GORGEOUS...you must be so excited!
:)
Sarah

That's a beautiful slab, redroze.

We did the same thing with the calacatta, a guest bath and the MB both have counters from the same slab. What are you using for your backsplash? I used the 2 X 4 mini brick calacatta with a pencil edge.

You might want to consider using some of the slab for your shower curb and shower seat (I didn't even think of doing the curb in slab and ended up cutting down the 12 X 12 we used on our floors..wish I had thought of using the slab).

What type of material are you using for your floor?

btw, I love your kitchen. You have exquisite taste.

pretty, pretty!!!!

It is very pretty. Is it Calacatta Gold? It looks different than Calacatta around here--very nice. I can't wait to see pics.

I'm super excited!!! This was the first trek out for DH and myself and we lucked out in finding a smaller slab that was just right.

Marlene - We don't have a backsplash planned yet, we're still in the design phase. Great idea to use the remains for the shower curb and bench seat...I was thinking it could go in the shampoo niche as well. It's not a huge slab though...it's 62x86...and we may do a build up. Do you have 3/4" Calacatta, and if so did you do a built up edge? I'm torn on this one...

We're thinking for the guest bath, we'll do 1" hexagons in the center with a border around the edge. We'll probably do mostly porcelain tiles in the guest bath to keep costs down, with a marble accent here and there. It depends on what our fabricator comes back with for the cost. For the master bath, we'll do as much marble as we can. Probably larger calacatta slabs on the floors with a smallish area rug - may mini brick as a border and some type of pattern in the center. I really want to do mini-brick in a herringbone pattern as a niche, got the idea from someone's cooktop niche over on the kitchen forum. Can't remember whose kitchen this is...it may be Willow Decor.

In the master bath shower, probably larger slabs of marble for ease of cleaning, DH's request being the designated bathroom cleaner:

Marlene, do you have your bathroom photos posted anywhere on GW? I've been trying to inspiration photos for Calacatta bathrooms. Thanks for the note about my kitchen!!! We've officially ordered all the furniture, just waiting for it to come in!! I'm dying to post finished pics!

Hey Cat Mom!!

Kelleg - No, it's just Calacatta. It has some greys, golds and a tinge of green. My husband spotted it first, I would have walked on by it because it didn't look interesting to me from the side. But soon as they pulled it out...WOW. I love, love, love the granite in our kitchen. But if I didn't find Bianco Antico granite, I would have gone with Caeserstone or marble for sure in the kitchen. So I'm excited about doing marble in another room!

I'm hoping to do something like this in the shower. Larger Calacatta tiles with a band of mini-brick (this one happens to be Carrara but I'd do either Calacatta or Thassos)...which would go with the niche that has the mini-brick in a herringbone pattern.

I love all of your ideas. The shower will be gorgeous. I was talked out of using marble in my shower because I already had the marble on the floor and counter and bath surround. (because it would be too much calacatta...but I've now learned, there is no such thing). I just used the white subway with the 2" hex marble on the shower floor.

The floor and tub surround are 12 X 12 and the tub backsplash is 3 X 6 calacatta beveled marble (18" high).

I want tht chandelier in your inspiration photo!!

I haven't posted pics because I do NOT know how. I've tried so hard, so many times but I'm doing something wrong and I so desperately need suggestions for my mirror. I have a large (8 1/2 ft) vanity and can't decide on the mirror. A calacatta framed mirror is a possibility...or not.

My slab is 2CM polished. I have a picture of the edge I can email you. I didn't see your email addy, so if you send me an email to PDXMarlene@aol.com, I can send you a pic.

The chandelier is gorgeous. I watched the Design Inc show that it was on though, and I believe she got it from an antique store. So one of a kind! I'm sure there are similar options out there.

Just so you know, I may easily be talked out of using marble when I get the price quotes!!! We'll see...there's so much gorgeous ceramic and porcelain tile out there so I'm not worried.

Your bathroom sounds really, really beautiful.

Oh no! I hope I can help you with the picture posting. Let me know if you have trouble! I'd love to be able to help you with your mirror. Wow, that's a large vanity. I have a photo that may be an option...but first things first. I'm assuming you know how to transfer images from your digital cam onto your computer?

2. Visit Photobucket.com

3. Click on "Join Now" on the top menu.

4. Follow the steps to register, ex. Type in a username and password. I believe you need a valid email address to register to Photobucket.

5. Follow the steps to activate your Photobucket account, which probably requires clicking on a link within your email client (ex. Hotmail, etc)

6. Once you get registered to Photobucket, let me know and I can help you out from there.

Redroze, I have pictures in Photobucket. For some reason I can't get them over "here".

