{"id":38520,"date":"2018-04-04T17:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T22:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=38520"},"modified":"2018-04-04T12:24:37","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T17:24:37","slug":"no-marble-in-the-new-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=38520","title":{"rendered":"No Marble in the New House"},"content":{"rendered":"

When people ask about the new home we are in the process of remodeling, they usually want to know two things:\u00a0 when will we move in, and will we be using marble.\u00a0 I know…..that second question is surprising.\u00a0 Of all the things they could ask about, they want to know about marble.\u00a0 Well, the answer is no.\u00a0 We will not use marble in our new place.\u00a0 All of the floors where we could put marble will be porcelain instead.\u00a0 All of the counter tops will be man-made as in quartz.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Townhouse<\/p>\n

Marble Floors<\/h2>\n

In our last place, we had marble floors in three of the bathrooms.\u00a0 (The powder room had hardwood, and the basement bath a decorative texture floor coating).\u00a0 The marble was my favorite Cararra marble, and it was in 12 x 12 inch squares.\u00a0 The same marble squares also lined the three shower areas, and we had tumbled marble mosaic squares on the shower floors.\u00a0 The grout we used was creamy white.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Guest<\/p>\n

Even though we don’t wear outside shoes in our houses, those marble bathroom floors showed wear and tear from our seven years of use.\u00a0 We had them sealed when they were installed, but they still had stains and etchings that were permanent.<\/p>\n

\"Powder<\/p>\n

Now, don’t get me wrong.\u00a0 I was an educated shopper and knew full well that the floors would etch.\u00a0 That’s what the stains, spots and wear that appears on marble over time is called.\u00a0 And I thought I would be fine with it, but I wasn’t it.\u00a0 I love a clean house, and our house was clean.\u00a0 But the bathroom floors didn’t look clean.\u00a0 When we travel, and I see old marble floors in cathedrals, temples, and castles, I am always blown away by the fact that those floors have been there for centuries and still look pretty darn good, despite all of the feet that have walked on them.\u00a0 But in our own bathroom with sparkling white cabinets, bright lights, shiny chrome, and bright white towels, the etchings just didn’t work for me.\u00a0 I thought the floors looked dirty.<\/p>\n

\"Townhouse<\/p>\n

Marble Counter Tops<\/h2>\n

The kitchen counters were all made from Carrara marble slabs.\u00a0 It was just beautiful, and I loved the way it looked.\u00a0 However, I didn’t love using it.\u00a0 Thankfully, I had a bake area with laminate counter tops in our pantry<\/a> where I did all of the mixing of cakes, pies, cookies, and bread that I made.\u00a0 I’m sure that helped save the looks of the marble.\u00a0 Plus, whenever I prepared a meal, I used\u00a0 cutting boards and did all of my prep on them.\u00a0 That helped keep the etching at bay, too.\u00a0 But there were many water rings and water spots all over the counter tops from just normal daily living.\u00a0 If we got a gallon of milk or orange juice out of the fridge and set it on the counter, that could cause a permanent ring. And when the sun or lights hit those rings during the day, they made the counter tops look smudged, greasy, and dirty.\u00a0 I just didn’t like being so careful but still getting those spots.<\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/p>\n

Now, this is totally my hang-up.\u00a0 My French friend even has Carrara marble counter tops and even a marble sink in her kitchen.\u00a0 The French think those etches are the sign of a good cook.\u00a0 They embrace the imperfections, and I commend them for that.\u00a0 I love seeing marble counter tops in Europe, and their etchings just add to their patina.\u00a0 But again, in our own home with the bright lights, white cabinets, etc., the etches bothered me.<\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/p>\n

Since we love the look of the marble, we will be using a quartz that looks like marble in our new kitchen.\u00a0 We found a brand that is pretty spot on, and when we selected it, we actually had a piece of real marble for comparison, and they looked very much alike.\u00a0 We still have to pick out the big slabs, though, and hope to do that next week.\u00a0 It’s nice that even though it’s man-made, each slab is different, and we get to select the slabs we like the most.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

The porcelain that we order for the floors and showers also has a marble look to it.\u00a0 It will be going in three of the bathrooms.\u00a0 The powder room will have hardwood, and I haven’t picked out the flooring for the third floor bath yet.\u00a0 Since it’s the grandkids’ bath, it will have “off the rack” porcelain floors.\u00a0 Oh, and we will be using porcelain, rather than ceramic, because it is stronger and more durable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For those of you who have marble, I would love to hear your thoughts on it.\u00a0 Do you love it?\u00a0 Would you do it again?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Take care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When people ask about the new home we are in the process of remodeling, they usually want to know two things:\u00a0 when will we move in, and will we be using marble.\u00a0 I know…..that second question is surprising.\u00a0 Of all the things they could ask about, they want to know about marble.\u00a0 Well, the answer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38520"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38520"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38528,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38520\/revisions\/38528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}