Design Decision: Gauged Black Slate Kitchen Floors

To be clear, at the time of the last post, I had not yet purchased any slate.  I had only located a nice heap of it and negotiated a good price.  I then brought home a piece for consideration.

After some discussion and some web surfing, we determined that black slate is actually pretty fantastic looking for a kitchen floor. 

Some background: V has said a few times over the past month as we discussed kitchen floor material choices that she imagines something a little "moody" for the kitchen floor - "moodier" than honed white marble.  When I asked what "moody" means she said, basically, darker.  Then she put together that post of slate floors.  I get it now.

So, what did I get?

How did I find this slate? Simple.  I went out to check out a few stoop sales this morning while the baby was napping.  Notably, one of the stoop sale proprietors had advertised on Craigslist that she had some black slate floor tiles.  So, I went to her stoop sale and, after buying a stained glass window (to be featured in a subsequent post) and a large part of her collection of old photographic equipment, I remembered to ask about the slate (to be honest, I almost forgot about it - too distracted by the photo stuff).  

I was expecting her to say she had maybe ten to twenty 12"x12" slate tiles leftover from a renovation, but her answer exceeded all expectations.  At first she didn't know how much she had, but she said it was enough for the kitchen renovation she and her late husband had been planning 40 years ago and never got around to.  She explained that they only re-did their bathroom floor and then left the rest of the slate in the basement.  How much was there I asked again? She said she would check.  She went down to her basement and came back up with a single sealed box of black "gauged" slate tiles in various sizes which, all combined, added up to 10 Sq. Ft.  

I asked how many boxes she had and she said 27!! 270 Square Feet!  More than we need.

Anyway, the tiles are in a variety of sizes and the box includes two alternative layouts for arranging them in a repeating pattern.

I prefer this layout.

I don't like this layout as much because it will result in two 9x12 tiles being stacked one on top of the other in repeating pairs.

So, I took one 6"x6" tile home to show V.  But at this point I am thinking that I really like how this slate looks.  It is much smoother than the slate I am used to seeing.  The stony surface of it does not have the deep irregularities you often seen in slate but it still has plenty of character.  Apparently, "gauged" means that it has been ground down to a relatively regular thickness so it ends up smoother.  And it can be oiled to make it even deeper/richer looking.

Here is the sample tile I took home.

Once V saw it, she confirmed that it looks great.  Suddenly, we were both very excited about the slate - and not just because it was only $1 per Sq. Ft.  Actually, it is not such a huge discount since slate seems to sell for between $2.50 and $5 per Sq. Ft.   We just really like it.  

Anyway, I hadn't actually bought the slate at this point.  I had only brought home the one sample tile you see above and the seller had assured me she would hold it all for me.  Still, we wanted to be certain.  So, just to make sure we were positive, we drove down to Classic Tile to check out what else we might be able to get new in a reasonable price range.  We looked at a lot of tile and, in the end, there was nothing in or even close to our price range that we liked as much as the slate.  So, we pulled the trigger and bought two big bags of grout in a contrasting color (grout color choices to be discussed in a subsequent post).

I drove V and S home and then I went to pick up the slate.  It took more than a dozen trips down to the seller's basement to bring up 24 boxes.  I left the last 4 boxes behind - I can go buy them if I want, but I didn't want to overload my car too too much. 

Before I left with my haul, the seller showed me her bathroom floor, installed 40 years ago, made of this slate:

Nice, right?

So, now we have 240 square feet of gauged black slate quarried in Canada some time in the early 1970's.  A stone can't really be vintage though, can it?

Whatever, it is ours and tomorrow I meet with the tile guy.

Black Slate Kitchen Floors

J just returned from a stoop sale with a haul of $1/sq ft black slate in irregular rectangles. Here are some images. I think it's pretty! Modern but rustic. Would look classy with white and wood, a la that kitchen pic below from HGTV.

cotedetexas.blogspot

kitchensanddesigns.blogspot

United Stone and Graphic Arts Oc '10.

Michael Graydon - a Tommy Smythe room for HGTV

The pattern

Cold Day makes GREAT Stoop Sale-ing!

