PetraSlate Colors and Design Illuminate Rustic Accent for Lake Keowee, South Carolina Log Home
Lake Keowee,
South Carolina - The spectacular views, tree-lined shores
and ideal year-round climate of Lake Keowee, South Carolina combined
with a love for outdoors and nature helped form the architectural
vision for homeowners Billy and Sandy Baker and their 4200 square
foot log home in the exclusive community of Knox Landing. Complementing
the rugged landscape, the Bakers chose nature's perfect material
to bring their theme to life: Source Products Group Inc.'s signature
line of PetraSlate tiles and PetraSlate New Dimensions decos whose
rich colors and designs illuminate the beauty of nature at its
best while achieving durability.
Set against the backdrop of serene blue waters and the majestic
Blue Ridge Mountains,
Bakers home was completed in Fall 2001 after many weeks of fine
tuned labor and creativity. PetraSlate's Indian Multicolor, Western
Skies, and African Blaze; pine trees, grizzly bear paw prints,
and bear decos were carefully installed by Seneca Tile & Stone
in three rooms of the log home - the grand foyer, the master bath
and the guest bath. The slate in all the rooms were first sealed
with a penetrating sealer and then sealed again with a high gloss
sealer to bring out the natural colors of the stone. "It's quite
remarkable to see our distributors and their customers use such
great creativity with the use of our product when designing their
home. To know our products have made an impact on someone's lifestyle
is both rewarding and validating to our mission as a company,"
said Mark Wennstedt, co-owner Source Products Group, Inc.
Making a Statement
Designing an entrance to make a statement that complemented a
wooden hand-carved front door bear scene was an easy task for
Juha Juntunen (JJ), owner of Seneca Tile & Stone, when the Bakers
chose the custom PetraSlate. JJ designed and installed 200 square
feet of mountain scene where he used 12 x 12 Indian Multicolor
slate as the foothills and sky with 12 x 12 Western Skies slate
to define the mountains. Enhancing the nature scene, 12 x 12 pine
tree decorative slate squares were added. The floor design wraps
around the entrance fireplace leading into the living room space.
"I really enjoy working with stone. The design possibilities are
unlimited. You can combine two or more stones to make truly awesome
designs. Since the color goes through the stone material, you
can cut, shape and polish it to give it a finished look that is
normally impossible with most manmade materials," said Juntunen.
Homeowner, Sandy Baker, designed the guest bath where approximately
125 square feet of African Blaze slate was used as a mixture of
12x12 field tiles and 12x12 deco tiles engraved with bear paw
prints. "Most of our tastes lean toward wood and rustic which
is what attracted us to PetraSlate and it's rich earth tones not
to mention its durability. In the design process of the house,
we needed to focus on the element of functionality having six
children to tend to. The ease of care in the slate was one of
our biggest concerns while keeping the continuity of the rustic
theme," said Baker.
Slate Conforms to Log Design
The
master bath floor and tub surround design needed careful planning,
as it had to conform to the function of log home plumbing. The
tub had to be raised to provide room for drainage plumbing above
the floor height. Steps and a seat/shelf helped conceal the need
for the added height. 220 square feet of slate design incorporated
round corners as much as possible to match the round design of
the log walls. An assortment of 6 x 6 to 16 x 16 to 24 x 24 inch
tiles of Coppers Mine slate covered the tub deck, step treads,
and floor. The floor inlay required tumbled slate to create a
rounded effect and bear paw print and grizzly bear decos were
used on the tub sides.
A variety of the interior design products placed throughout the
home were supplied by the Baker's own "Rustic Cabin" home furnishing
store to define the wildlife, outdoors ambiance and bring their
vision to life.
