Recently, a friend of mine had a long-term tenant leave one of his rental properties. As the tenant had been there for so long, it was pretty obvious the house needed a complete makeover. The plan was to make this a more upmarket type of property so that a much higher rent could be achieved. […]
20
Sep
Sep
Over a great number of years, right up through the 1950’s and into the 1960’s, there have been two significant annual events in UK households. These events don’t have specific dates but they did invoke some quite emotional feelings. The first event has the name of ‘Spring Cleaning’. I don’t ever recall the second event […]
14
Apr
Apr
Back in the mid 1970’s I worked for a fireplace manufacturing and installation company. When the company started, its main product was custom built stone fireplaces that were cut and installed on site. Many of the fireplaces took between two and five days, or more, to build. I’m talking about putting them in ordinary houses, […]
23
Dec
Dec
While I know that this website and blog is primarily about the care of marble, I thought I’d give you a bit of a different story this month. This is about where, in my opinion, the architects should never have used marble in the first place. As we know, it can be a beautiful stone […]
19
Oct
Oct
Marble adds that real touch of elegance and luxury wherever it’s used. When you walk into a hotel foyer and there are large areas of beautifully polished marble everywhere, you feel like you are in somewhere special. Same with the reception areas of office suites. When it’s used in strategic places within your home then […]
04
Sep
Sep
Restoration The cure for etching very much depends on each individual situation. Mostly this consists of rubbing the marble down properly and re-applying the protective coating it once had. Just covering up the marking with polish doesn’t really work. As I found out, when I was learning how to restore a proper shine to a […]
31
Aug
Aug
Etching: causes and signs At the end of my recent post on etching, apart from mentioning how rings get etched into your worktop surfaces, I didn’t really give the whole picture of what etching could occur and what it would look like on your marble. So, as promised, this is a follow on from that […]
19
Jul
Jul
Please, DON’T Look at My Etchings “Come and look at my etchings” was a phrase allegedly used as a euphemism by young toffs back in the early 1900’s. What it really meant was ‘Come to my place and let’s get to know each other intimately better.’ But what were etchings and what has that got […]
18
May
May
My partner and I had just got off a flight at Frankfurt airport to transfer to a different plane to take us on to our eventual destination in Bavaria. We took this opportunity to quickly visit the first toilets we saw. By the time we were ready to leave this area, and go to look […]
17
Mar
Mar
As a flooring material, marble is one of the most appreciated for its looks and appearance of quality. That is until it gets a bit worn looking, stained or chipped. It can then easily make a place look run down and dilapidated. Trouble is, if it’s our own marble floor, or work-surface, then we often […]