I have a compulsion - I shop at stoop sales (what we call yard sales or garage sales in our neighborhood).  I have a special backpack I wear just for stoop sale-ing and nothing else.  In an effort to maybe cut back on acquisitions of unneeded knick knacks, I am going to try to account for the things I buy at stoop sales.  Here we go...

It was pretty chilly out today but from what I saw on the CL "garage sales" listings for my part of town it seems Stoop Sale Season has begun.  So I boarded my bike and zipped around my hood and a few neighboring neighborhoods and hit as many stoop sales as I could find.

I picked up a number of smaller items:

• A Chateau Laguiole gran cru corkscrew with olivewood handle and teflon coated screw ($3)

• Neil Gaiman's "Mr. Punch" graphic novel in hardcover ($2)

• Books of Kertesz and Muybridge photography ($2)

• 3 Sheets of Elvis Presley 29c stamps - 40 per page ($10 - explain to me why someone sold me $34.80 worth of postage for $10?!)

• A selection of home design books ($1 each of less) - I still prefer flipping through books to surfing blogs.  Blogs just seem so infinite and uncurated whereas someone had to either convince someone a book was worth printing or pay to print it themself, either or which increases the likelihood that it isn't completely haphazard (like this blog for instance).

• The Complete New Yorker on 10 CD ROMs - brand new in shrinkwrap ($1).  I've been wanting this so I can go back and read a few famous profiles that I have read about.  Anyway, it is the entire run of the New Yorker from way back whenever - seems worth having. 

• This extremely exciting book about non-residential structures that have been "Converted into Houses" ($1).  This is one of those books I look forward to flipping through with V some evening.

• Sorel boots for V.  Like new ($5).

• A Belkin folding stand for an ipad.  V was excited about this because she pulls up recipes on the ipad and uses them while cooking but then the pad is just lying there and gets flour or butter or whatever on it.  So this is actually useful. ($5)

This is not at all useful.  This is an old brass gas light fixture.  I bought it mostly because the detail work on the gascock is great - specifically, I like that the gascock has a relief of a cock on it. ($2)

But here's the thing, today turned out, I think, to be one of the best stoop sale days ever.  I picked up this painting from a poorly attended stoop sale run by two middle school age girls.  

As you can see, it is a young lady doing unspeakable things to a turkey.  I kind of love it.

I asked where it came from and they said, in unison, "the basement".  The frame doesn't look very old to me, but the brown backing paper is dry and flaking so it has to be on the older side, plus the way it is framed as seen through holes in the backing paper is extremely well done with wooden spacers and corner pieces and little nails - and there is a narrow linen mat around the painting on the front.  How much, "five dollars." So I pulled out five dollars and made it mine.  

To anyone who worries that maybe these young ladies were deaccessioning their parents' art collection without permission, worry not.  As I was paying, their father came out and saw that I bought the painting and he sort of shrugged.  I asked where it came from and he said it came from his mother's house and maybe before that his grandmother's house - "probably a hundred years old" he says. I looked for a signature and found one, but it isn't a name I recognize. Then we joked about there maybe being a copy of the Declaration of Independence hidden behind the brown paper backing.  But he puts that to rest saying it is virtually certain that there are no copies of the Declaration of Independence floating around the [insert Russian-Jewish name here] family.  

And that was that - almost.  I was on my bike and didn't want to carry it around but also didn't want to cut short my stoop sale-ing to take it home.  So, courting disaster, I left the painting there (at the top of the stoop behind the girls so it was out of the way and not visible) to pick up later - they promised they would be around for a couple more hours and if they weren't then I could ring the bell and get it.  I worried briefly that they might change their minds or someone else might come along and recognize the signature, but it seemed unlikely).  

Anyway, long story short, I got it home and showed it to V and she likes it a lot.  

Then I googled the signature:

I compared the signature with the signatures of a bunch of paintings I found online by one M. Adlen, and they match.  It seems this person, Michel Adlen (1898-1980) is a real guy with a real reputation as a painter and his work sells frequently at auction.  It isn't Cezanne prices or anything, but 700 Euros for a painting is nothing to sneeze at.  Plus, we really really really like the painting.  

So there you go.  I picked up a real painting by a real person and we're going to hang it and refer to it as "the Adlen".  "Have you seen my sunglasses?" "Have you looked on the table under the Adlen?"  See! It just works!!