SOAPSTONE COUNTERTOPS - MY OTHER FAV ALTERNATIVE TO MARBLE

I am constantly thinking of countertops. It's sad, I know. But I worry a lot about countertops. This is because of the many requests for a more durable alternative to marble countertops, or rather a prettier alternative to your basic granite countertop. I've already posted about my love for marble countertops and some alternatives here, but I have a new one to add...SOAPSTONE.

This material is really gorgeous. I think this slab with the ogee edge is my personal favorite I've seen.

Soapstone comes from Brazil, as do many of my favorite countertop surfaces. Soapstone is also known as Steatite. It's a non-porous surface that doesn't need to be sealed, but you should oil it with mineral oil to keep the nice dark black color. Oiling the soapstone also helps if your countertop gets scratched. You can oil your countertop as little or as much as you want. *Be careful when choosing your slabs - some soapstones have a little green in them so make sure you choose wisely :)

Soapstone is very durable and extremely heat resistant. In fact pizza ovens are made with soapstone! So go ahead and take that boiling pot of water and set it on your countertop.

Soapstone is priced similarly to man-made quartzites like Caesarstone or nicer granites. That would make soapstone less expensive than a lot of marbles.

Here's what I personally love about soapstone. 1) It is a nice clean surface. 2) It is a non-porous surface 3) It varies from slab to slab and some types of soapstone can even look a little like marble 4) It's more affordable than some of my other favorite countertops and 5) It's a classic countertop that will outlast the trends.

For more information about soapstone I found this website to be very helpful.

And now for my favorite pics of soapstone countertops!

soapstone backsplash

soapstone in the bathroom - love the gray color!

*If any of you have soapstone countertops or has any advice for those wanting to put soapstone in their homes I would love to hear from you! I've never used soapstone in my own home or in a project yet so I'm really curious to hear reviews. Thanks for your comments!

BEFORE + AFTERS: C STREET PROJECT II

This house is my favorite of the two because it has these wood grid windows that are beautiful and would be SO expensive to recreate (one of the pluses of owning a home built in 1901). It also has a European feel to it. It's just a charming home.

I hope I did this house justice :)

                                          457 C STREET                                        

Do you see those great windows? And how sad that they had dry walled over the fireplace - so bizarre.

I decided to make this a more traditional home than the other home. We chose oak floors with a dark stain and did wainscot on the walls. The sconces are Robert Abbey and the fireplace surround is a crema marfil marble remnant.

Again, we removed the radiant heat (although I thought these heaters were super cool and underneath the silver paint they were a beautiful brass color).

This was the dining room just off the main room. We tore out the wall and made the dining room the new kitchen. I love those doors leading to the deck!

The beautiful windows in the dining area.

The old kitchen that became the new dining room.

The new kitchen! The cabinets are painted BM Dove White and the hardware is a brushed brass. The island light is the Axis Double Light from Robert Abbey (ignore the plastic still on it). The countertops are quartz countertops made by Cambria, (the color is Torquay) that I mentioned in this post. I was happy with the way they turned out, but they definitely aren't the same as marble.

I love the little square cabinets above the window - perfect for storing the pretty plates and bowls.

I did the same tile from Emser in both houses for the laundry/1/2 bath room.

Same carpet on these stairs as the other home. I like that this staircase has the wainscot on the side.

The upstairs 3/4 bath has the same configuration as the other home. Nothing too exciting to work with.

I did the same 3x6 Desert Gray subway tile from Dal Tile but the flooring is different - it's the octagon and dot in Desert Gray from Dal.

This close-up is a better representation of the true color of the tiles.

The master bedroom was similar to the other home in that it was long and narrow so we divided it up and made one half of the room the master bath.

I LOVE this bathroom. The vanity turned out so great. We had a narrow space between the vanity and the shower wall so I didn't want to do lower cabinets and we did a shelf for storage instead. All of the drawers are functional, but we also added a tall storage cabinet on the side for extra storage.

The sconces are from Circa Lighting and the floor tile is this limestone from Dal Tile that I am obsessed with. It is by far my favorite bathroom floor tile. Another client put it in her home and it looks great there too.

The storage cabinet we added. These cabinets were also painted BM Dove White and have the Cambria Torquay countertops that are in the kitchen.

The master shower. I had spent most of my tile budget for this bathroom on the limestone floor tile so I needed to do white subway in the shower. My original plan was to do chair rail squares to mimic wainscotting but to save money we just decided to break up the subway tile with bands of tile going vertical instead of horizontal. Plan A would have looked better, but I'm liking Plan B.

For some unknown reason I didn't take as many pictures of this house for the before or after - sorry no pics of the bedrooms (although unfurnished bedrooms aren't ever very exciting). 

Overall I am happy with the way both of these homes turned out, but I'm also excited to take what I learned on this project and do it even better on the next one. I think one thing is for sure - I have learned how to stretch a dollar and get a lot of style out of a small budget.

On to the next one...!