What do you think about Soapstone? Would you use it in your own home?
Showing posts with label soapstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soapstone. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013
- Cultivate had a great article about where to splurge and where to save on your kitchen appliances. Are High-End Appliances Really Worth It?
- I love seeing pictures of stone quarries. They fascinate me. Digging Into the History of Vermont Granite Quarries was an interesting article with a lot of fun pictures.
- If you follow us on Instagram you saw that we installed a beautiful Soapstone Kitchenette this week. Soapstone is one of my very favorite natural stones. Read more about it on Houzz... Counter Intelligence: Durable, Easy-Clean Soapstone.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
On the Rocks
Andrew Hellman is a fan of single malt scotch, he is also a co-founder of Teroforma. Andrew was looking for a way to cool his drink without diluting it with ice.
After much research he came up with Whisky Stones, made from Vermont Soapstone. Due to soapstones natural softness (it won’t scratch the glass) and its unique ability to retain temperature for extended periods of time, it was the perfect answer.
Store them in the freezer and when you need ice for any drink (spirit or soda) they will be ready to go.
I own a set & love them! They are $20.00 for a set of nine. You can find them here.
After much research he came up with Whisky Stones, made from Vermont Soapstone. Due to soapstones natural softness (it won’t scratch the glass) and its unique ability to retain temperature for extended periods of time, it was the perfect answer.
Store them in the freezer and when you need ice for any drink (spirit or soda) they will be ready to go.
I own a set & love them! They are $20.00 for a set of nine. You can find them here.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Design Style Week: 10 Craftsman Style Kitchens
I try to incorporate all different design styles here on the blog,
but I have to admit that I know I tend to show more contemporary and
modern kitchens since that's where my own tastes lie.
In an effort to be more diverse I thought I'd show different design styles in kitchens this week.
I'll be covering one style per day including Traditional, Country, Craftsman, Vintage and Rustic.
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Craftsman style kitchens are probably my second favorite style. I love the clean lines and simplicity.
American Craftsman style began in the last years of the 19th century as a reaction to the "over-decorated" and fussy homes of the Victorian era. This simplistic style was defined by such notable designers as Gustav Stickley, William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Key elements of a Craftsman Style Kitchen include stained oak, maple and pine cabinets and floors. By definition you wouldn't see painted cabinets in a Craftsman Kitchen, but with all kitchens being more transitional now days we are seeing white cabinets sometimes.
Countertops are usually granite (honed & polished) or soapstone and you'll see slate used a lot as a backsplash. Simple porcelain tile or hand made tiles are also popular backsplash choices.
Lines are clean and cabinet styles are simple. Hardware and fixtures are generally oil rubbed bronze, copper or tawny antiqued brass.
Color is important in a Craftsman Kitchen and are usually earth tones like olive or moss green, brown, rusty orange, brown and deep golds. Whites are becoming more popular in the modern Craftsman Kitchen mixing with light blues and brighter greens.
In an effort to be more diverse I thought I'd show different design styles in kitchens this week.
I'll be covering one style per day including Traditional, Country, Craftsman, Vintage and Rustic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craftsman style kitchens are probably my second favorite style. I love the clean lines and simplicity.
American Craftsman style began in the last years of the 19th century as a reaction to the "over-decorated" and fussy homes of the Victorian era. This simplistic style was defined by such notable designers as Gustav Stickley, William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Key elements of a Craftsman Style Kitchen include stained oak, maple and pine cabinets and floors. By definition you wouldn't see painted cabinets in a Craftsman Kitchen, but with all kitchens being more transitional now days we are seeing white cabinets sometimes.
Countertops are usually granite (honed & polished) or soapstone and you'll see slate used a lot as a backsplash. Simple porcelain tile or hand made tiles are also popular backsplash choices.
Lines are clean and cabinet styles are simple. Hardware and fixtures are generally oil rubbed bronze, copper or tawny antiqued brass.
Color is important in a Craftsman Kitchen and are usually earth tones like olive or moss green, brown, rusty orange, brown and deep golds. Whites are becoming more popular in the modern Craftsman Kitchen mixing with light blues and brighter greens.
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| Photo: mosaik design & remodeling |
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| Photo: SocketSite |
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| Photo: Better Homes & Gardens |
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Holiday Reruns: 4 Men 1 Lady
Happy Holidays!
