DIY Soapstone Countertops

The Quest for DIY soapstone has been quite an ordeal, but we picked up the soapstone this weekend, and have started installing the countertops. As a little background to y'all, and also to document this quest for other like minded folks in search of soapstone countertops, the story goes something like this:

We learned about soapstone via a whisper of information available online by searching DIY soapstone. We read that it was a high quality material that regular, ambitious people could perhaps cut and install themselves, to save some dough. We also liked the look of the material, the fact that it is matte & natural stone.

So, we began to look for a place locally who would sell us the stone. The distributors who have the huge warehouses of stone do not sell to the public, and for good reason, as the stone is so heavy we could not move or transport it without heavy equipment. SO then we started to realize that we needed someone to cut the stone to the rought sizes for us, and we would do the finishing and the installation. We found a place via an ad in the phonebook, and we went out to look at thier showroom. They tried to sell us the one piece of soapstone they had, and told us that was the only kind available (the piece they had in stock had HUGE variations in it). They then referred us to the stone distributor, where we could go and pick our our very own slab.

Meanwhile, we learned that our friend knew someone who owned a stone countertop fabricator. Score! Distinctive Stone Interiors in St. Paul, MN gave us a quote, which was very reasonable. We ended up paying about $50/square foot for the stone, and to have them cut the pieces to the right size, but not install or finish sand them. The installed price is between $80-$120. The other quote we got locally was for $75/sq foot, for the stone and to have them cut the pieces to size, not installed. We were about ready to go with M Teixeira Soapstone, who will ship the stone to you, for a hefty shipping fee of $500. This would be a good option if you can't find anyone locally to sell you the stone cut, but not installed.

So, on Saturday, Chad when and picked up the countertops from the stone place. They even built a little carrying thing so he could pick it up in his truck:


Each of the pieces needed to be sanded -- both on the top and on the edges. Apparently the factory finish that comes on the stone is not good enough. The stone people lent Chad the tools to do the sanding (a wet sander), here is him sanding:


Two of the six pieces took about two hours to sand.


Keeping some water on there really helped to get the finish smooth:


Taa-daa! Here is the first of the countertops. The counters just get glued on with silicone epoxy. I added some mineral oil to give the stone the dark finish.



This piece had a little more variation that I originally wanted, but I think I will learn to like it.

Here is the second piece that we installed:

I love the soapstone, it really makes the kitchen look great. We are getting very close to finishing.

The last cabinet

Installing the last cabinet. It had to be shimmed to match the height of the rest of the cabinets. The shims are almost 2 inches tall:


Here is chad installing that last cabinet. I think he almost had a heart attack because I was so frusterated this morning and we were working like maniacs to make progress.

Ta-da! The last cabinet is in. See that light fixture on the right? We had to change the orientation of that to horizontal so that the countertop would fit underneath. We had not taken the shimming into consideration when measuring the height. Add it to the list of minor details which we overlooked the first time and had to rip out and start again. We also had our new fridge delivered on Saturday. Here it is, we need to clean the front with some goo-be-gone:
And the interior view. What a sweet fridge, I am feeling a little guilty for having such a nice thing, the fridge is worth more than my car at this point:

And our other Saturday project was tiling the floor under the stove and the fridge. Here is the floor under the fridge:
A close up of the new tile:

And here is the tile under the fridge:
And another design detail which I have not mentioned before, Chad had a great idea of painting the wall looking into the living room with chalkboard paint. It's really subtle and you don't notice it until you walk in the kitchen. It provides a nice little unexpected venue for messages and drawings:

How many days until we are done? I wonder the same thing. The countertops are slated to be installed the weekend of May 20. Hallelujah! From there the sink can go in, and I can stop washing dishes in the basement. It has been a long process.

I took a quick stop at the Minneapolis St. Paul Home Tour this weekend and saw one house that was a sweet remodel. It gave me some hope that this entire project will be worth it. My mom says I will forget all the anguish. I hope she is right.

Still Working on the Cabinets, part II

Oh for god's sake. We are still working on the cabinets.

We finally got the cabinets in that were causing so much trouble. See below. The fridge goes in the middle. We had to change a wall and rearrange electrical to make this fit.

There is one cabinet left to install. Woo-hoo!

