The residence was originally designed with dark granite, and the new homeowners wanted to incorporate a materials palette with more interest. All of the stone was hand selected at MS International with the help of the client's consultant Lokesh Morada. “The client was looking for something out of the ordinary and desired something unique, and it was an exciting process in putting the pieces together,” he said.

According to sales consultant, Carl Telles from StoneAge Tile Inc. of Anaheim, CA, the clients selected materials that fulfilled the color scheme and format they wanted to present in their home.

To meet the desired aesthetic, the kitchen backsplash was designed with 4- x 4-inch tiles of tumbled Copper quartzite with Italian metal border inserts. “We used a real modern line of metal liners and inserts from Italy,” said Telles. “It gave it a real slick look.” Complementing the backsplash, the kitchen countertops were designed with Bordeaux granite from the south coast of Brazil.

In addition, the flooring throughout the house features 18- x 18-inch tiles of Crema Marfil marble from Spain. “There had already been some [Crema Marfil] on the floor, and we had to extend that rather significantly from the original,” said Telles, adding that a lot of effort went into getting a good match for the floor.

Natural stone materials were also carried into the bathroom, as the tub surround and vanity top were designed with WaterFall granite from Brazil. Additionally, the shower walls feature 12- x 12-inch polished Gold Green slate, while the shower floor is clad in 4- x 4-inch tiles of tumbled Gold Green slate.

At the start of the renovation, the StoneAge Tile team was challenged to replace existing stonework with something that more typified what the customer had in mind.

“This unusual process is starting to happen more and more in the stone industry,” said Telles. “It is a valuable home, and the installation of granite was not to the liking of the new purchaser. We had to tear out a significant amount of granite in the house because it was the wrong colors. We had to replace the suited color, décor and format that the previous owner had implemented.”

Telles added that two separate installation teams were involved with the renovation - a tile-setting team and a granite fabrication team. The stonework in the shower took a three-man crew, with one helper, one week to install. The granite was fabricated in StoneAge's shop over the course of 12 days, and took a five-man crew one day to install. Overall construction, which took place during March 2005, lasted three weeks.

The floors and walls of the shower were floated, while the backsplash was installed using a thinset application. The crew exclusively used Portland cement thinset and grout materials.

“It all came together very nicely with inputs from the customer, Mr. Morada and Carl,” said Larry Hajali, CEO of StoneAge tile. “The customer is extremely satisfied, and we have gotten a number of referrals as a result, and it is always a great feeling to see a happy customer.”

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