We hope you are enjoying your holiday season. We are taking some time off of the blog to recuperate after this fantastically busy season. Thanksgiving and Christmas are always the busiest time of the year for fabricators, but this year was especially busy! We are so grateful for the business and we hope it continues strong into the new year.
We will be posting our favorite projects from 2012 until the new year. We'll be back with new posts on January 2nd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This year we had so much fun working with Michelle from the blog 4 Men 1 Lady. She remodeled an older home here in Utah and did an amazing job! We were so happy to be a part of it. Originally I posted all areas separately, here they are all together. Enjoy!
*Kitchen originally posted August 27th.
We were so excited when Michelle from 4 Men 1 Lady hired us to fabricate & install her kitchen countertops!
The first time Michelle called me I was totally thrown off. I had asked her the name of her blog and knew who she was because I had been a reader for years....but she said she was in Utah and I thought she lived in Arizona.... So I was quite confused.
Long story short, after stalking her blog when I got off the phone with her I figured out she had moved to Utah and I didn't know it. Then I felt dumb for not telling her I knew who she was. :)
If you read her blog you know Michelle has great taste, if you haven't seen her Arizona home be sure to check it out here. It's colorful, unique and well designed. So I knew her Utah home was going to be even more gorgeous and I was excited to work with her.
She selected Statuary Vein marble with a Honed Finish for the perimeter countertops and grey Soapstone for her island.
Marble and Soapstone are the two types of stones that I get asked the most about. I can talk about them until I'm blue in the face, but it means more when you hear from someone who is living with them. Michelle was kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions about her countertops.
Steph: What's your favorite part of your remodel so far?
Michelle: I've loved my kitchen so far! Definitely the best thing about it is the layout. There is so much to be said about having your living space be a great room. Everything takes place in the kitchen, living, dining room and as a mother of three busy boys it's great to be able to keep an eye on everyone. My favorite thing about my marble is the Waterfall Edge. It is so dramatic. LOVE IT!
Note: The Waterfall Edge is on the end of her perimeter countertop. See photo below. We Mitered the panel piece so that it looks like a thick 1 1/2" piece of marble all the way to the floor. The actual thickness of the marble is 3/4". It's probably my favorite thing about her kitchen too! I'm glad she did it.
Our shop guys did a great job matching the veining of the marble perfectly on the panel. Here is a picture during construction...
Steph: Do you have any regrets using marble in your kitchen? Does the etching and/or staining bother you?
Michelle: Hmm. Good question. To be honest, I'm a little scared of it. I've been warned about how high maintenance it is that I try to avoid using it. I haven't had any etching since I'm SOOOO careful what I put on it. There have been a few times where I've found something like a glob of jelly on the counter and my blood pressure shoots up. But surprisingly it really hasn't stained. We did have a family party and a family member put a greasy spoon on the counter. When I found it I picked it up and noticed that there was a huge grease stain. No amount of rubbing or cleaning could remove it. I about wanted to disown that family member and vow to never have another party again. Stephanie did tell me there was a poultice that could remove it but a few weeks later it eventually disappeared. Thank goodness.
Would I use it again? The jury's still out. It is an absolute show stopper feature in my kitchen. Every time I see it I gasp at it's beauty. I knew what I was in for before it was installed and I had prepared myself and my family for the extra TLC we would need to exercise around it. But I do like to entertain and I don't want to feel like I want to disown a family member for leaving a semi-permanent grease stain on my counter and I'm definitely not going to be that crazy women who tells people not to breathe on my marble counters. That's just silly (and insane). I did put it on the perimeter instead of on the island so it doesn't get as much use just as a result of it's location which is great. I LOVE the look of marble. If I were to do it again I might use marble as a backsplash instead.
Steph: Any regrets using Soapstone in your kitchen? Michelle:
I absolutely love my soapstone and would do it again in a heartbeat.
It is also high maintenance in the fact that it needs to be oiled
occasionally but that is totally optional how often and if you even want
to do it at all. I sort of like that fact that it changes it's
appearance from different shades of gray and black as it dries out.
(Funny because I don't like my marble changing color at all!). It's
also a soft stone. My 1 year old has dinged it up pretty good in his
spot at the bar but for some reason it doesn't bother me. (Again,
ironic because if my marble had dings I might faint). I really fell in
love with soapstone when I saw it at the old Restoration Hardware register counter which used to be at Trolley Square.
