Hearth

We've finally gotten around to the hearth. There are a couple of stone shops that are close to us and one of them has remnants. We've been by a couple of times but never saw a piece of stone we loved (we've been hoping to fine a piece of soapstone).

Well, we dropped by again and they had a remnant that was the perfect size in Dark Julia (some variety of soapstone). The shop next door that sells entire slabs had a sample so we were able to borrow it and bring it home to see how it looked. It looked good in front of the fireplace (with with and without the baby on it).

We emailed the shop drawings of what we wanted and also gave them a deposit. The hearth was ready a week later. It barely fit in the back of the Subaru. The shop had recommended that it travel on end (like glass) so as to reduce the chance of fracture. It weighed about 100 pounds.

Soapstone needs to be oiled with mineral oil (a lot) for it to get dark. Here's a look at the first coat. We'll be putting on many more coats (even after it's installed).

We prepped the area and placed the hearth. We used silicone as the adhesive on advice from the stone shop. We'd cut a bunch of shims to support the hearth, but it didn't lay flat (the floor's not really flat enough). We ended up only using a few.

We love the look of the hearth. So does the baby. He'll love the cool stone on those hot summer days next year.