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.
Bringing Nature Indoors: The Artful Installation of PetraSlate in the Bakers’ Log Home
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 12×12 field tiles and 12×12 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.
State Conforms to Log Design
The masterbath 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.