I hope you can use the marble. I didn't have time to shop as I hadn't planned on doing my bathrooms when I did (I had a flood, etc.). My bathrooms were the last on my list. But I had to make some quick decisions and thanks to rmkitchen and mindimoo's kitchens, I fell in love with calacatta and already had it picked out for the kitchen..but long story short, the calacatta is now in the bathrooms and I love, love, love it. But since I didn't have time to really plan the baths, I made a lot of mistakes and in addition ended up paying higher prices on the marble than was probably necesassary.

I've seen some gorgeous calacatta tile on the forums which others paid far less and it looked as good, if not better than some of the more expensive calacatta. (I hope I'm making sense). If you get a bid from Ann Sacks, you will fall over (as you already know). Her tile is beyond gorgeous.

Ok, I'm going back to figuring out how to posts pics!

Okay great. Next step, log in to Photobucket. Under each photo, there will be a piece of "website code" under a box that is called "Direct Link". Click your mouse on that box with the funny code (it starts with http://), and the copy within the box will be highlighted. Right click your mouse and select "Copy".

Then go to Garden Web, go to the Message box where you normally type in your posts, right click and select "Paste". It will paste the funny website copy.

Last step, type in the following words but substitute "weirdcopy" with the http:// copy that you just pasted from Photobucket.

FINALLY, replace the first dash with . I have to type in dashes instead of to show you the code, otherwise the Message Box will think that I'm trying to display an image.

Let me know if it works!

-img src="weirdcopy"-

I too fell in love with Calacatta due to rmkitchen and Minidimoo's kitchens, as well as Willowdecor's butler's pantry. I thought all along we would use Carrara but every slab and tile that we saw had a grey base. Calacatta was much too beautiful in comparison!! I know about Ann Sacks of course, as our kitchen backsplash is from there. I figure - we go pricier on the counters, and go cheaper on the tiles!!!

I don't know if this is the same thing, but in photobucket, under each picture, there are four lines of "code." I just right click on the third one down and choose "copy" from the little bar that shows up. Then I switch over to where I'm typing my message and right click and hit "paste." Comes right up without changing anything.

Hope that helps--you can tell from my non-computer-ese that I have no idea what I'm talking about...but I'm able to post pictures this way ;)

Sarah

Thank you so much for calling me out on the Kitchens Forum -- I followed that link here and am still wiping up drool! Yowza. That is some slab redroze.

I also want to say how HAPPY I am to see my dear Marlene here -- I've not see you online for a while (in all fairness, I'm not on much anymore -- lots & lots of Ruffin issues), and I've genuinely missed you. You are one of my favorite online friends.

Now, I've been lucky enough to see Marlene's photos and her Calacatta is also crazy yummy. (Marlene has exceptional taste, and while I completely understand her assertion that she made many mistakes [as I feel about nearly every single project -- wish I'd spent a few years just thinking and looking, looking, but unfortunately it was only by doing that my eye got trained enough to see -- you know, a chicken-and-egg conundrum], not a one of those mistakes is visible to the non-Marlene eye.)

And guess what? I'm using some of our leftover Calacatta in our main floor bath! (yes, the v. bath where our four year-old conducts his sink-based science "experiements") Just Friday I spoke with our kind, wonderful fabricator about having a countertop with undermount sink made for us ... so I'm joining your club!

From overstock.com I purchased this faucet:

(it was scandalously less on overstock than at other e-tailers, and I learned about it [finding it at overstock, I mean] here on the Baths Forum [I'm pretty much a searcher here, not a lurker, not a poster])

When Ruffin is ready to attend nursery school without me (may not be until the autumn, although I'd foolishly hoped for this month) I'll be painting the builder's grade oak vanity black and smooth-coating the orange peel walls / ceiling. (The rest of the house we had plasterers come in, but for that bath and the laundry I really feel I can handle it myself. Actually, it looks fun!) I still haven't figured out what color(s) to do the walls .... I'd been thinking the deepest aubergine, but because it's a small-ish, enclosed (a totally interior room), it might be fun to do some zany wallpaper or painting (I've never wallpapered before). We'll see.

Last November I had an electrician come and put power in the ceiling (there'd been a wall-mount fixture), and then he hung up an old crystal chandelier I've had knocking about in a box for years. (purchased it at a salvage yard but never hung it up in the previous houses) So that's fun.

I also uncovered some funky art glass "blobs" a woman made for me. We did goldsmithing together (she's a glass artisan but was learning goldsmithing so she could fashion jewelry out of her creations) and I purchased many fascinating "blobs" from her. I guess cabochon is a better word, but blob is funnier. Anyway, I made rings out of some of them and knobs out of others; I'm going to use them on the vanity.

