OTB's Fireplace Adventure - The Rock, the Tile, and the Fireplace 1/8/11

Over Christmas break Joe and I went to Delta Stone Connection to look at their thin cut real stone veneer. Their showroom did not have any samples of the sandstone that we had seen online, so they had to bring up samples of the sandstone from the quarry near Heber City, UT. Since both Delta Stone Connection and American Stone was closed the week between Christmas and New Years Day, the pursuit of stone was at a standstill until the New Year.

January 3rd came much too quickly for my liking, and back to school I went which meant that Joe had to do most of the SLC running for samples unless we went on a Saturday. Joe had Setpoint business in Springville, so he stopped by Delta Stone Connection and American Stone and grabbed some samples. Nothing caught my fancy.

I have collected American Bungalow magazines over the years. It is a beautiful magazine that features Craftsman bungalows and four squares. The magazine is a good resource for products unique to Craftsman restorations or new construction wanting to incorporate Craftsman products. The ad that Motawi Tileworks runs American Bungalow became my inspiration for the floor tile in front of OTB's fireplace. Here's an example of Motawi tile used on a fireplace.

I spoke to a Motawi salesperson and about fainted when she told me the price for basic field tile runs $112/square foot!!! When I told Joe the price, he thought I had misunderstood and the price was per square meter rather than per square foot! Sadly, Motawi Tileworks was not in the budget, and that meant that we were off to SLC on Saturday to shop for tile.

Saturday, January 8th, Joe and I ran around Salt Lake City looking at rock and tile for OTB's fireplace. I forgot to set the alarm clock, so we set sail later than what we would have liked. All the stores that we wanted to check out closed between 1:00 and 2:00 on Saturdays. On our way down to SLC we strategized our system. We prioritized the order in which we went to each of the three stores on our list and how much time we had to spend at each. We ran in, looked around, and got out as quickly as possibly if nothing jumped out as we went from store to store trying to beat the clock. Joe and I had a visual of what we wanted and knew if we looked hard enough we would eventually find the just right combination of stone and tile. The only question was would we be able to find the right stone and tile in the limited amount of time.

Our first stop was Contempo Tile. We had our system well orchestrated. If we saw something of interest, Joe flagged down a sales associate to get pricing and I pressed on looking for just the right tile. We actually found a copper tile that I liked equally (maybe even better) as the Motawi tile. It was copper tile that was $45 per 4x4 piece of tile.

At that price, it made the Motawi tile a pretty good deal. I've always had a knack for picking out the most expensive item in a store. Is that a gift or a curse? Don't ask Joe for his opinion!! We found a couple of tile options that would work, but nothing to really shout about.

Our next stop was American Stone. We looked at their thin cut real stone veneer on the showroom floor. Again, there was nothing to shout about. Then I spied a beautiful fireplace in the far corner of the room. That was it! It was incredible!! The fireplace was made from 4 inch thick Torrey Buff sandstone from a quarry in Torrey, Utah.

To cut down on the weight of the 4 inch stone and the possibility of having to provide more structural support under the fireplace, the salesman suggested that they could cut the stone in half. For the most part, we would not lose any of the textural beauty of the 4 inch stone, just the weight. These are the pallets of Torrey Buff sandstone for OTB's fireplace.
Now that the stone for the fireplace stone was finalized, we had one hour left and just enough time to hit another tile store. We headed over to Unique Stone. They specialize in stone tile. At first Joe and I were looking for tile similar in color to the stone. Then we saw a beautiful slate tile that was blue-grey with a hint of green and had some mottling color of the Torrey Buff stone. The only negative (and it was a major negative) was the slate was really thin, and the salesman was worried about the tile not being strong enough to support the weight of people walking on it. With about 20 minutes to spare, Joe and I looked high and low for a similar slate that was thicker. In these types of situations this is where my hard-headedness pays off. There would be no stone left unturned (no pun intended!) if necessary to find the perfect slate. Somewhere amongst all of the stone tiles whose humble beginnings could be trace back to at least four billion years ago had to be the our slate tile. It was as if we were on an archeological hunt as we dug through several boxes that contained various sizes and colors of slate tiles. Buried in one of the boxes was the most perfect tile for OTB's fireplace. It too was a beautiful slate tile that was blue-grey with a hint of green and had some mottling the color of the Torrey Buff stone; however, this slate tile was plenty thick to support people walking on it.

Joe and I felt like we hit a homerun out of the park that day. The perfect stone and the perfect slate tile for OTB's fireplace had been finally been chosen.
Generally, we avoid SLC like the plague (except passing through on our way to Moab), but since we had worked so hard finding our stone and tile we felt we had earned a drive through one of our favorite SLC neighborhoods, 9th and 9th as our reward. This is one of several SLC neighborhoods where Craftsman bungalows and four squares rule the land. When the sun started to set, we headed west to the Red Iguana for some of the best Mexican food on the planet (or at least in SLC). The Red Iguana was packed, so we went to the Red Iguana 2. All the tables had been taken at the RI2, but luckily there was seating at the bar. While eating dinner, Joe and I figured there has got to be a Red Iguana on every corner in Heaven.