Saturday Link Up!

Carla Aston Designed posted an article recently asking Have Granite Countertops Gone Out of Style?  I obviously don't think so.  Go here to see what she thinks!

The kitchen below has granite countertops and it's definitely on trend.   Not out of style at all.  :)

Traditional Kitchen by Toronto Design-Build Firms Capoferro Design Build Group

White kitchens are still crazy popular.  The article 5 Myths About White Kitchens on Cultivate may help put you at ease if you are on the fence about an all white kitchen.

Photo: Cultivate

I didn't realize glass tile dates back to the Romans.  The History of Glass Tile was really interesting to me.  Definitely read it if you have a minute, it's a quick and interesting read.


Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

5 Baths with Fun & Unique Floors

Traditional Bathroom design by San Diego Interior Designer Andrea May Hunter/Gatherer

Designed by Kelly Wearstler.  Photo: LA Times

Photo: David Scott Interiors

Photo: Tish Key Interior Design

Photo: Liz Williams Interiors

Slab Sunday: Vein Cut Silver Travertine

Silver Travertine is quarried in Italy.

 

Photo: Counter Culture

 In this post we will be focusing on Vein Cut Silver Travertine.  The Vein Cut slabs are really popular right now.
Vein cut is the linear pattern.  To read the difference between Vein Cut vs Cross cut go here.

Photo: Walker Zanger

Designed by Steven Gambrel.  Photo: Elle Decor.

 Silver Travertine is a beautiful warm and grey stone.  There are quarries Turkey and Iran that produce a silver travertine as well, but what we mainly use here is the Italian Silver Travertine.

Photo: Kitchen Clarity

Beautiful conference room, they made the floor and table base the focal point instead of the actual table.  It's a great look.

Photo: Marble of the World

Other names for Silver Travertine include: Siena Silver, Silver Screen, Ocean Silver and Amorium Silver.

Photo: By Design Builders via Houzz.

Here's a picture of the block of travertine before it's been cut and processed. 

Photo: Alibaba

Incredible sink and bathtub from Stone Forest that are made from blocks of Silver Travertine.

Photo: Stone Forest

Photo: Artistic Stoneworks

Usually we see Silver Travertine used in pretty contemporary spaces.  As you can see in the photo below, it doesn't have to be the case.  This stone looks great with the Ogee edge detail and with the more southwest looking tile.

Photo: Pacific Stoneworks

Photo: Italy Stone Marble

Silver Travertine is available in 2 cm and 3 cm slabs as well as tile.

Oak Bamboo Quartzite Slab Floor from MGS by Design

This is the last installment of the Parade Home that we did this summer in the Northern Wasatch Parade of Homes.
I saved my favorite part of the home for last!
The Oak Bamboo quartzite slab floor was definitely my favorite part of the home....but it was also the hardest to get a picture of.   So I apologize in advance that the pictures aren't better.

The homeowners and Interior Designer found this gorgeous and unique slab of Oak Bamboo quartzite at one of our local slab yards, Italia Granite.  The problem was they didn't know what to do with it!
The designer came up with using a large piece of it on the floor in the front entrance of the home.
What a great idea.  It's a stunning feature to walk in and see this beautiful floor.

Installation of slab floors has to be well coordinated.  We laid the slab first and the the wood floor installers came in and installed the wood around the slab.  It ensured a perfect fit.

 You may remember that we used the rest of the slab in the Master Closet.  You can see it here.

Slab floors are not easy or inexpensive to install.  A lot of clients are so surprised to learn this.  It seems like you just set the slab down and you are done, easy peasy.
It's not so easy.  Be sure to hire an experienced & knowledgeable fabricator to set a slab floor.  You don't want that expensive slab cracking and breaking!
You'll usually spend more on the installation costs plus slabs are more expensive than tile, so you've got a lot more to pay in materials as well.
Overall slab floors are a very expensive option, but if you find a gorgeous slab that you just can't live without---putting it on the floor is a great way to show it off!

If you have missed some of the posts about this home, be sure to catch up!

• Silver Travertine in the Master Bath.  Oak Bamboo quartzite in the Master Closet.
• Carrara Marble Powder Bath & Galaxy Black Great Room Fireplace.
• Chocolate Truffle CaesarStone in the Guest Bath & Laundry Room. 
• Absolute Black & Australian Reef Granite in the Kitchen. 
• Darling Grandkids Bath with Carrara Marble.
• Absolute Black Granite in the Guest Bath.

A big thanks to the homeowners and the Interior Designer, Clayton Thompson, for letting us be a part of this amazing home...and then letting us take pictures of it!  We love fun jobs like this!