But I have to say I have really, really been loving pumpkin knobs lately .... Not going to use them, but I like 'em!

Eventually I'll rip up the vinyl and put down those sweet little white hex tiles with some kind of black accent ... miles away from that, however.

It's not an important-enough bath for me to justify (cost) opening up the wall to replace the shower fittings with matching polished chrome (the only creatures to use that shower are our cats -- their litter is in it), although I shall have to figure out how to paint or treat or something the satin brass banding on the shower doors.

I'm really up in over my eyeballs with Ruffin at present, and I think I have to start seeing a therapist to deal with my guilt. (Ruffin's entire therapeutic team is on me to do so, so I'm not hiding it as well as I'd thought!) I know I didn't do anything "wrong" or cause his illness / issues, but I cry every single day, looking at that angelic creature and how freaking hard he has to work for things which come effortlessly to so many. And yet he is so incredibly jolly, loves to cuddle, laugh, sing -- he doesn't realize anything's amiss. But no one but me, really, can understand his language (a combo of the three we speak at home, plus his own unique enunciation, hence my need to accompany him to school), and developmentally he's about one year behind (which is significant for now -- I'd love my body to be more than one year delayed, but I'm old). If you've ever loved someone / something who's sick or has a problem you cannot solve, no matter how hard you try or whatever crazy lengths you go to, then you'll understand me. Otherwise, you'll just think I'm an overly emotional parent. The funny thing is I'm really good at not "hovering," at letting go and letting him (literally) fall, at letting him try on his own, without my hands on him. But I'm a wreck! I "publicly" (via my local moms' club) reached out to find other mothers of special / exceptional needs children, and it turns out there are a number of us who all feel isolated and very, very blue and very, very exhausted.

This, too, shall pass, and on the bright side, I've helped a number of mothers come out of the woodwork and realize they're not alone (as I'd felt)! Marlene, with the wonderful work you've done I know you'll understand ....

Okay, enough of my blathering on redroze's Calacatta find! Congratulations!

Oh yes, Sarah you're absolutely right!! I forgot that you can just copy and paste what's under HTML Code. The only thing I don't like is that Photobucket writes the code so the image is an automatic link to your entire Photobucket album. So I normally strip out the code that's in the first set of V brackets, and the last set of V brackets. Voila - your image is no longer a link to your album.

Hi RM! Yes, I also figured that Marlene would have a spectacular bathroom, and I really hope she can figure out how to post photos so we can help with her mirror dilemma. I have an idea that may work from her, but I'd have to see her photos first to comment. SO exciting that you get to use your leftover marble for your bathroom!! I like your faucet choice - I'm using a similar low-profile one for our guest bath.

I feel a bit voyeuristic reading about about your Ruffin situation, not understanding the context. I hope it all works well for you RM.

I hope we can get the Bathrooms forum hopping. I do miss all the planning whirlwind of the kitchen, and all the amazing advice I got and provided. It is a great online community.

redroze!!! stunning - that slab is GORGEOUS!!! I love the idea of a herringbone pattern. someone here (or maybe it was on the building a home forum?) a couple months ago posted a masterbath with that pattern (I think it was a travertine) and it was really, really pretty - set it apart from the standard, ya know? If I can find/remember who that was, I'll send it your way.

OT: don't know if you ever made it back to the end of my posting, but wanted you to know how much I LOVE you kitchen and didn't realize I was 'copying' it :) I love your bianco antico and it made me so excited to see it in a real-life kitchen.

Mairin

I'm going to go back and read everyone's posts BUT I just got so excited "hearing" from Brooke!

Thank you all for trying to guide me in posting. I've tried everything...but for some reason when I click on the mouse, the paste option doesn't show up. I am going to have someone come to the house and walk me through it.

Brooke, those faucets are Rohl?? I have those. Also, the pics I sent to you (really bad ones) were from the first bath. My MB looks totally different. I still need mirrors and lighting and knobs and pulls. We kinda were side tracked by some "issues" and I didn't want to make decisions with the remodeling during the "issues"....but everything is ok and back to the remodeling I go! Please email me when you get the chance. I lost all of my emails addresses...

Redroze, you decided to go with one vanity instead of a his and hers? I was going to post to that thread but something interrupted my thought process and at this age...well, I just forgot to finish and send my post. Ah, but back to topic, I wanted to encourage you to get one vanity because of the calacatta. I initially was going to put in a tower with glass shelves to display some of my crystal collection but after the slab was installed I realized there was no way I would cover ANY of the calacatta..so I have one long slab that I drool over (..again at this age..sometimes very unintentially!). If you have two smaller vanities, I don't think you quite get the full feel of the veining as you would in one larger vanity. JMO, of course.

