy.
This includes building a ginormous island without a seam if that's what our customer wants!

Photo: MGS by Design

Recently we had a customer come to us with the request for an island with the dimensions of 123" long by 56" deep.  The one condition...the island could NOT have a seam.  An average slab size is 120" long, and we needed at least 4 more inches on top of the 123" for laminations....so we knew this was going to be a challenge from the get-go.

Photo: MGS by Design

BJ put out a request to all of our suppliers asking what slab colors they had over 127".  He found approx 5 options and then our customer was able to select from those.
The homeowners were really lucky, they actually had some beautiful choices.  The slab they chose was the easy winner though, it was a gorgeous slab of River Bordeaux granite from Adamas Stone.

The next issue was that we had to build a frame for the island to support this huge island.
One of our shop guys also does welding, so we had him build a frame out of steel and then we filled it with wood.  This supported the weight and the span of the stone.  It turned out pretty cool.

Photo: MGS by Design

Photo: MGS by Design

Photo: MGS by Design

Now, as you can imagine, this island was heavy!  Probably about 1000 lbs.
It took 9 of our guys to carry and install this granite piece.

Photo: MGS by Design

Luckily they were able to get it into the house and installed without too much of a problem.  Only one smashed finger.  Out of 90 fingers those are pretty good odds right?  :)

Photo: MGS by Design

It looks pretty amazing all finished up!  We hope our customer's enjoy their "seamless" granite island!

Photo: MGS by Design

Edit 4/17/12: This was BJ's job and he left some interesting info as a comment, I thought I'd add it to the post...

"Hey I want to add some info about this island. We built the metal frame because they did not want any corbels to support the island. We wanted ti to be free of knee knocking and look clean. THe actual span of the overhang is in the area of 22" and needed something that would hold some serious weight and force. The metal frame was an extra charge but well worth the free leg space underneath the island. Just another thing that MGS does to go the extra mile for our clients. These were great people and we were happy to send 9 of us to hang out with them for a while.
One other funny note... The homeowner actually asked me what he should do in the even that the island fell through his floor and in to the basement below. He was half joking but half serious because with a 6cm edge and that size of island you are talking well over 1200 lbs."