New Vetrazzo Colors! The Coastal Edition.

Recently Vetrazzo announced 3 new colors in their Coastal Edition. 
These colors "draw inspiration and recycled content" from their Southern surroundings.  Vetrazzo is manufactured in Polycor's Georgia Marble plant.  The new colors include recycled glass, Georgia White marble and Oyster Shells from the South Carolina Coast.
I'm really excited for these new colors, I think they'll sell really well.

Amethystos

Ingredients: cranberry glass, crushed Georgia marble, oyster shells

Bretagne Blue 

Ingredients: oyster shells, architectural “float-glass”, crushed marble

Umbo White

Ingredients: oyster shells, soda and beer bottles, condiment jars, baby food and jam jars, crushed marble.

Where would you use these new colors in your home?

Saturday Link Up!

 I'm always finding fun articles from around the web that I want to share with you, our readers.  Every Saturday I link up my favorite articles from the week that I think you'll enjoy as well.
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It's fun when our favorite people talk about us on their blogs :) 
Emily from is this REALLY my life? and Stephanie from The Daily Blarg came down for a visit last week, and you can read what Emily thought on her blog.  The title of the post made us laugh...MGS by Design--the best place to get stone(d).

Photo: is this REALLY my life?

I keep seeing little notes on Facebook from blogs that I like trying to get me to do something so that their pages will keep coming up on my feed.  I thought it was all a bunch of malarkey until I read the article Grrr, Facebook on the blog two twenty one.
I keep up with most of the blogs I read through Facebook, so I was annoyed to read that Facebook isn't showing all of their posts anymore if the administrator doesn't pay.  Anyway, read the article and then if you too like to keep up on your favorite blogs via Facebook take the time to make an "Interest List".  (The article gives you step-by-step directions on how to do so).  It took me maybe 10 minutes to add all of my favorite blogs to my Interest List but now I feel like my Facebook is all organized and I'm not missing out anymore!
Oh and while you are on Facebook you should 'Like' us and add us to your Interest List.  ;)
https://www.facebook.com/MGSbyDesign

I could write a novel about how much it annoys me that because of diy tv shows a lot of people now expect something totally different from Interior Designers than what their actual job description is.  But I won't go on and on about it.  You can just read this great article on Apartment Therapy... Interior Designers: Reality Shows vs. Reality.

Photo: Apartment Therapy

If your style is vintage you'll love this article on Houzz...  12 Inspring Real-Life Vintage Kitchens.

Eclectic Kitchen design

Saturday Link Up!

Just a couple of links today and then I'm going to take a couple of days off for the holiday weekend.  Enjoy the last weekend of summer!  :)

Last week Aimee and I attended a couple of great classes at Contempo Tile taught by Vetrazzo.  We learned a lot about their product.... that we already happened to love.
Houzz posted a great article this week about countertops made from recycled glass in cement, which includes Vetrazzo.  Kitchen Counters: Sturdy, Striking Recycled Glass with Cement.
The photo below is Vetrazzo in Floating Blue, which happens to be my very favorite Vetrazzo color.

Kitchen Countertops design by Austin Tile Stone And Countertop Dorado Stone Distributors

If you are just getting started on the countertop hunt I'd recommend reading An Easy Guide to Kitchen Countertops on Cultivate. It gives you a brief run-down of the 7 most popular countertop materials.

Photo: Cultivate

Saturday Link Up!

House Logic recently posted this article, 8 Ugly Houses We Love.  Are they truly ugly or just unique?  You decide.

Photo: House Logic

Amanda from the cute blog Burlap & Denim posted pictures this week of an Anthropologie Styled Gourmet Kitchen she designed a few years ago.  It's a great kitchen, be sure to go to her blog for more pics!

Photo: Burlap & Denim

9 Ideas From an Ecofriendly Kitchen Makeover on Houzz has some great tips on how to make your home more ecofriendly!

Eclectic Kitchen design by Media And Blogs Lindsey M. Roberts

Do you want to win a free Blanco sink?   I do, so I entered to win one from Blanco America. You can too!  Just go here to enter and when you win hire us for the new countertops to go with it!  ;)

Have You Seen This? SK8 Tile

For the skate boarder in your life...