Did I tell you that Ann Sacks is right here in Portland? That is very good and bad news for me!

Mairin, I responded to your other post. Thanks for looking out for the herringbone pattern! DH thinks it will be a pita to clean and get scummy...we'll see.

Rm/Brooke - I'd also like to know what faucet that is!! Please and thanks!!

Marlene - really good point on the Calacatta. DH wanted the double-sink vanity, I was open to the two single sinks. But now with the Calacatta - NO WAY am I going to interrupt that veining. Even our guest bath vanity is longer than average (4'9" I believe) so it will show off more of the stone.

Wow, having an Ann Sacks around the corner must be ROUGH. I live in Canada and can live blissfully unaware of all the gorgeous tile I'm unaware of.

I really wish you could figure out how to post your pics so we could help with your mirror dilemma. ONE MORE THING TO TRY. First you have to click with your LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the code me and Sarah mentioned above. Then you click with your RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, the select copy. Give that a try, fingers crossed for you!!

I just hope I didn't post something embarassing!

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x84/sofieoliver/sofie-1.jpg[/IMG]

{{gwi:1397977}}

Is this your kitty cat? Beautiful!

What you need to do to have the photo imbedded is type:

(but you have to delete the spaces I included after the )

I'm off to bed but I'll write you tomorrow. I hope you're okay, Marlene! I really have missed you. I LOVE your sense of humor!

For whatever reason I did not see the queries about the faucet.

Actually, it's by Element of Design, the New York series.

But it's "other name" (as it's listed on overstock.com), is Metropolitan. I'd liked the design so came to GW to find out others experiences with Elements of Design (positive, although I haven't checked recently to see if anyone's changed their mind!), and that's where someone said overstock.com was selling it as well.

I'd really wanted it with the porcelain handles, but seeing as it was nearly $100 less with the metal handles on overstock.com I easily changed my mind. Easily.

The attendant doo-dads (toilet paper holder, towel ring, towel bar) I purchased from eFaucets.com, as theirs was the best price I could find.

Um, so Ruffin is actually my two and a half year-old son, whom I usually refer to as "Li'l Bit." I think being in such a weepy mood plus seeing Marlene here, who knows us, our situation and our real names I guess I goofed.

In the scheme of things Ruffin is crazy-lucky: we don't have Down Syndrome, he isn't on the spectrum, he doesn't need a Snapdragon (toddler's wheelchair). He has something called Sensory Processing Disorder (aka Sensory Integration Disorder) and it's still mostly unknown, so in addition to helping Ruffin I have become an ad-hoc educator. Again, "in the scheme of things" I know why I have a child with SPD: I have a big mouth, tons of empathy, and no shame. I freely and openly talk about both having a child with special needs as well as SPD, and on a near-daily basis I know I am helping people, helping them both know they're not alone (as parents of special / exceptional needs kids feel) and knowing with SPD is.

It was because of all the parent-educators before us who let people know about autism: not too long ago we didn't know about it, and people with myriad disorders were all labeled "retarded" and sent away. Now we thankfully know so much more and people are receiving appropriate and beneficial care!

But I don't know why Ruffin has SPD, meaning I don't know his role, and I hate that. I hate that he has to hurt and work so hard. I hate that my precious toddler has to suffer so that I can learn. It doesn't seem right, and hopefully with time I'll come to make peace with it.

I know Marlene understands because of her incredible and selfless advocacy for children -- she's truly a miracle-worker. I don't know redroze well enough to know your involvement with children / the weak (like animals). I've always been an animal-rights crusader but until I had children I never thought twice about them. It's unfortunate yet true. I was one of those who only "got it" once I became a parent. And I didn't truly "get it" until I had my second son, the one with special needs. I just stupidly assumed my older son, who is "typical" (no special needs other than being highly gifted, which is a whole other conversation), is the way it is. I never worried about him (other than traditional maternal love worry) because he met or exceeded all the goals and milestones. I did fight a bit against his being gifted because I just didn't want to acknowledge I had more work to do. (Those smart kids really keep you on your toes. The parents of gifted children are not the ones smiling and boasting: they're the ones crying from frustration at not being able to keep up with their children and searching for programs to keep their children engaged! And now it turns out Ruffin has been labeled highly gifted musically, so all the tricks I learned with my eldest are of no use with him. Shoot shoot shoot! [Ruffin self-taught the guitar and piano, that's one of his indicators.] I'm trying to interest Ruffin in the ukelele, because I like it. He's reluctant to give up his guitar, however ....)

