Hi Bill, The house we're doing is in Hollywood, Fl... probably about 40 minutes from HOmestead. DH wants to try and do the tile with his son; but I'm prepared to pay for installation. I'm probably going to go with large format, rectangle, epoxy grout, in a running bond pattern. Bottom line... travertine require maintaince? The porcelain I want to look are the ones you have previously recommended... Cerodomus, Porcelenosa, and some other one whose name begins with a G I think but can't think of now. Again, I want through body color and rectified... any other suggestions? Thanks so much, Elyse

Thanks for the responses and for the link to karin_mt's very insightful talk. I guess I doubt myself when I hear stories like 'beekeeperswife'. I cook with spices that stain like tumeric, so I dont want to chance it. But when you decide on a Honda, and find out you can get a BMW in the same price (corteccia is $10 more per sq ft, but a different fab is doing the job within the allowance the guy doing the white macaubus), you have to entertain the idea. I guess the scratch test will be the teller. CK-did you do the scratch test? Or why bother when they are saying it will stain and etch, right...sigh. Anyhow, below is a picture of the porchswing stain (courtesy of live_wire_oak when I was trying to find the gray stain look). Ill find one for the brown stain. Thanks again for the responses. You guys are great!

upon closer look of that stone, (which looks a bit manufactured to me) what is going on w/those mortar joints?? is there something stuck to them? Sorry, but that is manufactured rock. It's nothing special. If it was mine? I'd remove all of it. But if you're not up to that, then please make those 3D joint rope things go away. it makes the entire surface look unnatural. or, remove it and try painting the joint lines in a dark gray that matches the stone IF you don't want to paint them. I honestly would use Romabio natural lime wash on that stone to even out the color. (and make the joint lines look like this) Romabio also has a masonry paint you have tinted any color. go to their site for more info. another option is a heavy mortar wash I love the dark siding. Adding some natural wood elements with charcoal or black siding would look great.

Beautiful Beth H. and great price! Any issues with the dolomite in the bathroom? Its not as likely to come in contact with acidic things. What about rings from glasses left sitting on it or scratches? How long have you had it? Thanks for replying! I visited it yesterday and the owner said it is dolomite. He let me try scratching it with a key and it didn't scratch. The corner of the slab was hit and broke a bit. The stone was crumbly and a little flakey in little pieces. The corner piece was still firmly in the hard wax plastic band around the edges so I couldn't get a sample, though. Is this characteristic of marble or another stone? Karen_mt thank you so much for all the great info you share! Your article above asks "do grains pop off" Does this mean marble? I like another stone in a whole other direction. Everest White. Listed as Granite. It has flecks of mice. Is that bad? There were some rough spots they said were pits that had been filled with resin and tiny stones that will be smoothed out when fabricated. Also want sure how it goes with my light grey cabinets? Thanks!