59. Road Trip for Soapstone

April 1, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 8 Comments

We spent weeks, months, selecting a kitchen counter top.

I looked online at Countertops 101; I looked at the big box stores; I read articles about all the different materials we could use for our countertop — the pros and cons of each. While I was considering this, Consumer Reports came out with a timely article on what was the best, and I read the article five times. I even took a quiz — what kind of countertop should YOU have in your kitchen?

I’m not sure that this is normal…

Soapstone was my pick early on — I just needed to convince Mr. H. C. of its amazing and beautiful qualities. There’s nothing like a firsthand look at the gorgeous stuff, so last fall we visited Bucks County Soapstone in Perkasie, PA.

Bucks County Soapstone

Everything in their showroom highlights soapstone — even the floor at the entrance is soapstone tile.

Perhaps you would like one of these cute little basin sinks?

Or a wonderful soapstone laundry tub?

Mr. H. C. fell in love. And once we saw their hand crafted sinks we knew we were going to give away our already purchased $30 ivory porcelain sink and buy one of these:

Well, maybe not quite that fancy…but I suggest that a visit here — and a short talk with the owner, Scott Seuren — will convince you of the beauty of a soapstone countertop and sink. Just sayin’…

Road Trip

From the time they received our plans to when it was ready for pickup was three weeks. I had this week off from work, so we planned a road trip across Pennsylvania.

We left Henry looking out the window — six hours in the truck was almost too much for us, let alone Henry, whose vehicular limit seems to be about 60 minutes.

Truthfully, it was a long boring ride across the PA turnpike. The landscape is still brown and ugly from winter and the road went on and on…

We perked up when we landed at our B&B — The Fox and Hound. The innkeepers were perky, the room was nice, and the breakfast was good — all for a hundred bucks — which is about what you would pay for an impersonal, adequate hotel room. We try to stay in B&Bs whenever we can.

Bucks County is beautiful and certainly deserves another trip — or a vacation even — in warmer weather. The little town of New Hope is charming, but by the time we got out on the town on a Tuesday evening, all the little touristy shoppes were closed (which was a good thing for the budget). So we made do with $3 stouts, and burgers and pork tacos at the local brew pub, the Triumph Brewery. Just what truck-weary travelers needed.

The next morning we were at Bucks County Soapstone by 10:15. I wandered around the showroom, snapping photos, and talking to Scott, while Mr. H. C. hung around with the guys in the shop finding out tips for installation and loading the truck.

The guys in the shop built this handy dandy A-frame so we could safely haul our precious cargo.

No road trip is complete without lunch at the local diner, and we found a great one!

The owner made Mr. H. C. a double chocolate milk shake and he was in Milkshake Heaven! With a Delicious Reuben sandwich, he was so full, he left his pickle uneaten. I was astonished. He NEVER leaves a pickle! “There are priorities,” he said. (Long ago when Mr. H. C. was called Mikey, he was also known as the fastest milkshake drinker in the East…)

Aren’t you excited to see photos of the finished product? So are we, but that will have to wait. In the meantime, here are the top ten reasons you would want to buy a soapstone countertop:

Top Ten Reasons to Buy Soapstone

10. It is a naturally occurring material with minimal processing and as little or as much upkeep as you want.

9. Do you want natural gray? Do you want polished black? You can have either. And you can even change your mind.

8. It is very DIY friendly — unlike every other countertop material out there (with the possible exception of tile–but Mr. H.C. said absolutely no tile countertops.)

7. It scratches easily, yes; BUT the scratches can just be sanded out using regular 150 grit sandpaper and a circular motion.

6. It lasts for years and years and years.

5. Most soapstone dealers are smaller, family or individually run places, so you aren’t supporting the Big Box stores. Given this factor, you get personal attention.

4. The stone is heat absorbent — you can set your hot pans right on it; as well as rolling out pastries and kneading bread and generally being a substitute for marble…

3. It is naturally anti-bacterial.

2. There is NO chance of radiation or radon entering your home with soapstone.

1. It is so beautiful!

I promise pictures in the next post…

58. Black and White

March 28, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 9 Comments

I’ve had black and white on the brain lately.

Everywhere I look, I see black and white together. Dark and light. Absorbing and reflecting. Hot and cold. Opposites. Contrasts.

black and white in nature Today, stopped at a stop light in the burbs of Pittsburgh, I saw a bald eagle. My first thoughts were, I must be wrong. What other kind of bird looks like that? Some sort of hawk? I may have misidentified it; but there it was — huge, flying out of the treetop, thirty feet above me. I got a good look: white head, black body, curved yellow beak, very large. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology tells me that it could be a turkey vulture, but I definitely saw a white feathered head. I’m sticking to my story.

black and white in the world
I was marveling at the sight when twenty yards down the road came two black and white police cars racing to a somewhere scene, lights flaring, sirens blaring. Yes, that was more like the city — powerful, forceful, a place full of opposites — street lights illuminating the dark, sirens piercing the silence of the night, churches and rescue shelters — havens in the midst of desperate neighborhoods.