Long view of the kitchen:
Also, we bought a new microwave and fridge. The microwave came today, I ordered that online. Here it is in all it's packaging:

We are nearing on six months with this project. Spring is here, and I wish we were done. Sigh. We are getting closer. We ordered the countertops on Wednesday, and those should be ready May 18 or sooner. June 1 -- that is my party date. But i am not sending out the invitations yet.

Still Workin on the Cabinets

Cooking dinner with no sink, half installed cabinets, and shelfs for countertops:




Oh, this is the wall we have to CUT OUT because the cabinets do not fit:

Atleast the magnolias are blooming in the front yard:

The new light

We put in recessed lighting in the new kitchen, but we left room for one swanky light fixture above the new kitchen sink. We finally decided on it. It's got a touch of modern, a touch of rustic. It will arrive on Monday:



I am ashamed to admit, it is from Pottery Barn. Our first Pottery Barn purchase ever.

Our new faucet

Here is our new faucet, safely on it's way via UPS to us. Chad says, BITCHIN'

Breaking News

1) Mike Gunther new video now available online . CD Release par-tay Saturday, April 15 at the Turf Club in St. Paul, MN. Doors at 9pm. Come one come all. We will be there.

2) Congratulations to Jason and Courtney!

This project is taking forever -- but it's gorgeous

We are moving at about the speed of a snail. Still, no sink, no kitchen. Atleast we got the living room back, after the FIASCO of fixing the ceiling. That took atleat a week, and it was a week that we were not planning to spend. The scraping of the popocorn was fine, it was the fixing of the drywall that had 4 screws per 8 feet that did me in. And the sanding over the head, with dust falling into the hair, that was really the worst of it.

It's April. We wanted to be done by now. Chad is getting a ton of calls for his landscaping business, Diggit Landscaping, and our best laid plans were to be easily done by now. We started everything December 15 or so, 2005. That's a solid 4 months of effort. My dad says we have the easy stuff left. I am sure he is right, but I am growing very tired of eating out, dishes in the basement, and no kitchen.

Atleast we have passed the point now where the house is no longer covered with dust. Last weekend I cleaned the bathroom, and it was a great feeling, because I know that it will no longer be covered with dust.

Why do we remodel? I am still asking myself that. Because it takes a long ass time. Its more work than you imagined, and you run out of steam. But the cool thing is, stuff is starting to come together. Our vision is becoming a reality. Opening up the wall to the kitchen has really changed the house, and changed it for the better. I think we are going to like our house more, and that is a very awesome feeling. And I love everything so far, the wood floors are gorgeous, and we are starting to put in the cabinets..... if only I can hang in there, one more month, we are close. Help!!

This is the soapstone, in slabs, at the distributor. We are in the middle of sourcing a local distributor that would sell us the soapstone pre-cut, but not fabricated, to save some dough. If we can't find that locally, we will order from a company in New Jersey that only does Soapstone and caters to DIYers.

Look at those gorgeous cabinets. There have been quite a few unexpected events with the cabinets, including 1) damaged cabinet 2) uneven floors and ceilings to to tune of atleast 4 inches, 3) we goofed when installing the new floor and did not account for the fact that the toe kick is actually 2 inches less wide than the cabinets. But we are overcoming. Thanks to Mom and Dad (Tom Silva) for 1) invaluable assistance with cabinet installation and 2) three course meals on wheels dinner delivery.

The upper cabinets. The microwave will go on the right.

Here is the tile for the backsplash. Each little tile looks like an individual painting.

The floors are done

They turned out beautiful. We had no idea that there would be so much variation in the colors:

Sanding the floors...

Halfway done:


Chad liked this picture because he looks tough:




Taa-da!! All sanded:
Scraping the ceiling.. it's snowing!

This was a MESS.

The before pictures of the floors and ceiling

Here is our yucky popcorn ceiling in the living room:



There was a funny cut out in the floor in front of the kitchen, so Chad had to take out all the boards and re-do the floor:

We moved all the stuff out of our house and crammed it in the porch:

Here is another view of the porch:

Look at that hottie, after sanding some drywall:

The house without furniture:

The kitchen floors, before:

The office floor, before:

We had the help of some good friends who were encouraged by the mere mention of beer and brats. Moving is a pain, but it only took a few hours with help!!! It was especially helpful given that Chad's back was not fully healed. Thank you to Adam, Matt, Holly, Zak and James!!