Julian Mickelson knew he wanted to lay some stone flooring in his new three-level, loft apartrnent. He also knew that the usual option–marble so pol- ished that it looks like glass–wasn’t right, given the fact that he has exposed brick walls, wood beams and metal ducts running through the place.
“Shiny marble would be a conflict. That’s not what lofts are about. It would be overkill, too slick,” says Mickelson, who along with his twin brother, Jon, knows better than most people what lofts are about.
They were the developers of the building where both now make their homes. They turned a former electrical supply company building, circa 1915, in the Ukrainian Village on the Near West Side into contemporary loft living.
Julian Mickelson opted for rustic, multicolored slate tiles, heavy on the gray tones.
He laid them in all 3 1/2 bathrooms, in his penthouse sunroom and in his small entrance foyer. There, he used the slate in combination with eight other stones to form a mosaic that resembles a traditional American quilt pattern.
But it’s in his master bedroom bath that the slate really gets dramatic. Naperville interior architect Deborah Goddard came up with the idea.
She ran the l6-inch square, slate tiles on the floor, up the walls in the steam shower and behind Mickelson’s jet black whirlpool tub.
Except, going diagonally, only half the wall behind the tub is clad in stone. The other half is naked–still the original, exposed red brick. Jagged edges on the slate as it descends from ceiling height to the tub, make the rough stone look like a curtain wall that was peeled back.
“I was going for a Deconstructivist look,” Mickelson explains.
He also was going for a look in stone that, up until now, was not readily avail- able (or popular) in this country: a rustic, weathered, time-worn look.
It’s a look that defies all things polished and perfect.
It’s about slate –a stone that is hand cleaved from the earth, never polished and generally not smoothed–being used more than ever in homes.
It’s about marble and granite that don’t look like themselves. They aren’t shiny. Veining remains muted. Colors are soft, almost chalky. The surface is coarse.
It’s about a whole list of other stones like travertine, quartzite, serpentine, limestone and sandstone that were not widely imported, until now. Some of the harder ones (serpentine and quartzite, for example) can even be used outdoors in Midwestern climates.
Perhaps most significantly, though, the new Stone Age is about affordability. It’s about being able to buy some of these rustic stones for as little as $4 a square foot, making them comparable to some ceramic tiles and more affordable than polished marble (from about $7 a square foot) and granite (from about $10 a square foot).
Subtler times
“The stone industry is reflecting the times,” explains Robert Briggs, manager of Granite and Marble Resources Inc. in the Merchandise Mart. It has one of the most comprehensive selections of rusticated stone in the Chicago area and is open to the public, like every kitchen, bath and residential building products showroom on the 13th floor of the Mart.
In the 1980s, people wanted lots of opulence, lots of shiny marble and granite.
The ’90s are subtler times, Briggs says. Less is more. A more natural, weathered look in materials is in.
“It’s a charming trend away from all that slickness and toward something that feels more personal,” says Mary Dugan, showroom manager at Ann Sacks Tile & Stone in River North, another source for rustic stone.
“In spite of the fact that people are building elaborate additions and new homes and refurbishing existing rooms, they don’t want everything to look new,” she continues. “They may want the floor to look like they brought it back from a castle in Europe and plunked it down in their home.”
These days, that’s possible too.
`It looks like antique’
Some stone suppliers, including Ann Sacks, sell reclaimed stones that may be hundreds of years old. These are stones and tiles that have been excavated from castles, farmhouses, villas and even the surfaces of streets and buildings in Europe and the Middle East.
But most of the “aged” or rusticated stone available today is finished (or unfinished, as the case may be) to look like the hands of time did a number on it.
“They shovel it up and toss it in something like a cement mixer. It knocks up the edges, gouges it, and people say, `Holy mackerel, it looks antique,’ ” says Robert Hund, managing director of the Marble Institute of America, a trade association, in explaining one of the more popular rusticating processes.
It’s called tumbling. It’s done primarily to marble. Some suppliers/importers do the tumbling overseas where the stone is quarried. Others do it locally in their own warehouses, so customers can specify exactly how roughed up they want the marble tiles to get. (Tumbled marble generally is sold in tiles measuring 4, 8 or 12 inches square.)
Other “aging” techniques used on various stones include acid washing, honing, flaming with a torch, even bushhammering.
“I spent years trying to get the polish up (on marble). Now, they’re telling me to take the polish off and bang it up. It makes my hair stand on end,” says Peter Hlepas, president of International Marble & Granite Co., which has four locations in Chicago. Hlepas rusticates his stone here at his Chicago sites.
