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.

Vintage Modern "whale tail" Copper Pulls - INVENTORY

I picked these up at HousingWorks today. They are solid copper mid-century pulls from something or other. Not sure if we will use them or what for, but they were to nice to pass up.

SCORE: Carrara Bianco Gioia Marble - INVENTORY

I stopped by BIGNYC first thing this morning to drop off some cans of paint and varnish and stuff and I saw they still had these 15 unopened boxes of 12"x12" white Carrara marble tiles which I spied last weekend. We still need flooring for the master bath upstate and V and I agreed last year that we would be fine going with white Carrara so it seemed like a good opportunity to get this procurement problem out of the way.  The price for the whole lot was right and I took them all. 150 Square feet. Done!
Anyway, the photos here are of the actual boxes but the picture of the marble itself is a stock photo from the web. We don't actually know how much movement or shading or spider webbing there might be on them. Won't know until we open all the boxes. I guess that is how it works when you buy natural stone - you get what you get. Fortunately they are all Gioia, meaning that they at all quarried from the same region in Messina, Italy. So at least we know they should have some consistency.
Hooray for BIG NYC.

BIGNYC Score: More Upholstery / Drapery Fabric - INVENTORY

I picked up two more bolts of fabric from BIGNYC this past Sunday -- one is Schumacher and the other is Brunschwig et Fils -- fancy fancy.  Both have at least ten yards left on them so there is plenty or most non-upholstery applications we might come up with.  

I'm pretty excited about this blue one, "Rubaiyat".  I think it would make some pretty splendid drapes for the baby's room.  

Details

• 59% Linen, 41% Cotton
• SKU: BR-79679.286
• Company: Brunschwig & Fils
• Cover Type: Print
• Color Family: Blue
• Cleaning Code: S
• Repeat Height: 28"
• Repeat Width: 14.25"
• Direction: Up The Bolt
• Fabric Width: 57"
• Design Style: Figurative
• Use: Multipurpose
• Origin: France
• Exclusive: Yes
• Brand: Brunschwig & Fils

The other one, "Damask Arabesque" in coral, is a little granny, but I think it might still look pretty amazing as big huge drapes in our living room.  V is unconvinced that it has any place in our lives.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Manufacturer	F Schumacher Fabric
SKU	FS-170203
Pattern	Damask Arabesque
Pattern Number	170203
Color	Coral
Width	54"
Unit Of Measure	Yard
Horizontal Repeat	25.25"
Vertical Repeat	25.75"
Match	Half Drop
Country of Finish	USA
Content	58% Linen / 42% Cotton

INVENTORY: Drawer Pulls - flowery stuff

This is a lot of about 29 porcelain drawer/cabinet pulls I picked up at BIG NYC.   They are lovely with pictures of flora and the Latin names below.  Hopefully they will go on something upstate.

INVENTORY: Door Knobs

A couple doorknobs I have in storage:

This pair would be perfect for French doors.  I am missing one escutcheon.

This one is heavy and nickel plated.

INVENTORY: Plumbing Fixtures / Parts

For ease of reference and finding this stuff, here is a list with photos of all the plumbing pieces I have in storage.  Almost all of it is from Waterworks but there is some great Barber Wilsons stuff at the bottom.  Some will go upstate.  Some awaits a big fix-up at home.

Box #	Photo of Item	Description
		A satin nickel Julia faucet.
		A polished brass Julia faucet.
		A chrome Julia faucet.
		A copper bar faucet.
		We plan to use this natural brass finish, two-hole goose-neck faucet by WW for our master bathroom upstate.
		A P-trap for the brass two-hole faucet above.
A1		A hand sprayer for a shower set-up.
B1		Another hand sprayer for a shower set-up. ($895 with hook (below), hose and wall elbow)
C3		And another hand sprayer for a shower set-up. ($895 with hook (below), hose and wall elbow)
C2		This is the right angle hose wall outlet for a wall mounting WW hand-shower.  This goes to the wall, a hose goes from this to the hand shower handle.
C4		This is the wall mounting hook for a WW hand-shower.
B4		This is another style wall mounting hook for a WW hand-shower.
C1		And another wall mounting hook for a WW hand-shower.
A3 A4		Replacement Cross Handles for a WW faucet.
A5		Astoria Volume Control Valve Trim with Metal Hexagonal Cross Handle (Nickel).  This should be very useful since the WW volume valve rough it trims out is only $80-$120.
A2		Julia Volume Control Valve Trim with Metal Cross Handle (chrome).  Same idea as immediately above.
A10		Seven (7!) flush lever handles for fancy Waterworks or Toto toilets (shown in this photo and the next two).  Fancy!  I don't imagine we'll have 7 WW or Toto toilets any time soon, but we'll certainly have use for 2 of them and maybe more someday.
A11		More flush levers.
A12		More flush levers.
B7		This is a thermostatic shower body.  The control piece on the right is the cartridge that goes onto the mixer housing on the left.  I don't exactly understand how this works.  ($840 new)
A15		This is a nickel plated shower diverter to be used to add a handheld shower sprayer to an exposed thermostatic shower unit.  These things go for fat bank. ($1155 new w/handshower and hose)
A6		This is the handle for the shower diverter (A15) just above.
A16		This is a drain unit for a vessel sink.
A13		Handshower on Bar w/o hose.  Handshower not included.  However, I have three handshowers separately (see above).  The pic of the item installed is not the exact same style item, but it gives at good idea of what is in the box.
A14		Handshower on Bar (like above) with hose.  Handshower not included.  However, I have three handshowers separately (see above).
B8		This is a Perrin & Rowe Exposed Thermostatic Shower Diverter.  Basically, the big valve piece interrupts the exposed riser pipe above a thermostatic shower body and volume control and it diverts the water to the hand-shower.  It includes a sliding piece that goes on the upper part of the riser pipe to hold the hand-shower.  It also includes the hose.
		This is a Rohl 8-Jet shower head.
A7		This is a trim kit for a thermostatic shower body.  It isn't the exact same style as shown in the WW photos, but similar.  As you see, I have four of these in total.
B3		This is another trim kit for a thermostatic shower body.
A8		This is another trim kit for a thermostatic shower body.
A9		This is another trim kit for a thermostatic shower body.
C5		I'm not sure but I think this is a piece from a trim kit for a thermostatic shower body or maybe a volume control.
B2		This is a hand-sprayer for a kitchen faucet - the whole thing is there with hose and a separate valve assembly and everything.  But in order to control the temperature, I would need to add another mixer under the sink with a fixed termperature setting on it.  Hmmm.  Confusing.
B9		This is a Lefroy Brooks lavatory single-hole faucet.  Such a pretty faucet.
		This is a Kohler right angle shower arm.
		This is some sort of trim kit for a Kohler faucet/shower (not sure which).
		These seem to be some spare  WW parts.
		I think this must be a sink supply line valve.
		A sink drain assembly.
		A Barber Wilsons nickel tub fill with hand sprayer.  Attachments are for deck mount but wall mount attachments are available.
		A Barber Wilsons brass hand shower.  2 Attachments are for deck mount and only one extra for wall mount - but could be wall mounted with one extra attachment.
		Two old Crane faucet valve sets with porcelain handles.