Black and white in design is a study of contrasts. The design blog Hongkiat.com calls black and white a “stark dichotomy,” which makes the design impossible to ignore. It is clean and simple, yet it can be complex as well. Black and white together have “…endless opportunities that other color schemes just don’t manage to generate. It all just balances itself out.” I especially like the word balance.

I love old black and white films, and black and white photography fills me with a longing that color just doesn’t satisfy. (See post 30. A Stillness in Time). Wikipedia says, “Since the advent of color, black-and-white mass media often connotes something nostalgic, historic or anachronistic.” Yes, that’s me — nostalgic, anachronistic, and yearning.

Black and white together — it is bold. Courageous. Balanced. Stunning. It takes a stand. Bald eagles, police cars, photography, design… and our new kitchen floor.
Armstrong VCT tile

It is bold. I generally believe in hardwood floors or muted rugs. This stands out. It shouts out. I love it!

I have never been bold or courageous, though as I get older I discover I am gaining on them. Arguments still make me squeamish; heated discussions still often silence me; and I usually just want everyone to get along together. My walls are white, and my wardrobe consists of neutrals, though I occasionally wear an emerald scarf, a bright red sweater, a purple t-shirt. I have always admired boldness in others, while secretly thinking that bad things always happen to those who stand out or stand up.

In a world that needs boldness, I want to stand.

In a world that needs the saving grace and redemption of Jesus, I want to shout of His power to save.

Happy Easter! May we be bold in speaking of His love.

No, the issues that are fracturing us are not black and white. But what we must all take to heart is His love; His redemption; His power. Written over both the black and the white is His love — written in His blood — written forever, no matter who we are, what we do, or how we dis-grace Him. His love covers us all, and it’s free.

57. The Crooked Little House

March 26, 2013January 20, 2016 / Apple Hill Cottage / 5 Comments

Yes, we’re trying to straighten up a crooked little house — and it’s driving Mr. H. C. bonkers. This is a man who has to have pieces meet within a thirty-second of an inch. And that level bubble? Well it has to be right between those lines, as close to the middle as it can be. Poor guy. Some days he just shakes his head. Some days he wonders aloud why we ever got into this. And some days when the bird clock whistles 5:00, he just goes and quietly gets a glass of wine.
Is it level?
For the record, the nursery rhyme goes like this:

There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile,
He bought a crooked cat who caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a crooked little house.*

black and white checkerboard VCT
Hmm… No mention of a crooked little wife. That’s good, I think. And we’ve found plenty of crooked little mice — all dead — thank goodness. But I was beginning to wonder if the black and white checkerboard tile I had planned was wise on a crooked floor…

If I had a crooked sixpence for every time Mr. H. C. complained about the walls not being level, and the floor not being level, and the doors not being level, I could probably buy a crooked cat. Oh wait, we have one already…
Sleeping cat
This was the weekend that we were putting down the underlayment for the floor. For those of you who don’t speak the lingo, that is 4×8 sheets of thin plywood type stuff that doesn’t bend around crooked walls or over crooked floors. It makes a nice, smooth surface for laying linoleum or tile. Mr. H.C. is a genius at making crooked things look straight, so I wasn’t too worried about how it would look — I was more concerned about his state of mind while the floor was on its way to looking good.

The first piece went down easily; the second was more difficult because it had to have many specific holes cut out for the plumbing. And then, I heard him say, “Wow, this is really pretty square.”

I made him repeat the sentence.

And later, as he was cutting the last piece and I was nailing the others down, he said it again!

Almost 3000 staples went into this underlayment, and my shoulder is feeling the pain… (I really do work sometimes!)

Now, we’re not to the point of throwing out the level, and the rest of the house may still be crooked, but the kitchen is Straight and Square.

And ready for checkerboard tile.

*“There was a Crooked Man” originates from the English Stuart history of King Charles I. The “crooked man” is said to allude to Scottish General Sir Alexander Leslie, who signed a treaty that secured Scotland’s freedom. “The crooked stile” represents the border wedged between England and Scotland. The English and Scots agreement is represented within the line “They all lived together in a crooked little house.” The rhyme refers to the uneasy peace between the two countries. (Source is many websites that all give the same history.)