We reserved the lighter color stone for the kitchen area since it doesn’t get as much direct sunlight as the living and dining areas.
The kitchen and mudroom were both done towards the end of the entire process and so benefited from lessons learned. There is much less lippage between tiles. Nominally 1.25″ counter top varies +/- 1/8″. Thicker pieces were discarded and thinner pieces were built up with additional thinset in a technique called “backbuttering”. The “doormat” piece with red veins required a lot of attention. It varied in thickness by 1/4″ across its length–no doubt this was why it was in the discard pile at the manufacturer.
The yard was messy before we cut all the stone for the granite scrap floor, but after it got a lot worse.
Design & Construction of Spartan & Hannah's Home 
Absolutely stunning! Amazing work. Looking forward to seeing it in person!
As a geologist, I *will* steal your floor idea, someday…
Your floor is BEAUTIFUL! … and I have stolen your idea 🙂
I am currently at the cutting stage (I am cutting all my tiles to 4×8)… I was wondering if you used sanded or non-sanded grout? I was afraid sanded would scratch but would like wider grout lines. Thanks!
Hi Teresa,
Go right ahead and use sanded grout. It won’t scratch the granite. I had to special order Saltillo tile grout that was good up to 1″ grout lines from Home Depot. This is the brand I used: http://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/grout-materials/cement-grout/saltillo-grout-mix.aspx
The company has a grout calculator to help you figure out the quantity you need, but it doesn’t go to 1.25″ deep (I assume that is the thickness of your granite as well) but you can select .25″ and the multiply the quantity it gives you by 5 to get 1.25″.
That is awesome that you are also making a granite floor. I’d love to see pictures of it!
Good luck,
Spartan
Thank you so much for your help! I will post a pic when I’m done 🙂