Granite

Hectic day, but a good one.  After 8 hours of intense activity (riding and horse care), I set off to cram in some errands - starting at 4 pm.  Even managed to squeeze in a pedicure.  My daughter and I are having manicures tomorrow as part of our Mother's Day celebration.  Anyway, here I am cause I darn near forgot about the granite pic I promised.  Let me tell you about my promises - I mean well when I make them, but it kinda ends there, so don't put too much stock in them is what I'm trying to say.

For those of you who have re-modeled kitchens and baths, you know all too well how nerve-wracking it is to try to envision a lot of counter top from a small chunk of stone, right?  Now that the yard both sent a sample and accomplished the Herculean task of moving the slab to be photographed, I'm ready to commit.  I actually think I agreed to marry Tom in less time than it's taking to say yes to the slab.

Let's face it, this is one of those decisions that will be around a VERY long time, soooo it has to be right the first (and only) time.  Luckily I've lived in several apartments and 3 houses, so I have a fairly decent idea of what I like and don't like.  I have always preferred dark counter tops.  Our first home in Houston had a faux slate counter top in black.  It was a very dramatic back drop for the oak and butterscotch color scheme (miserable to clean, but it sure looked good).  Though the New Jersey house had faux butcher block counter tops, the faux wood was very warm and easy to care for.  The Huntington house started out with almond Formica counter tops (didn't they all in the 80s?) but then matured into very dark gray, almost black, granite. It had a lovely patina of silver flecks in it, but very subtle.  It reminded me of looking at a galaxy of stars.   I loved it.  Hard to keep spot free, especially in certain types of lighting, but worth the effort.  From the very first, I aspired to a particular color scheme born of the cherry used in the boat.  With cherry as the background palette, the color choices almost made themselves.

With that said,  I decided that the granite had to be dark and contrasting and could not have big inclusions.  Some of the more neutral-colored chunks I looked at seemed to compete with the cherry and had what looked like slivers of stone pieces embedded into it.  When I finally zeroed in on a color, I had no idea what the actual name was since the side that I was looking at had Taiwanese characters on the name label.  Since my Taiwanese is a bit rusty, I was in the dark.  When I turned the stone around in a few different ways to see it catch the light, I noticed the English name on the side of the sample.  Turns out, this color is one of the most popular, selected in many kitchen and bath re-dos.

I must admit I was a bit disappointed when I read that tidbit of news, but I can see why the color is popular.  Besides, I haven't cared about what's "in" or what others think or do in a long time.  I think not caring about popular thought was a by-product of turning 40.   Did I hear you say, "get on with it, girl"?  If not, then you're being too polite.  Sooo, the granite for this new beauty will be Uba Tuba Green.  Though the sample simply said Uba Green, I knew what they intended.  I think it will look fantastic against the cherry, don't you?

This slab is very stone-like, just what I had in mind.  I'm sure the folks who moved that slab and got it positioned for the "photo shoot"just wanted me to make a decision and get on with it.  Wasn't all that hard at the end of the day.  I just realized I "promised" pictures of the Sunbrella fabric and Ultraleather swatches laid out next to each other.  Since they're on my desk in the office, that will have to wait.

Not as exciting as last night's performance, but very important.

I'd love to hear your comments about everything so far!  Humor me.