St. Louis Hidden Gem: Custom Stone Interiors

Some posts are better late than never, particularly when you have adored the end-result of a project as much as we have this one.  Last year, Steve and I embarked upon a long-overdue makeover of our already-finished basement. After a decade in this house with 2 sons and 2 dogs, the finishes had taken quite a hit.

The plan for the main party room, aka "teenager heaven":  durable new Pergo flooring throughout, new stair treads after removing carpet, new 4" baseboards, barn doors to replace the 1968 swing-in doors, fresh paint, a new work space, and a makeover of the existing dated wet bar to improve the look and function.  Some of it was DIY, some of it was contracted. Mission accomplished...

Note: this is a real-life quick cell phone panoramic photo, not Realtor-staged, complete with my son watching a movie and freshly mopped floors after his friends spent the night and had an epic spill. My reality, friends.  Ha! 

After living with the "makeover" for several months now, our favorite change has been to the wet bar, by far.  We updated the cabinets, added a sizable mobile island, replaced the worn laminate counter top with granite, and finished off the project with a marble subway tile (Steve's gorgeous handiwork)...

Again, real life photo taken this morning -not staged.  We still need to get around to adding the cabinet hardware and yes, "this kitchen is for dancing". 😉  

As we have no plans in the near future to move, our focus was not as much on return-on-investment as it was look and function.  On any given weekend, we can have 5-20 teenagers down there until the wee-hours if not all night.  Durability is key.  That being said, we had massive sticker shock when bids for a natural stone 90" wet bar counter came in WELL above $1400 installed at big box stores for the creamy stones we preferred. A fellow Realtor mentioned that we may have luck at a remnant yard due to size, and suggested visiting Custom Stone Interiors near SLU and IKEA...

Note: since taking these photos, Custom Stone has moved to a new location in Overland.  Updated address will be at the bottom of the post.

Regardless, we had a terrific experience and I feel compelled to share.  The staff was incredibly helpful and they have everything you could ever want or wish for as far as stone goes for a kitchen, laundry, bath, or furniture project...

Where we had the most luck, however?

At their in-house remnant yard!  In this area, they offer stone remnants left over from other projects at a deep discount, including mis-cuts and leftover pieces of granite, marble, limestone, onyx, travertine, and quartz. It is a terrific solution for a small countertop for a bathroom, laundry room, vanity top, or wet bar. It allows you to examine the actual slab IN PERSON (stone varies a LOT ) and the staff will point you to remnants that will work.

Low and behold, we got lucky and found the perfect one...

Within days, they came out to our house to accurately measure the space for cuts, we provided them with our preferences (eased edge), a previously-purchased undermount sink from IKEA, and everything was fabricated and polished in house...

The price installed was HUNDREDS less than all of the other bids we received...

... and the result?  Perfection.  We love it...

Thank you for helping us to transform our space affordably, Custom Stone!  If planning a new project, consider giving them a call for a bid or dropping by to check out their inventory. 

NITTY GRITTY:

Custom Stone Interiors
1950 Walton Road
Overland, MO 63114

Office: 314-533-1282
Fax: 314-427-2001

Monday - Friday
Saturdays
7AM - 5PM 

WEB: http://www.customstonestl.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/customstonestl

See my other St. Louis Hidden Gems HERE.