{Decisions, Decisions} – counter top choices

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We are in the homestretch of finishing up our basement bar/kitchen.  Yeah!!

I have to pick a counter top for the bar downstairs and this is hard work!  Whatever i choose will set the tone for the bar and it needs to be right.  This is life changing people!  K – maybe i exaggerate a teensy bit, but it really will define how the bar feels!  The bar is big – 11ft long, so it will def be out there and be seen!  Plus the fact that whatever counter i choose will be lots of moola (im gonna throw up now) – it has to be the right the 1st time, there is no changing this down the road.

(we decided to raise up the black cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling, another project to add to the list!)

And just FYI – the stone that we are putting in is only going to be for the top of the bar.  The back of the bar and the kitchen has Ikea oak butcher block counter tops that i will be staining dark to match the floors.

When we 1st walked into the showroom, there was a bar height counter that has a nice big reveal edge and it was perfect.  The granite was different, it wasn’t ordinary – i really liked it and thought i would pick out some statement granite too.

Then, i went into the sample room and there was this shiny piece of white quartz with chunks of glittery mirror in it – i was sold!  This pic does not do it justice – its super pretty in person.  But the availability was an issue and we wouldn’t know for a couple weeks if it will even be available to us (although i found out today that they just got it in and have a slab on hold for us).

So – just to have a back up plan, i went and looked at granite slabs.  They are pretty for sure, but nothing really stood out as “the one”, plus my choices are narrowed down because i need one in gray tones, not brown/beige’s.  And i worry that the granite is so busy that it just wont be right for the feeling that i want the bar to have?  Plus granite is EVERYWHERE!  Everyone has it.  For the amount of money that this is going to cost – is it really unique enough?

But, i would LOVE for this granite below to be in my kitchen ;)

But then, we found it.  THE ONE!  Its something that both Santi and i really like and its special – ahhhh ;)  Its a slab of travertine in Ocean Blue.  We were of course warned about the downsides of having travertine as a counter top – but its not something that will be used all the time so we will take the risk.  Plus the cost….uggghhh the cost!  It costs more to fabricate the stone because its more delicate unlike the granite or the quartz.

Look how pretty it is!  In real life its more in the  light gray tones (the biggest slab, not the small one which is really pretty but its too small and its really yellow).  It does have a lot of movement, but with the long vein cuts and in all the same color tones, its not too busy.    I love how it looks like it was just sliced from the side of a mountain!  Its perfect.  Its special!

We are putting down the deposit tomorrow – templating next week and then in a couple weeks we will have a unique counter top that i guarantee no one else we know will have!  I am super excited and am glad i can move on to thinking about other things that are less life changing – ha!