#marlble

If my realtor (and friend) see’s this blog post he is going to kill me.  He advised me not to spend money to renovate, but you and I both know that is just foolish.  I knew that I definitely wanted to put granite in the kitchen.  I plan on giving the kitchen a cosmetic facelift, but whats the point when the counters are crusty?  Well….. I ventured on Groupon, and found a local granite/marble company that was offering a special.  I honestly made out like a bandit.  They are doing my kitchen countertops AND the master bath vanity with double sinks.  Sounds awesome, and easy right? Awesome- yes, easy-no!  They sent me to Leamar to pick out my granite.  I have to note, they were WONDERFUL, very nice and so very patient (cause Lord knows I will look at something ten times before I can make up my mind)…..

I knew when I went there I was to look at two different stones: Caramel Crema and Alaska White (like you care what they are called….). I had a budget and had to stick to it, but let me tell you something…. when you walk into this ridiculously huge warehouse fillllllled with pieces of granite and marble from all around the world your mouth drops.  I was like a kid in a candy shop.  “oooo that’s pretty, how much is that?” He would simply reply “you need less than 40 square feet and that would cost you about $75,000,” I almost sh*t my pants and simply chuckled “I sure know how to pick ‘em!”

Rows, upon rows, upon rows of slabs all for my choosing!  I was shown the piece that was right on budget (Caramel Crema) and I really liked it.  It has a great array of colors- creams, greens, grays, black, white... a mixture of everything really and a consistent pattern which will look good on a small surface.  However, I still wanted to see the other one (Alaska White) in person.

The (Alaska White) slab was gorgeous, but I knew it was way over budget, so I crossed that off the list- phew.  It also helped seeing in person.  Yes, it is a beautiful slab, but it has a lot of movement.  By "movement" I mean a variety of pattern, it's different all through out the slab, so everywhere you look is different.  Knowing that I only have a small amount of counter space to cover, I knew that the movement in this stone would not be appreciated and it would look to sporadic.

But then, I found myself eyeing a piece around the corner.  I should have ran, I know I should have, but I am gluten for punishment.  Well I came across this GORGEOUS slab, and the man told me “this is a higher priced stone…..” and I said “I understand, but what is this one called?”…. when he ever told me it was called “Crazy Horse” the historical buff in me got all pumped up! I made note to get a price on that piece too.  The poor man appeased me, thank god.  Although my mother was right there in my ear reminding me to stay on budget.  It didn’t hurt to get a price though, right?

Well.  The wonderful people over at Pacific Stone in Maynard, MA provided me a quote for the two slabs that I chose.  As it turned out, “Crazy Horse” was way over budget, and will have to stay true to it’s historical state- in the past.