oooooo---I LIKE the idea. A Tamukeyama, perhaps--with heuchera lime ricky? hmmmmm.....where to plant them.... I know the JM will need some shaping as it matures--it's only been in the ground for two years. I'm going to get some books and learn about "cloud pruning." I thought it would be best to just leave it be for at least the first three years. I think Michelle was the person who suggested a purple heuchera--and then I found 'Obsidian.' It's been a great plant in my yard--lush doesn't beging to describe it...and seems to be happier, healthier, and hardier than 'Plum Pudding.' It IS a great spot for morning coffee. AND an evening margarita. (Or in my case, a Bass ale.) I'm all done with the dentist for now--currently I'm dealing with endocrinologists. Still don't have a lot of stamina--but my energy is coming back--so I can PLACE plants--and then Elder Son, DH, or The Boy dig the holes. They are good mulchers, as well. I moved one of the Hakonechloas to the front of the bed late today--it thunderstormed before I got a picture of it. Not certain what I think yet...but my plants are used to "living on the end of a shovel." melanie

That is one amazing DIY. You guys are so clever and creative! That soapstone is killing me -- I'm trying to touch that incredible vein through my monitor. Now I have to ask -- what is on the other side of the kitchen, beyond your angled wall and little table-n-chairs set? It looks like more chairs. What's that room, if I may ask? I love your trash can in your island. I love all of the clever ways you added space...the soap pullout, the angled tray cabinet, etc. Brilliant! Congrats -- enjoy it!

Hi again rinskin, Go to the second link I sent you and then click on some of the links that branch out from that. These are all designer/bloggers and they all recommend honed AND some are getting them rehoned from time to time. One designer said she bought hers honed but wants them honed again for an even more matte finish. They all talk about living with marble and the fact that it will etch and that is a part of its beauty....if you love marble. If you prefer the pristine look and glossiness, go with quartzite or polished granite. It sounds like you want the look of honed marble. Don't be afraid, come over to the dark side....lol ;)

Hi repaintingagain, I promised an update. Bottom line: our absolute black leathered/antiqued counters will require a lot more care than I was led to believe, I hate them because of this because I am so not the type to patrol the countertops-that's why I sensibly talked myself into them and out of what I thought were higher maintenance materials (marble and soapstone.) So, the expert came out (kind/knowledgeable/professional) and basically there is a choice between the lesser of two evils: 1) leave unsealed and have to deal with darker fingerprints/oil spots darkening the counters (much like what I was trying to avoid with unoiled soapstone) or 2) use an enhancing sealer that helps to minimize/mask darker oil marks BUT the sealer still etches from acidic substances which show up as lighter/hazy marks on the granite (much like I was trying to avoid with marble, and what you have going on with your countertops, repaintingagain.) As we suspected, expert guy used acetone to strip off all the previous sealer, and then the counters looked mostly fine until people started resting their hands on it and it looked splotchy/dirty again. So we had him put an enhancing sealer on one area (we left the rest unsealed) and he gave us the weekend to conduct various "mess tests" on the different finishes to see what looked/cleaned up best. (we used ketchup, olive oil, and a lemon wedge.) The enhancing sealer (Dupont Stonetech product) did NOT make the counters wet/shiny as I feared/was originally told. The color difference was slight, not dramatic, but enough to help minimize the oil spots/look of darker stains. We left half a lemon wedge on the color enhanced countertop with a round circle of ketchup next to it for 15 minutes and both left lightened/hazy/etched looking areas that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water (repaintingagain, these spots looked like the spots on your counters.) The olive oil cleaned up well and fingerprints did not show. On the unsealed side, the lemon wedge and ketchup left for 15 minutes cleaned up well and I was so excited, but the olive oil left a splotchy blotchy darker mess that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water and fingerprints were a problem. (This is NOT to say that a stronger "grease cutter" product might not have worked-I don't know-we were just using some regular Joy dishsoap) Since we have young kids who will be leaving little fingerprints everywhere, we opted to use the enhancing sealer, (because they eliminated the dirty fingerprints look) and we're figuring we are just going to have to be extremely careful not to slop any acidic substances on the counters. (Again, we are not naturally neat/tidy folks, so this is extremely disappointing.) Confession: My 4 year old saw me crying over the counters and said "Mommy, what is wrong???" with such fear on his face that I felt just awful. So having to explain and reassure him that everything is fine, these are just counters was a good reality check for me. But I am deeply, deeply disappointed to have wasted hundreds of hours of my life researching countertops-not to mention thousands of dollars- to be stuck with countertops that don't meet my expectations for the next 30+ years. My husband feels terrible for me that I'm blaming myself for making a "bad" decision and has committed to periodically just stripping the enhancing sealer all off and reapplying when our etching gets too bad/the counters look too dirty. He likened it to power washing the deck periodically, just a part of the maintenance of the item. Which did help me feel better. I just didn't know we'd have to deal with this, so since we do, I wish either 1) I would have put in a harder soapstone (Original P.A. was the hardest we personally tested, but I understand Julia and Belvedere are two that perform similarly. I'm sure there are others too) or 2) that we would have selected the antiqued/leathered Virginia Mist/Jet Mist (around here it was renamed "Nebula") because at least the veins/movement would help to mask both the oil spots or the etching (depending on whether we'd left it unsealed or sealed.) repaintingagain, I did want to tell you that you/your husband could certainly strip off your sealer with acetone and start fresh and experiment with whether you want to leave your counters unsealed or seal with a regular or color enhancing sealer. Our guy did it with his bare hands and a cloth, I was in the room and the odor wasn't bad with any of the products and I'm fairly sensitive to smells/chemicals. For any lurkers who've read this far, I hope my experience helps someone else. Interestingly, we have gotten lots of compliments from some of the subs that are coming in at the end of the project finishing up details saying how cool our counters are and how great they look in the kitchen etc. Absolute black leathered/antiqued could be the perfect quiet, non shiny, non busy countertops for someone who is prepared to accept their maintenance as part of life. I wasn't and in the end our satisfaction with things are really just a result of how well the result meshes with our expectations.