rtester, thank you! We are so pleased with how they turned out. Yes, we did them ourselves. The actual staining was very easy, just mix it according to directions and spray it on. I watched some videos on youtube and also had the advice from a friend who's done it before. The hardest part was cleaning the concrete before hand. We did not cover it during construction (big mistake) so there was silicone tracked on spots where a worker stepped in it. Then there were large areas where sap had drizzled down from the framing. Lacquer thinner took care of most of it, but it was time consuming and hard on the hands. Some of it didn't show up until the first coat of stain, so I had to clean it off before we could continue. There were some spots that still didn't come off well and so we faux painted after the first coat of sealer and then sealed over that. Worked great! But still, it was totally worth it. They are beautiful, just what I wanted. And the cost was less than 30 cents a sq ft!

Bevangel, Thank you so much for posting the gory details about your situation. It is a great service to all who read it, not only because others will now proceed with their "eyes wide open" but also so we can benefit from the solutions you've developed to deal with unscrupulous builders. I would SOOOO like to have found an attorney like you before we started building. I did all kinds of local and internet research, but in the end, I kind of threw up my hands and went about figuring out how to try to protect ourselves by structuring our contract and writing an intensive questionnaire asking many specific questions of the builders we interviewed. I even stated that their answers would become part of the final contract, and I stapled their responses to the signed contract. Ha...lots of good that did! Unfortunately, about 6 wks into our build, we found out that our builder had lied several times on our interview questionnaire in response to such questions as, "have you ever operated under a different business name?" and "have you ever been involved in any legal/mediation issues?" He had been the subject of a huge lawsuit that actually brought about changes in our Contractors State License Board practices/rules - granted, his situation was 10 years ago, and he claimed that it was unfair that he was still haunted by it, and that a "crazy lady was stalking him", etc, etc. Also, all of his recent references raved about his work and reported that they had come in on time and on budget and quality was excellent, etc, etc, but still it was/is shocking and infuriating that his former shady practices had been lied about, and had somehow slipped under our radar before we hired him. We came very close to firing him (and actually did but then rescinded) and now have all kinds of safeguards in place (most importantly, we have about 20% of the cost of our entire contract held until after we get our CO and final punch list resolved). We only have about 2 months to go with him and all has been fine for the past several months, but I still can't help but wonder each time we pay him or interact with him if he's telling the truth. I remember in the beginning before building even started, we had to have the City building inspectors come out to our property to review and make a ruling on something (not a minor issue, but a major thing), and the builder told me he was of the mindset to just do what we wanted to do without asking, bragging that he always "asked for forgiveness, not permission". DING, DING, DING! Warning bells should've gone off in my head, and I should've listened to my instincts. Anyway, I felt really stupid and extra angry about the whole thing because I had been so proud of myself for going through a lot of due diligence, writing my 2-page interview questionnaire and interviewing 4 builders, getting rock solid bids from all, being super specific about all our materials, etc, etc, etc. But, what I could not prevent was someone who has no problem lying, especially when it benefits him. In hindsight, I would have liked to have better legal help at the start, specifically a better contract in place. It is pretty frustrating that government agencies like the state contractor boards go around helping consumers get out of messes with contractors but don't really help prevent them in the first place. I looked high and low for a good boilerplate contract but couldn't find one...instead, we ended up agreeing to his contract with some major revisions, and now I see how vulnerable it left us. I believe this is an area where someone like you could both provide a great service and probably fill a potentially lucrative unfilled niche...writing contracts or providing good boilerplate language to help protect homeowners would be awesome. You could even probably sell these boilerplate contracts over the internet for the thousands of people who do not want to hire an attorney (and probably feel that nothing bad will happen to them anyway!) but want some protection. We feel especially vulnerable because we don't have a bank looking over our shoulder at each draw...we are funding this build with 100% of our own money. Yikes. Anyway, at this point (knock on wood) things appear to be on track. We are incredibly vigilant about getting lien releases at each draw, not only from every sub and supplier but also a blanket one from the GC, but who are we to know if he's just lying as happened in your case? This whole process is so fraught with opportunities for bad contractors to swindle innocent and helpless homeowners...it's pathetic! Anyway, thanks again for sharing your painful (but very useful to others) story. I wish you all the best and will eagerly look forward to seeing the progress of your home in future postings. Susan

Dang, I hope you find a solution too. When I went to the metal shop, I checked out angle iron and a few other options like this rectangular or square metal tubing stuff, which is either 3"x2" or 2"x2" (to fit in the space limitations of the apron) and they were all more flexible over the 7 foot length than what my contractor had built already. Since flexing down the length seems to be the soapstone people's primary concern, I just didn't see how using the metal would be much better than using wood (even if the apron is 4" instead of my current 5.5"), plus it introduces issues of 'high spots' on the metal, which could make the stone more prone to cracking. Maybe I'm just not 'getting it'. That's when I decided to check out using the 3.5" square hardwood, since I figured it would probably suffice...but that price tag is pretty hefty and I'm not sure I'm prepared to pay it. With the contractor's fee to build it, plus another $2500 or so for the stone, I'm looking at a $5000 island if I go that route, and that's not including the cabinets I've already paid for. That's gonna throw me quite a bit over budget :( So...back to the drawing board (again!) I've shown my fiance various drawings, the ones that seem to solve the problem by having various center supports he doesn't like, and I'm not too crazy about them either. My fall back plan in all of this is butcher block. Get the contractor to build a table with a small apron and just use that. My primary concern is having enough seating in the kitchen (since I got rid of my dining room), and I don't see another way to solve this dilemna than changing the countertop out, if between my contractor, the stone people, my fiance and myself we can't come up with something that everyone is OK with. Good luck with yours! I hope at least one of us manages to navigate these uncharted waters and comes out with a map :)

I've got tons of new growth and buds showing up, and even an occasional bloom opening. But.. right now we're back into the winter mode again... torrential rains yesterday, with clearing and sunshine half the day, then back to rain again last night and now. Sun's tryin' to come out, but it's friggin' cold. This has got to be one of the longest winters we've had in decades. I'm really getting sick of it. My poor roses don't know what to do. But for now... they're being drenched. Oh I can't wait to see all the mildew and B/S to come....