17/12/2009 - Marble: Timeless Elegance in Your Home
The cool elegance of marble brings an effortless style to any home. It is a natural stone, hard-wearing and heat-resistant to high temperatures.
Marble comes in a wide variety of colours and patterns including black, blue, beige, brown, green, grey, red, pink, white and yellow. The number of patterns is infinite and no two pieces of stone are the same. Marble has a base tone, contrasted through a different colour which appears as a vein. This is caused by a mineral present at formation. It is cool to the touch and comes in different grades which indicate how hard it is.
Ensuring Your Marble Will Stay Beautiful
Marble has been chosen as home decoration since ancient times. Greek and Roman marble statues survive in museums virtually intact and in very good condition for their age. With the correct care, your marble fixtures and fittings will last a lifetime and give you great pleasure. Marble wears beautifully and gains character while it ages.
Marble is more porous than granite which allows liquids to seep more easily into the surface potentially damaging it. Sealing products are available to treat the marble when installed. These give the customer time to wipe up any damaging spills.
Marble is easy to keep clean. It is sensitive to harsh commercial cleaning products. Choose products that have been made specifically to treat natural stone. Acid substances such as vinegar or lime juice would also damage the surface.
Marble in the Lounge
A common way to bring marble in to enhance a home is to install it as part of a fireplace. The heat-resistant and hard-wearing features of the stone make it an ideal choice for either a fire surround or a mantle.
A fire surround provides a neutral backdrop to the feature of a fire. The surround compliments the fire and provides a focal point in the room.
A marble mantelpiece can be as plain or as decorative as the customer chooses. Marble can be worked to provide more complicated designs and the colours and veining can look very attractive.
Marble in the Bathroom
Marble is beautiful in bathrooms. It can be used as a bath surround to ensure a smooth finish and continuity of the room scheme.
It can be used as a top to a vanity unit providing a beautiful and useful piece of furniture. When used to tile a shower room, the beautiful patterns provide interest and hard-wearing splendour.
Marble can be used to surround a jacuzzi. Dramatic colours such as white or black marble can look particularly effective in a bathroom scheme.
Other Uses of Marble
Marble as flooring is a traditional use of the material. The wide variety of colours and patterns ensure the customer is able to choose an exact match for the room scheme. Contrasting colour tiles can be used to create a pattern across the surface area.
Hotels and business buildings may choose marble as their flooring to convey the feeling of confidence and expense. Marble is suited to expanses of space and helps to create a light and airy feeling.
Marble has been used for decorative features such as statues, murals and columns. It is used to add character to a property and create a lasting impression. These features add value to your home or business premises setting it apart from other similar properties.
You will not regret the decision to include marble as part of your design project. The natural beauty that it brings to a room or house, together with the minimum but regular care required will give you a satisfaction that will truly last a lifetime.
