Report on Siding and Stone for sink

The past two weeks (or is it three?) lots of coming and going into the city.   Lots of city walking, visits, meals, and visits to Occupy Wall Street.  I'll try to fill out that in one of these days--but suddenly things have begun to happen here in New Jersey (of course things have been happening all along, but today lots of forward motion.    Johnny and George have replaced all rotting beams, put up insulation and are finally getting the siding up on the back of the house.  This part goes quickly--not much more to go.

I was racing around myself.  After very productive two days with Sarah (Friday and Saturday), plans for the bathroom are finally falling into place.   We drove each day to Thompson Stone in Montague, about a 20 mile drive.  I found it on the web, but George confirmed it was the only proper stone yard in the area (not to be confused with Polowy Stones, across the way, which sells landscaping stones, not counter tops.

We were looking for a stone to put on top of the little chest that had been in the dining room that we're using as the base for our sink.  Sarah tells me that this is the kind of data that I should be reporting on.  This is almost the first project that we're embarking on inside the house (after all the massive cleaning and throwing out) so here goes.   When I was putting in the new bathroom in my Venice House, I'd bought an old desk at Goodwill to which we attached a piece of leftover soapstone from the kitchen counters, topped with a basin.  Looks great, but truth be told, not the most efficient or practical.  I myself (much to Sarah and Sam's chagrin) much prefer to use the older bathroom--but so be it.

looks like a little robot, no?

Inspired by that model, and assuming we could overcome its inadequacies second time around, we instantly decided to use the little chest as a base.

After two trips to Thompson Stone, we chose a quite lovely slab of green granite --Costa Esmeralda or Costa Smeralda.   Each piece is different, but it looks something like this.

The next task is to bring the sink and fixtures to the stone yard where they'll cut and polish the stone to fit.  We'll also have to remove the bit of wood on top (maybe it could be a shelf).  Planning to do that on Wednesday.