More Americans choose stone
Although stone suppliers agree the “old” look is the newest thing and that more and more people are buying it, nobody knows exactly what percent of the stone market it represents.
They do know, though, that more and more Americans are choosing stone, whatever the finish.
The amount of marble installed in this country increased 1,000 percent from 1980 to 1988, according to Hund at the Marble Institute. He notes that in North America, the word “marble” is broadly defined. It refers to any stone with the exception of granite that is capable of taking a polish. Thus, when the institute talks “marble,” it’s including a whole host of other stones into the conversation.
The amount of granite installed increased 2,100 percent in those same years, Hund continues.
Why the dramatic increases?
Prices came down, Hund says.
New polishing and cutting techniques now allow stone to be cut thin for tiles, bringing prices way down from the days when marble and granite were available only in slabs and could run upward of $15 a square foot. And that didn’t include installation.
But there also are aesthetic reasons for the increase, Hund says.
Stone is natural. It’s beautiful. And it’s something different from hardwood and ceramic tile.
An earthy anchor
“Different” is just what Laura and Louis Sudler wanted for the floor in their newly remodeled kitchen and breakfast room.
“People come in here, they look at the floor and they haven’t seen anything like this before,” says Laura Sudler, whose home is a sophisticated vintage condominium on the North Side.
Chicago architect Carol Crandall designed the floor. It’s rose-colored tumbled marble, laid in 4-inch tiles. A border mosaic adds cream- and gray-colored stones to the scheme.
Long and narrow, the Sudlers’ kitchen soars 17 feet into a clerestory. Traditional, white-painted wood cabinetry walls in the space.
The floor serves as an anchor. The earthy tones and rustic texture of the tumbled stone bring all the whiteness and lightness into focus. The feeling is Old World, but updated. It’s natural and warm.
Unfortunately, it’s not very warm to the toes. Sudler says she would lay heating coils under the floor if she were to do it over again.
Easy upkeep
Achieving a natural environment without using wood for the floor was an issue with Jon Mickelson, as well.
“I didn’t want to go overboard with wood,” says Mickelson. He looks up into the rafters of his new duplex loft apartment to make his point.
The 12-foot ceiling is covered in original fir-wood planks. Halfway across, the ceiling climbs another 7 feet, opening up into a vaulted expanse that is also covered in fir and punctuated with wooden rafters and skylights.
For his floor, Mickelson chose Turkish travertine that was cut across the grain and kept unpolished, so it looks like an expensive French limestone.
The parchment-colored stone rolls out like a canvas over Mickelson’s entire main level-all 63 by 31 feet of floor space, jutting right up to the red brick walls on either end of the loft.
It offers a neutral backdrop for his high-tech, open kitchen and for his highly dramatic collection of contemporary art. Among the more notable pieces: a 6-foot-6-inch nude ceramic sculpture that lies on the floor like a mummy.
Maintenance also was an issue with Mickelson. He wanted a hassle-free floor.
“We had a party here and someone spilled wine and food, and it was no problem,” he says.
Easy upkeep is a big advantage of the rustic look in stone.
Texture tends to hide dirt and scratches.
As for cleanup, some stone suppliers sell special soaps and cleaners.
Hund has his own cleaning solution for any type of stone: Water and a neutral detergent (like a mild dishwasing detergent)-one that has a ph of 7 and is unscented.
The bottom line
Cost, though, is the bottom line for many people thinking about stone.
Some of the rustic stones are expensive.
Tumbled marble sells for about $7 to $35 a square foot, depending on the size and color of the stone tiles. Granite can run $20 a square foot; French limestone, $15 a square foot.
But many stones are affordable.
Slate can start at about $4 a square foot. Cross-cut travertine, from $5 a square foot. Serpentine, from $7 a square foot.
Installation is not included in these prices, and most people don’t do it themselves, say Briggs and Dugan. Add on another $5 to $10 a square foot, depending on the intricacy of the job, says Briggs.
“You have to get someone who really loves working with the material,” adds Dugan at Ann Sacks. “Stone can be weird in its thickness, uneven on the edges. You have to have a little soul to do this work.”
WHERE TO BUY.
On the cover.
Stone tiles (at the top of page) from Granite and Marble Resources Inc., Space 13-186, Merchandise Mart; 312-670-4400. Biblical stone (background of story at bottom of page) from Ann Sacks Tile & Stone, 501 N. Wells St., Chicago; 312-923-0919.
