We were cross country skiing in Burgenland, a forgotten corner of Austria. It was wet and cold and we were staying in an old Castle
Our room had heated floors. Wonder upon wonders. Certainly not what we expected
Unbeknown to me, Gene made a mental note that if and when we would build a house it would have heated floors
And so it does
Our house has mostly marble floors. I know, you say that they must be expensive. Yes, and so is an in-floor-heating system. However, it is a one time investment and it pays off handsomely
By now all of you know that I live in the country and in a very small town
I appointed myself as the general contractor of our new house
In 1994, the Internet was not what it is today. Everything had to be found and researched the hard way
After begging and pleading with several companies to please make the 2 hour trip from the big city to lay our marble floors, we realized that we would probably have to tackle the job ourselves.
Gene gave a decisive NO. I reminded him that in addition to the cost of marble, each square foot would cost an additional $10 to lay. This cost without extra cuts and extra designs. Total cost over $25,000.
My advise for Gene, "get a pair of knee pads, please" and I will be your aide d' camp.
And so, we began
I don't know what gave us the courage to begin with a difficult pattern and a difficult area
Our entire lower floor (except the library) is covered in Desert Peach and trimmed with Rojo
We were still living in the "Big City". We worked on our house on weekends
As we gained more experience we became bolder with our designs
Cutting curves into marble was not easy, I left that task to Gene
The stairs in the hallway are not marble I painted them to look like marble
The house itself was built by a fantastic crew of young men headed up by Jeff Tucker, a local young builder
For 4 month, every weekend we laid our floors
Envirotherm of Salt Lake City designed our "Buderus" heating system. Because we have so many large windows, heating coils were concentrated in certain areas. Seven separate heating zones can be regulated. Hot water for household needs is part of the system
It may be minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside, we are cozy and warm on the inside, as we were many years ago in an old castle in Burgenland
Gina
They come from many places