Countertops: MGS by Design
Interior Design: Clayton Thompson (He doesn't have a website, email me if you'd like his contact info). 
Home Builder: Peterson Builders

Slab Sunday: Jura Grey Limestone

Jura Grey is quarried from a boulder quarry in Germany.  It is an extremly dense limestone which makes it a popular & smart choice for outdoor applications.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock mainly composed of calcium carbonate. Like most other sedimentary rocks, limestones are composed of grains, however, around 80-90% of limestone grains are skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, sea snails and other sea creatures. These marine organisms lived in the sea billions of years ago. When they died they fell to the bottom of the sea and rotted, but their shells, which were made of calcium like your teeth, did not rot and just stayed there. Pressure from other shells, from the water, and from sand being washed over the shells, squashed them all together into rock. Billions of years later, now that there is no longer a sea in that area, we have found the limestone & quarry it.

Contemporary Bathroom design by Denver Architect ROWLAND BROUGHTON ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN

Photo: Positive Interiors

 Jura Grey is a very interesting color of limestone. It ranges quite a bit from a creamy grey to grey to blue tones to brown tones depending on the slab. It tends to have a few fossils, which are always fun to find in a limestone! It also has some white quartz veining in it.
Due to how much this stone can change from bundle to bundle be sure to select your exact slabs.  When selecting tile ask to see at least a few pieces of the current stock so that you can see the color range you will get.

Photo: SSL Group

Photo: Arizona Tile

Keep in mind that since limestone is a calcium based stone that anything acidic WILL etch the surface....just like marble.  Limestone may not be the best choice of material for your kitchen.

Photo: Ivett and Reed

Other names for Jura Grey include: Jura Graublau, Jura Blue, Jura Gray and Jura Grau.

Photo: White Hall

Jura Grey is available in 2 cm & 3 cm slabs as well as a variety of sizes in tile depending on the distributer. You will generally see Jura Grey with a honed (matte) finish.

5 Baths with Calacatta Gold Marble

Calacatta Gold is one of our most popular colors right now.  It has a softer look than Carrara marble. Typically is has a 'whiter' background with soft grey and gold veining. The tones of Calacatta Gold are warm, where Carrara is cool.
Calacatta Gold is a very elegant stone.  Today I have pictures of five baths that have used this marble in a beautiful way.

Photo: April 2012 issue of House Beautiful; interior design by Kelie Grosso, of Maison Luxe via The Perfect Bath

Modern Bathroom design by Boston Architect LDa Architecture & Interiors

Photo: Cote de Texas

Contemporary Bathroom design by New York Architect Paul Rice Architecture

Traditional Powder Room design by Boston Architect david phillips

For more pictures & information about this stone check out Slab Sunday: Calacatta Gold marble.

Saturday Link Up!

Just a couple of things I wanted to share today, both from my beloved Houzz.  :)
Enjoy your weekend!

I posted an article awhile ago about Two-Toned Kitchens (you can read it here).  This article on Houzz this week has some really great kitchens as well.... Two-Tone Kitchen Cabinet Finishes Double Kitchen Style.

Contemporary Dining Room design by San Francisco Interior Designer Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs

Also on Houzz this week, the article, Ecofriendly Kitchen: How to Choose Flooring, has some great info and pictures.

Modern Kitchen design by Austin Architect Cornerstone Architects

Grey & Yellow Kitchens

Grey and yellow is a color combo that was really popular a few years ago....and then turquoise stole it's thunder.  :)
I still love this color combo and from what I see on the interior design and diy blogs you guys still love it too.
Today I have five really fun grey and yellow kitchens!

Photo: Denise McGaha Interiors

contemporary kitchen design by seattle architect knowles ps

Photo: Willow Decor

Photo: Bossy Color Blog

traditional kitchen design by san francisco general contractor Nunley Custom Homes

Are you sick of this color combination yet or are you still like grey & yellow?

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!

Saturday Link Up!

A few articles from around the web that I wanted to share...

• Kitchen Flooring 101 on Houzz.
• How to Clean Your Kitchen Sink on Apartment Therapy.
• What's That Color on Kitchen & Residential Design.  I get a lot of emails about paint colors too.  Read Paul's post on why it's a really hard question to answer.

Photo: Kitchen & Residential Design

Have a great first weekend of March! :)

5 Black & White Baths

I love a black and white bath, probably even more than an all white bath.
I also love Pinterest. I know I've told you all this a thousand times, but I'll say it again. :)
Check out these five beautiful black and white baths that I collected via Pinterest...

Photo: Pinterest

Photo: Better Homes & Gardens

I love the floor in this next bath...

Photo: Gold and Gray

One of my favorite granite colors, Nero Marinace, is on the countertop and the floor in the photo below. 

Photo: S.R. Gambrel

modern bathroom design via Houzz