Photo: Art of Board

Art of Board tiles are hand cut from 100% recycled skate decks and sold by the square foot. Every scratch, scrape and gouge is kept in tact – making them truly original. Each tile has its own story. They’re alive with texture, shape and color. Together, they bring that story to life in every space they inhabit – creating a vibrant visual experience in the home, retail or commercial environment.

Photo: Art of Board

I wouldn't necessarily use these tiles in my home, but I love the idea of using them in a skate shop or certain retail spaces.
I really do like the creativity of turning something that was broken and destined for the dump into a useful design element.
What do you think?

Photo: Art of Board

The Stories in Vetrazzo Surfaces

Vetrazzo is a collection of recycled glass and concrete slabs that can be used in almost any application where you would use granite or marble. The color palette is diverse and offers something for everyone, from  the very subtle like the Flint Glass collection to the very bold like the Ruby Red. 

We've written about this product before, and yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending a presentation given by Mary Warner, Vetrazzo's Brand Manager.  The meeting was presented by Contempo Tile and the ASID Intermountain and was held at Contempo's Salt Lake City tile showroom.   During the event, I posted some interesting points on Twitter while Mary was speaking, so I am excited to write a post about what I learned so that I can share more of it with you.    

Clockwise from left: Alehose Amber with Patina, Alehouse Amber, Ruby Red, Glass House, Floating Blue.
Photo: MGS by Design

Perhaps my favorite thing about the presentation, aside from the fact that I learned more about the product, was the opportunity to hear the story, and to hear Mary's genuine passion for the product.  Her excitement shows when she speaks, and that always says a lot to me about a product. 

Vetrazzo's first recycled glass and concrete slabs were made in the late 1990s in California, and created such a buzz that a brand was born and their manufacturing facility opened in 2006.  Today, although the manufacturing has moved to Georgia, the attention, passion, and story in each slab remains the same.

The company's tag line is "A story in every surface" and that goes beyond being a marketing line and is literally visible in everything they create.  In addition to presenting a green product, the slabs are unique, varying slightly based on the post-consumer and post-industrial waste available to them at a given time.  While they do have a "recipe" for each color, and the finished product will fall within a range of acceptable resemblance to the samples they provide, subtle variations will occur.  For instance, Mary mentioned that one particular color, Alehouse Amber, will appear slightly lighter or darker depending on the time of year the slabs are made, based on peoples' beer of choice.  In the Summer months, lighter colored amber bottles are more common because they reflect the lighter beer consumed in the Summer, while in the Winter when people are consuming more dark beer, the amber colored glass available for use tends to be darker.  

Vetrazzo Alehouse Amber with and without Patina.
Photo: MGS by Design

Beyond all of the colors offered, an additional finish called Patina is applied to several of them to further expand the collection.  Patina creates a darker background and changes the feel completely.

Vetrazzo Ruby Red with and without Patina
Photo: MGS by Design

A lot of green products make a lot of claims, but one of the things that stands out about Vetrazzo is that they  actively keep waste out of landfills.  A single slab contains the equivalent of 700-1,000 glass bottles.  They make a difference! The glass comes from multiple post-consumer and post-industrial sources, like the bottles I mentioned in Alehouse Amber, but also all types of glass ranging from architectural glass from windows and doors in abandoned buildings, to industrial waste from the manufacturing of red glass dishes (think those fancy red holiday goblets) as is the story behind Ruby Red.

The flint glass line features plentiful "regular" glass from things such as jam jars and other everyday glass items that would otherwise end up in landfills.

Vetrazzo Champagne Flint and Martini Flint
Photo: MGS by Design

Millefiori (a thousand flowers) is a unique and fun blend that utilizes rejects and over runs of continuous ribbon glass from the world's largest art glass manufacturer, which results in a brilliant and eye catching color combination.

