So back to business. If you've read any of our previous posts, you've noticed that we've been deliberating about floors for the first floor of our house for awhile now. We initially wanted polished concrete but since we have a full basement, it seemed unnecessarily complicated and expensive to pour concrete over a suspended floor (extra supports needed to hold the weight, etc.) We then looked into various tiles but had a hard time finding any that met our aesthetic (rustic modern) and our price range. We stumbled across a poured product made by Ecoprocote (see post here) but 100% weren't sure it would give us the look we wanted and no one in this area sold it or had worked with it before. And we wouldn't have a chance to see it in person before making the purchase, which we didn't like. So back to square one.
Then I saw a picture in a magazine of a beautiful home with dark gray slate floors. Perfect! Slate had never occurred to me before but Vermont is famous for it so it would be a locally sourced product...and it's surprisingly affordable. Slate imported from China or Africa at Home Depot runs about $1.87/square foot. Beautiful Vermont slate, in a variety of colors, is available from Poultney Vermont's own Vermont Slate Depot for $2.40/square foot. Our birch floors for the upstairs cost us $4.59/square foot. So slate is decidedly a steal. We ordered a few samples from the Depot (which has been a great company to deal with so far) and fell in love with a richly textured dark gray slate. We think it will hit the rustic modern note we want and to make it even more sleek and streamlined, we plan to buy rectangular tiles (12x18 or 12x24) and lay them in a brick pattern with small grout lines.
Slate will also pair well with our radiant floor heating system. Warm stone floors in the winter...divine. Here are some pictures to illustrate the look we hope to achieve. All pictures are from Beltrami.
