No one can deny the luxurious and noble aspect that marble can add to any decoration, whether it’s an interior space or an exterior one, but, many people nowadays choose stoneware and/or wood because of the “rigidity” and “coldness” that can characterize marble.
In modern decoration, architects always try to combine different building materials and/or simply combine multiple colors in order to achieve beauty.
Marble’s use in bathrooms
To break the sameness and monotony that marble may have (or if we simply have a small budget), many people prefer to have scattered spots of marble (marble sink, a wall of marble mosaics, cloth for the shower cabin…etc.) instead of using it for the whole surface, that way, you are able to mix and combine it with other building materials.
Marble, the luxurious building material is back as a trend these last years after fitting into unique decorations along with stoneware, wood and porcelain giving your bathroom a natural touch, a combination of modernity and antiquity, giving that has been used since the era of the nowadays Egyptian pharaohs.
Different types of marble on the market
Whether it’s Italian, Spanish or any originating marble, it offers quite a lot of decoration possibilities for both interior and exterior of your home thanks to its very varying colors.
A widely common classic decoration vision, for marble, is limited at using white marble from Italy, it’s the safe choice, it never deceives you, Carrara’s white marble is so pure and elegant that everyone loves it, by the way, it’s the most demanded type of marble in the last 50 years despite trends, fashion and evolution of the market and consumers.
In reality, there is a lot of choice when it comes to marble; Spanish black marquina may seem as a judicious choice at the beginning, but once laid on the floor and posed, Spanish black is very seducing and luxurious.
Another Spanish marble is Alicante, the name of a famous region for its magnificent stone material, the most common marble from this area is called “red Alicante”, which is of course, red, but has the most beautiful white veins that make you want to admire and keep looking at its rare shapes and forms.
When it comes to your bathroom, the most important thing to know before choosing the correct marble, since the bathroom is a place for wetness and chemical products such as a shampoo or a shower gel, it’s important that your stone material isn’t absorbent and resistant so that it keeps its shining and elegance.
Acknowledging where you will be using your marble helps you make the right choice, for example, some types of stone can be very fragile, they shouldn’t be used in high traffic areas such as malls.
Choosing the correct stone for you is mainly depending on what will you be using it for, limestone for example isn’t made of exterior use, since it’s technical characteristics make it unsuitable for that type of use, it will deteriorate quickly since it isn’t resistant to the sun, in such a case, travertine or real marble will be more adapted to this use.
On the market, you will find the same type of marble available in many finishes, the most common ones for bathrooms are the polished and honed finish, the first one reflects light, is very smooth and has a bright appearance whereas the second one has a matte, unpolished finish, it’s surface doesn’t reflect light like the first finish and has a more natural look to it.
Each finish has a specific use, we advise you to ask your architect about such details because they can be very important, for example, we never use polished stone around the edges of a swimming pool because of the risk of slippery, in such cases we use other finishes adapted to this specific use.
Here’s why you should use marble
Globalization allowed consumers to have quite a lot of choice when it comes to marble, in contrary to the olds days, we now have the ability to pick from a wide range of stones, from granite, onyx, limestone, travertine and marble, the client has the possibility to adapt his or her budget to the various available stones.
Many renowned architects advise their clients to use limestone, even though it’s not as solid as marble, limestone provides a solution for interior decoration, plus, it offers an authentic look, calm, different from Italy’s widely used white tiles.
It’s was not very uncommon to encounter a few problems with posed marble after a few years of installing it, but now, that’s no longer an excise, since the new marble treatments eliminate perfectly spots and scratches that may become visible on tiles, also, we no longer have to polish our tiles every three to four years with chemical products since marble doesn’t lose its brightness no longer, even when confronted to extreme conditions.
Whether it’s a tile, sink, a wall decoration, this noble stone is very solid, resistant and durable making its lifetime infinite.
The most luxurious hotels, monuments are all made of marble; it’s by far the most prestigious building material.
The democratization of marble due to the decrease of its price along with the increase of worldwide production made it possible (even for small budgets) to have a touch of this prestigious stone in their homes.
Whether it’s a sink, a wall decoration, mosaics or even some accessories, it’s up to you to choose.
A few inconveniences
To appreciate the charm and beauty of marble, in your bathroom or in any other room, it’s advised to apply a water repellent before installing your marble tiles at home, this eliminates the infiltration of water inside the pores of the stone, the water repellent isn’t costing, but its absence may cost you a lot.
Like any other natural material, marble is sensitive to chemical products such as shower gels, soap and even perfume, that’s why the marble treatment is very important.
A household soap is enough to maintain the beauty of marble, since this material is fragile to the acids that exist in bleach; it’s preferable to keep it away from such products. Same thing applies to lemon and vinegar. Marble is a strong material that also appreciates soft products for maintenance.
Last, we feel the need to insist on taking the advice of your professional architect regarding the choice of marbles to use and to different finishes; it will help you avoid unnecessary mistakes and future problems.
Marble is a natural stone; the different types of veins and patterns found in marble and generally in natural stone and limestone give us a unique personality to each variety and to each tile. As if it were a unique fingerprint, each tile has a different pattern and an authentic scheme, and in addition, depending on the place and time of extraction, this pattern can be very different.
Marble is random, changeable and needs to be appreciated the way it is, the natural way.