The patina and character of the counter was so lovely. I asked the
manager about it and he said they never oil it or do anything to it
really. You could see it had a couple of chip marks but over time they
soften and just look like character. I was sold then and there.
Oiling soapstone is really not that big of a deal. I only do once every four months-ish- and I usually do it right before we are walking out the door for a vacation. That way I don't have to worry about the oil getting all over the place with my boys and it can sit and soak in for days without any interference.
The Statuary Vein marble and the Soapstone were both purchased from
Italia Granite in Salt Lake City. Cory has a great selection of stone
and is fantastic to work with.
We (MGS by Design) did the honed finish on the marble. Not all shops do surface textures on stone in their own shop. We do and we believe it gives you a better quality product and a better price.
I've posted pictures of a couple of other things we did for Michelle in
her home previously. If you missed it be sure to check out her gorgeous
Calacatta Gold Fireplace here and her Carrara marble mid-century bench here.
A big thanks to Michelle for taking time to talk about her new kitchen! She was such a pleasure to work with. Be sure to check out her blog for more pictures and information about the remodel.
*Fireplace originally posted April 2nd.
I've been posting updates from Michelle's house (from 4 Men 1 Lady) that we did the countertops and fireplace in recently.
Her gorgeous fireplace is now all finished up!
Here is the 'Before' pic...
You are going to die over the change! After tearing out the rock, here is the 'After'!
Isn't it amazing?
Michelle selected a beautiful slab of Calacatta Gold marble from Italia Granite.
We installed all of the marble and then her mantle was installed on top.
You can see more pictures of the fireplace here.
* Bench originally posted June 25th.
Michelle from the popular DIY blog 4 Men 1 Lady, recently had us cut and polish a couple of small pieces of Carrara marble for her.
Check out what she did with them...
She made a super cute bench for her entryway!
I love how it turned out.
Be sure to to her blog to see the Before pictures!
*Master Bath originally posted September 24th. Today I have the last installment of Michelle's home (from the blog 4men1lady.com).
We did the marble countertop in her beautiful Master Bath.
This bath was a HUGE transformation. Be sure to check out her blog for the 'Before' pictures. You'll be amazed it's the same home!
For the countertop she chose a beautiful piece of polished Carrara marble that we had in stock. The edge detail is the 1 1/2" Mitered edge.
I love the rectangle sink. They look great but I also love how they function!
Don't forget to go to her blog to see even more pictures of her gorgeous bath!
We hope you are enjoying your holiday season. We are taking some time off of the blog to recuperate after this fantastically busy season. Thanksgiving and Christmas are always the busiest time of the year for fabricators, but this year was especially busy! We are so grateful for the business and we hope it continues strong into the new year.
We will be posting our favorite projects from 2012 until the new year. We'll be back with new posts on January 2nd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This year we had so much fun working with Michelle from the blog 4 Men 1 Lady. She remodeled an older home here in Utah and did an amazing job! We were so happy to be a part of it. Originally I posted all areas separately, here they are all together. Enjoy!
*Kitchen originally posted August 27th.
We were so excited when Michelle from 4 Men 1 Lady hired us to fabricate & install her kitchen countertops!
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
Long story short, after stalking her blog when I got off the phone with her I figured out she had moved to Utah and I didn't know it. Then I felt dumb for not telling her I knew who she was. :)
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
Marble and Soapstone are the two types of stones that I get asked the most about. I can talk about them until I'm blue in the face, but it means more when you hear from someone who is living with them. Michelle was kind enough to take some time and answer a few questions about her countertops.
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
Michelle: I've loved my kitchen so far! Definitely the best thing about it is the layout. There is so much to be said about having your living space be a great room. Everything takes place in the kitchen, living, dining room and as a mother of three busy boys it's great to be able to keep an eye on everyone. My favorite thing about my marble is the Waterfall Edge. It is so dramatic. LOVE IT!
Note: The Waterfall Edge is on the end of her perimeter countertop. See photo below. We Mitered the panel piece so that it looks like a thick 1 1/2" piece of marble all the way to the floor. The actual thickness of the marble is 3/4". It's probably my favorite thing about her kitchen too! I'm glad she did it.
