Thousands of pounds of stone are sitting in a pile in our driveway. The stones are going in the backyard as a path from the kitchen entrance. Remember our backyard plan from Gardens by Gabriel?
And we’ve started to lay them in place. Ouch! Even the smaller ones weigh a ton. And the bigger ones…well, let’s just say there was a lot of huffing and puffing. The spaces between will be filled with small river rocks to hold the stones in place and give a more finished look.
Chuck has finished putting the stone cladding on the fireplace. It adds a gorgeous, complex texture to the room. The only remaining step here is to install a quartz hearth to cover the damaged brick on the floor, and they’re cutting the slab soon.
Doesn’t it look so much better than before? Chuck had a really inspiring vision for this room, and he made it happen.
Over the course of writing this blog, I’ve learned a few things about taking photos indoors. A cell phone camera is fine for in-progress shots, but the finished rooms deserve better. I get much better results with a manual camera, tripod and really long exposures (2-3 seconds). The best time to shoot is usually around sunrise or sunset, because it’s almost equally bright indoors and out. Here’s our dining room overlooking the city lights and beach just before the sun came up.
Ever wonder why many interior photos look so dark, or too bright? The human eye can see a much wider range of brightness at once (also called “dynamic range”) than any camera. That’s why when you point the camera through a window, the outdoor part is often well lit, but the inside looks dark and dreary.
Or if the indoors is properly lit, outside is a blur of surgical glare.
That’s why it’s better to wait until that brief period around sunset or sunrise. Or you can just combine two exposures in Photoshop, like I did here. The results aren’t perfect because there’s a little oddness where the flowers are in front of a window, but it still looks pretty cool. For more interior photography tips, I really like like this article on Houzz. Chuck also happens to have a profile on Houzz where you can see more of his design portfolio, and my photographs.
Remember our plans to create a feature wall in the living room by covering the fireplace in stone? Chuck has started! We’re using Norstone, a natural quartz veneer. It comes in 4 colors, and we picked white for its sleek, chic tone-on-tone effect that coordinates perfectly with our coastal color scheme.
Here’s a close up. It has an interlocking corner system for a seamless look.
Chuck is a little more than halfway done. The stone adds a luxurious note to the space, and I can’t wait to see the finished results.
930 Stratford 