Why Buy New?

"RE-DO"

Quality Textures specializes
in renewing most any wood
project you have that takes
the "picture in your head"
and makes it a reality!

Servicing the
Community for over 20 years!

A more traditional treatment for the

A contemporary look for the

wine cellar.

stone sink in the bathroom.

The Browns developed exact repli-
cas of natural stones, cast in flexible
molds and hand-colored with iron
oxide pigments. Made of lightweight
aggregate materials, the veneers were
approximately one-quarter the weight
of full-thickness stone and could be
adhered to most wall surfaces.
Cast stone is a masonry product
dating back hundreds of years. It is
used as an architectural feature, trim,
ornament or facing for buildings or
other structures. It is an excellent
replacement for natural cut limestone,
brownstone, sandstone, bluestone,
granite, slate, coral rock, travertine
and other natural building stones.
It gained widespread acceptance in
America in the 1920s.
To West Bloomfield interior designer
Bob Schaerer, the various artificial
stones don't have the character or look
as good as natural stone.
At one time the cost difference
between manufactured stone and natu-
ral stone was significant but the differ-
ence has narrowed in recent years as
manufacturers are producing too much
natural stone, he says.
Still, cultured stone has "come of age
for a certain market" and is "a wonder-
ful product for people who want the
look or permanence of natural stone"
without the cost, he says.
People putting natural stone in
their homes are "looking for texture,"
Schaerer says. "It is a wonderful way
of bringing the outside indoors. It is
a good way to integrate exterior and
interior architecture. The stone inside
should have a relationship to what you
are doing outside."
A major drawback is its weight
"Stone lasts forever, it's timeless,
it adds value to the house," says Joel
Lerman, president of Lerman Corp., a
construction company in Bloomfield
Hills. He built the stone fireplace for
the Goldstones, as well as the custom
house that goes around it. His 50-year-
old company has built offices and
homes in Birmingham, Bloomfield
Hills, Bloomfield Township and

Franklin and works with a lot of stone
in all homes, he says.
The idea these days is to find mate-
rials closer to home, such as Indiana
limestone and Minnesota stone. The
Gladstone fireplace is called Colorado
stone simply because it comes from
that state and can be found in ski
resorts and mountain homes, Lerman
says.
He bought the Colorado stone from
a local builder who had some left over
from a large shipment.
"The stone had the color we liked
without the thickness, so we lami-
nated thin pieces together to make it
thick." He used other processes to hide
the lamination and to give the stone
"that aged look."
The Gladstones were looking for the
perfect stone complement for their
fireplace and found it while flipping
through an interior design magazine.
"I had an idea of a big chunk of
stone that looked like someone took a
hammer and roughed it up," Geoffrey
Gladstone says. "I thought it was excit-
ing because when I saw it in a maga-
zine I thought it was such a cool idea.
I didn't know if other people had done
it before."
The Colorado stone the Gladstones
settled on had holes and irregulari-
ties. "It looks like something pulled up
out of the ground, which is what we
wanted, something like Stonehenge,"
Gladstone adds.
The limestone is four inches thick
and looks like a solid, heavy piece of
stone, though it was glued and fused
together.
"The idea was to get a piece of
stone of that thickness and it gave
us the same massive feel of stone
without having to pay as much for it,"
Gladstone says.
The limestone goes up one side of
the fireplace, across the top and back
down the other side on the bottom
of the hearth. "It is not inexpensive,
but not outrageous," says Gladstone,
adding that Lerman helped the couple
stay within their budget.

As seen

HL

ly

Local references available
upon request

Quality
Textures

is built upon our
commitment to
providing you
with quality:

We listen to
Variety of fi
contempora
Horne maice
mess & wait

•

Whether we help ren
doors, vanities, anti
at Quality Textu
"yis
n satisfy

QUALITY TEXTURES

FURNITURE FINISHING / PAINTING

[586)772-1776 • Fax [586) 772-1816

16478 Common Road • Roseville, MI 48065
Email: qualitytextures@hotmail.com

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March 17 • 2011

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