DeDe, while there are some names that seem to be the same between soapstone companies and yards, some others create their own names for certain stones. It's hard to compare sometimes. You mentioned having spoken to someone from "the stone place." Please be careful! Soapstone is somewhat special; some granite fabricators claim to be able to handle soapstone, but I'd strongly recommend finding someone who specializes in soapstone if you decide to go that way. On hardness: the hardness is determined by the amount of talc in the stone, and generally, the greyer the stone the softer. Most of the dedicated soapstone companies (i.e., Dorado, Teixeira, Teresina, etc.) will send you samples. (I ordered 12x12ish remnants of the stones I was interested in and then actually worked on them to see how they would hold up against scratches, etc. Very glad I did, because it let me rule out some!) HTH

Your opinion is very much welcomed and appreciated. I'm pretty shocked both of those are Indian River! The Stone House I asked about is for my kitchen. I had them paint it in an off-white color that turned out washed out. I think I needed to make that mistake to stop being gun-shy with colors (house now is mostly white). I all about gave up on beiges/tans as the samples I was painting were turning red/pink or green depending on light. The Stone House I found on this forum or another googling for people asking the same question-- what color to use with maple toffee cabinets and ubatuba / verde granite. Most people pulled from the green in the granite, but im not a fan of green paint. One person went with the Stone House and I like it. It pulls from the beigey/butterscotch color in the granite and the grain in the cabinet wood. I think it's a winner As you can see instead of painting all over the walls now i'm using flat white poster boards that im rolling on two coats of the color im sampling. Just masking tape them wherever or even cut them up like I did in the kitchen. In the living room pictures the color over the fireplace is Indian River, the one next to it is Baja Dunes and the one next to the kitchen pass-thru is Plymouth Rock. Unfortunately none of my pictures are great color representations due to lighting and camera, but the Indian River looks very different than the pics you posted. Now im concerned it'll look much different after the whole room is painted. I picked out lots of materials for two bathrooms and a kitchen remodel but the hardest and most frustrating part is paint color. The way they can drastically change into unwanted tones due to so many factors drives me nuts. http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5950/img0645mp.jpg http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9057/img0646mq.jpg http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/2179/img0651q.jpg http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9004/img0652q.jpg http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/4748/img0650g.jpg

Me......I do not remember the price of the cristallo slab (first 2 pics I posted). What I have installed in my guest bath is Crystal Moon which looked to me like the EXACT same material as the Cristallo except was more bluish (which is the 3rd pic). The Crystal Moon was $67 a sq ft fabricated and installed, so for that guest room the cost for the top and backsplash was $675 and an extra $75 to install the sink. I will say though that when my fabricators saw my selection, they moaned. They did not like working with that material because it has a tendency to crumble when being cut.....all those big crystals tend to break off in chunks. I was informed that they would not be fabricating that material in any of their future jobs. As far as comparing prices between the Cristallo and White Princess or Bianco Antico, I am not that familiar with them, so can’t comment on that. Also, each stone yard across the country can be miles apart in their pricing, so it’s difficult to say. In regard to colors complementing your cabs, each slab under the same name can be so different from one another and the only way to know for sure is to view your cabinets and counter selection side by side and preferably in your own space because of home lighting and other factors. Selecting counters was not the most enjoyable for me....I despise lugging around samples and all the back and forth to the stone yard.

I've been happy with a 'champagne' stucco and slightly darker toned rough brick. The materials 'alternate' around the 1.5-story house, i.e., the garage and mudroom/laundry section is brick; next section (including projection of covered stoop) is stucco; next projection is stucco. Same on other elevations around the house. Roof is dark grey, as is the bluestone gravel driveway. Windows and french doors are white with 6" limestone trim. Entry door has mahogany stain. You'd want (for instance) the entire garage stucco, the entry projection and 'front room' stone, the next (recessed) section stucco, etc. (Or the reverse order of stone and stucco with the garage stone (not just the front, but all around it). Nobody sees only the flat front of a house. It's why McMansion developments resemble movie lots, with made-up 'faces' and inexpensive vinyl all around.