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
 |
| Photo: 4 Men 1 Lady |
Michelle: Hmm. Good question. To be honest, I'm a little scared of it. I've been warned about how high maintenance it is that I try to avoid using it. I haven't had any etching since I'm SOOOO careful what I put on it. There have been a few times where I've found something like a glob of jelly on the counter and my blood pressure shoots up. But surprisingly it really hasn't stained. We did have a family party and a family member put a greasy spoon on the counter. When I found it I picked it up and noticed that there was a huge grease stain. No amount of rubbing or cleaning could remove it. I about wanted to disown that family member and vow to never have another party again. Stephanie did tell me there was a poultice that could remove it but a few weeks later it eventually disappeared. Thank goodness.
Would I use it again? The jury's still out. It is an absolute show stopper feature in my kitchen. Every time I see it I gasp at it's beauty. I knew what I was in for before it was installed and I had prepared myself and my family for the extra TLC we would need to exercise around it. But I do like to entertain and I don't want to feel like I want to disown a family member for leaving a semi-permanent grease stain on my counter and I'm definitely not going to be that crazy women who tells people not to breathe on my marble counters. That's just silly (and insane). I did put it on the perimeter instead of on the island so it doesn't get as much use just as a result of it's location which is great. I LOVE the look of marble. If I were to do it again I might use marble as a backsplash instead.
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
Oiling soapstone is really not that big of a deal. I only do once every four months-ish- and I usually do it right before we are walking out the door for a vacation. That way I don't have to worry about the oil getting all over the place with my boys and it can sit and soak in for days without any interference.
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
We (MGS by Design) did the honed finish on the marble. Not all shops do surface textures on stone in their own shop. We do and we believe it gives you a better quality product and a better price.
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
A big thanks to Michelle for taking time to talk about her new kitchen! She was such a pleasure to work with. Be sure to check out her blog for more pictures and information about the remodel.
*Fireplace originally posted April 2nd.
I've been posting updates from Michelle's house (from 4 Men 1 Lady) that we did the countertops and fireplace in recently.
Her gorgeous fireplace is now all finished up!
Here is the 'Before' pic...
 |
| Photo: 4 Men 1 Lady |
 |
| Photo: 4 Men 1 Lady |
Michelle selected a beautiful slab of Calacatta Gold marble from Italia Granite.
We installed all of the marble and then her mantle was installed on top.
 |
| Photo: 4 Men 1 Lady |
* Bench originally posted June 25th.
Michelle from the popular DIY blog 4 Men 1 Lady, recently had us cut and polish a couple of small pieces of Carrara marble for her.
Check out what she did with them...
 |
| Photo: 4 Men 1 Lady |
I love how it turned out.
 |
| Photo: 4 Men 1 Lady |
*Master Bath originally posted September 24th. Today I have the last installment of Michelle's home (from the blog 4men1lady.com).
We did the marble countertop in her beautiful Master Bath.
This bath was a HUGE transformation. Be sure to check out her blog for the 'Before' pictures. You'll be amazed it's the same home!
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
 |
| Photo by Wondertime Photography. Property of 4 Men 1 Lady. |
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Add Color to Your Kitchen with the Island Cabinet
Whether it is painting the cabinet or using a colorful stone, Kitchen Islands are a great way to add color to your kitchen.
Today I'm focusing on colored cabinets. Check out these fun & colorful kitchen islands...
Today I'm focusing on colored cabinets. Check out these fun & colorful kitchen islands...
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Photo: Ali Schwarz Design Group via House of Turquoise.
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| Photo: Atlanta Legacy Homes |
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| Designed by Kitchen & Bath Details via House of Turquoise |
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
6 Multi-Tasking Laundry Rooms
Doesn't it seem like now-a-days a Laundry Room is more than just a room to do laundry? More and more I'm seeing them used as storage areas, craft rooms, wrapping and/or shipping stations, etc.
Check out these six beautiful Laundry Rooms that are designed to do more than just laundry.
What other task would you like your Laundry Room to serve?
Me? I wish I had LOTS more storage. I'd love to store extra cleaning supplies and possibly some small kitchen appliances & serving dishes I only pull out a couple of times a year.
Check out these six beautiful Laundry Rooms that are designed to do more than just laundry.
Traditional Laundry Room design by Minneapolis Design-build Warren Home Restorations
I love this clothes drying rack!
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| Photo: The Enchanted Home |
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| Photo: decor pad |
What other task would you like your Laundry Room to serve?
Me? I wish I had LOTS more storage. I'd love to store extra cleaning supplies and possibly some small kitchen appliances & serving dishes I only pull out a couple of times a year.
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