Vetrazzo Millefiori
Photo: MGS by Design

Saturday Link Up!

Some articles I enjoyed this week....

• Green Kitchen Countertops, 5 Different Ways on DIY Life.
•  Making of Cement Tile Using a 100+ Year Old Technique on Apartment Therapy.
• The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Decorating on Country Living.
• I really like mixing the styles of Country and Modern.  This article has some great examples...  Elements of a Modern Country Kitchen on Houzz.

contemporary kitchen design by denver architect Robert Hawkins

Slab Sunday: Vetrazzo

I haven't done this before.  I've never featured a product here on Slab Sunday that wasn't natural stone..... today I am featuring Vetrazzo! 

Last week I wrote about how excited I was that Vetrazzo is now stocked at Contempo's Slab Gallery in Salt Lake.  You can read that article here.

Photo: Trendir

Photo: Green by Design

Vetrazzo is recycled glass in concrete.  The glass is 100% recycled and makes up about 85% of the slabs.  It is the greenest surface material on the market.

Most of the glass comes from curbside recycling programs.  Other glass comes from dinnerware, windshields, stained glass, traffic lights and more.  It's really cool to see where they get all of the glass.

From Skyy Vodka bottles (pictured above right) to architectural glass each slab has a unique look and story.

Photo: Artisan

Vetrazzo was invented in 1996 in Berkeley, California by a glass scientist.

In 2010 they were acquired by Polycor and so they moved their facility from Richmond, California to Tate, Georgia.  Now the Vetrazzo slabs are made right next to the historic marble from Polycor.

Due to its high recycled content, using Vetrazzo can help your project qualify for LEED certification.

Photo: Vetrazzo

Color: Cobalt Skyy with Patina.  Photo: Vetrazzo

One of my favorite things about Vetrazzo is their tag line..."there’s a story in every surface™."

If you go to their website and check out the color palette you can click on each of their colors and read that color's story.  It will tell you where the glass comes from and you can see pictures of finished projects in that color.  

Color: Palladian Gray.     Photo: The Art of the Kitchen

Color: Bistro Green with Patina.  Photo: Artisan

Photo: Vetrazzo

Here is how Vetrazzo is made, in their own words...

"Once (the glass) sorted, it's crushed and packaged for companies like Vetrazzo to purchase for reuse. We look for interesting colors and also source from post-industrial glass sources and demolition sites to get an array of options for making slabs.

When then glass arrives to our plant, it's further crushed depending on the slab being made, and mixed with cement, water, and other proprietary ingredients.
Glass comprises 85% of the total product content, so you can expect an extremely durable and gorgeous surface thanks to the big pieces of glass that appear in many of our surfaces. Once a slab color is mixed, it's poured into a pan and baked (much like making a cake). After the cooking process, the slab undergoes polishing and quality assurance procedures to ensure that every slab leaving our plant meets our quality control requirements.
Right now, it takes almost a month for one slab to be produced. Unlike other surfacing materials, our product receives a lot of human attention from our production team.
From the woman who expertly applies the patina to our patina'd surfaces to the man who carefully monitors each slab's polish, Vetrazzo gets a special touch. You can be assured when you buy Vetrazzo that you are getting a product that many people are passionate about, especially the people who make it."

Color: Alehouse Amber.  Photo: Vetrazzo.

Color: Ruby Red.  Photo: Vetrazzo.

 For more information on Vetrazzo, go to their website and their Facebook page.

Also, don't forget to enter our Giveaway this week!  We're giving away a set of Whiskey Stones.  Go here to find out how to win.

Vetrazzo...Now Stocked Locally!

I'm so excited to tell you all that we can now get Vetrazzo locally!  Contempo Tile in Salt Lake is now stocking slabs at their Slab Gallery. 
We've had Vetrazzo here in Utah before, but the distibutor wasn't a stone yard and so I don't think it ever got the exposure that it deserves.  It's a really great and interesting product.