I always thought of myself as rather clever, only it turns out I'm not clever enough by half. If there'd been an exam for motherhood I would've failed, that is for sure. I'll be the one sitting in the corner sucking on a lump of coal!

Anyway, so that's a peek into the Ruffin story. I've just reached a crisis point and I guess I am venting left, right and center! Mea culpa.

[IMG]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x84/sofieoliver/MB.jpg[/IMG]

I know I didn't do this correctly, but I don't have my regular computer and can't print out the instructions...I promise to do it correctly the next time.

IF the picture shows up, it's the first one I took of the MB...there is no base molding, the counter is cluttered and I have papertowels on the counter AND the the hanging towels are messy. If my computer were working, I post a better pic.

Anyway, this is the vanity. I have almost no lighting and no mirror and I need knobs and pulls.

WOW Marlene...your vanity and countertop are lovely. It looks like you have miles of counter space of gorgeous Calacatta. Who is the maker of the faucets?

What did you need help on regarding a mirror? The one I wanted to show you is a full mirror, with the sconces mounted on the mirror. I think it would work well and make your bathroom look even more enormous.

Another option is to do two smaller mirrors above each sink, then do three sconces - one on the left, one in the middle, one on the right. That way, you have sconces on either side of both mirrors.

I'm going with one of these two options for our master bath. Not sure which one yet.

Here's your photo:

{{gwi:1397978}}

Marlene, I know you said your edge is 2cm, and it looks like ogee. DH AND I BOTH LOVE IT. Is it 2 cm with an additional laminated edge to make it wider than 2 cm? Or is it just 2 cm? DH and I are trying to decide if we should do a laminated build-up, or stick with the 2cm thickness and do some type of fancy edge, such as the ogee.

Thanks in advance!!

Thanks, redroze.

I have Porcher Reprise faucets.

Also, that's the 2cm marble and I can't see the seam in the edge at all.

I can't put sconces on either side of the mirror because of how close the sinks are to the wall. If I had more time to plan this, I would have moved the plumbing. So what I think I will do..is perhaps put up a beveled mirror and have it framed in calacatta molding. My ceiling are high, close to 10' well, maybe only 9') and I have crown molding. What I really love is the picture you posted above (the one with the chandelier...that mirror might be an idea also).

I'll post better pictures when I get my computer back. btw, I'm keeping the blue pulls!

So just to confirm, is it 2 cm WITH a buildup, so the entire edge is actually thicker than 2 cm? I just wanted to make sure...I think this is the case since you mentioned you can't tell there is a seam.

Haha...Rmkitchen is right, you do have a great sense of humour. ;-) I think the blue pulls are very fashion forward!!

I think a chandelier would look great.

Yes, that's a laminate Ogee edge. I love Ogee.

btw, I was serious about the blue pulls; although I may change the color to green :-)

Please tell me the "messy" picture is the one with the green towel on the right. Marlene, you are welcome to come scour my bathrooms any time you like! I'll take your "messy" any day of the week!! But seriously, the bathroom is gorgeous! Love the backsplash tile choice!
-Sarah

Thank you, Sarah! I wish I could get the true feel of the bathroom. Tomorrow I'm putting up temporary lighting so maybe it will show up better. I've also painted since this picture was taken.

That bathroom is beautiful.

Elizgonz..I'm not sure if you're referring to the inspiration picture or my very unfinished MB...but if it was mine...thank you very much!!!!

Marlene, I think the stain colour of your vanity is super nice and goes with the Calacatta perfectly. Is it a custom stain?

Marlene, I was referring to yours. Your finished bathroom is going to blow that inspiration picture away. You made excellent selections.

Hi Redroze...it's Medallion cabinetry, espresso. Medallion really does a nice finish. My smaller bath was a custom stain and didn't come out as nice as this. The color on my screen is a bit more red than in person.

I'm trying to post a picture of the edge detail close up for you. You can't tell it's a laminate edge. I think you will be happy with a laminate build up (again, I've not heard that term...I use the term 2cm ogee edge...but you Canadians talk funny...(..and you know I'm kidding...of course!)

You are so sweet.. Thank you!

[IMG]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x84/sofieoliver/marbleedge.jpg[/IMG]

Here's close up of the edge, redroze.

LOL Marlene...Not sure what you mean about Canadians talking funny, eh?

Can you see the photo:
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All of you with your beautiful marble! OH MY! Your homes are breathtaking.