Vetrazzo is recycled glass in concrete.  It can be used for countertops, table tops and even architectural cladding.  I'm going to feature it here for Slab Sunday this week, so come back to learn more about it and see pictures of finished projects.

Here are my samples all set up in our showroom.  I'm so happy to have them.  :)

Last week I went to Contempo to check out the slabs.  They have a lot of colors in stock and it was fun to see them as the full slabs instead of the small samples.  Below are a few pictures that I took while I was there.

This first slab is the Cubist Clear.  It's hard to see in this picture, but I really like the shape of the glass pieces in this slab.  The glass in Cubist Clear is from tempered glass windshields and shower doors.

Below is a picture I took of an edge that had broken off one of the slabs.  It was cool to see the glass in the slab.  This also shows that the glass goes all the way through the slab.  This is important.  When it is just a layer on the top of the slab there is a line of glass on the edge of the countertops and around the sink openings.  It looks weird.  Some similar products have this problem...but not Vetrazzo!

I had to take a picture of my personal favorite color, Floating Blue.  I wish someone would use this color and have a piece left over so I could use it in one of my bathrooms! 

Also, be sure to enter to win our Giveaway for this week.  Click here to enter!

Sustain Show House

Happy Earth Day!

If you are a regular reader around here you have probably seen the series I have been writing called "The Making of a Showcase Home". 
Here are the links if you need to catch up...

• Part 1: Slab & Edge Selection
• Part 2: Templates & Slab Delivery
•  and Part 3: Cutting and Fabrication

There is still more to come, this is just as far as I've gotten. 

The website about this home recently became live and I thought Earth Day was a fitting time to share it with all of you. 
The beautiful home is anticipated to be Utah's first NAHB Emerald- certified green home.  This is the top certification awarded to the highest level of sustainable building products and services. 
We at MGS by Design could not be more proud to be involved in the construction of this home.

Photo: Sustain Show House

Go to their website here to check out lots of photos and read more about this stunning Sustainable Show House.

Slab Sunday: Crema Marfil marble

Crema Marfil marble is quarried from a bedrock quarry in Spain.

Photo: Magnotti & Son

Crema Marfil is a beautiful cream colored marble with pencil veining.  Some slabs may have more veining and color than others.

Photo: Marble Kingdom

Photo: Fox Granite

Crema Marfil is also called: Cream Marfil, Zafra, Classico Coto and Crema Marfim.

Photo: Arizona Tile

Remember, Crema Marfil is a marble and marble can etch!  Anything acidic that gets on the stone will etch it.  Read more about etching here.

Photo: Atlas Stone

Check out this amazing staircase, all done out of Crema Marfil slab.  This was a lot of work and it looks like the fabricator did a fantastic job.

Photo: The Natural Stones

Photo: Pacific Coast Marble & Granite

Photo: Cole Brothers Granite

Crema Marfil is available in 2 cm and 3 cm slabs as well as tile.

The Making of a Showcase Home: Part 2. Templates & Slab Delivery

Once the materials and edges have been selected and we have the contract signed and have received the deposit the next step is to template. 
The cabinets needs to be installed before we can template, if you are keeping your existing cabinets we will template with your old countertops on.

The Showcase Home is a new home, so we waited until the cabinets were in and then sent our template guy out to the job site. 
There are a few different ways to template, we mainly do stick templates.
Here's what the templates for this job look like all piled up in our shop.

Photo: MGS by Design

Usually we order the slabs and have them delivered so that they are at our shop about the same time that we template the job.
The Squak Mountain Stone and Trinity Glass for this home were shipped in from Washington state.
Here's a picture of them the day they were delivered, all bundled up....

Photo: MGS by Design

Here they are after they were unwrapped.  Ignore the granite piece on the a-frame, obviously it didn't come on the same shipment.  
The larger, darker slabs in the back are the Squak Mountain Stone and the shorter, grey slabs in the front are the Trinity Glass.

Photo: MGS by Design

Now that the templates have been made and the slabs are here we can start cutting!  We'll talk about that soon.

Read Part 1 of this story here.