Hello fellow home builders,
I made a disastrous mistake when purchasing from the developer. When ordering the interior window sills, I specified the granite type "Ivory Fantasy" instead of the planned "Ivory Fantasy Gold." The names sound almost identical, and the textures look very similar, but they differ in color tone. Fantasy Gold leans more toward beige/yellow and has a pleasantly warm appearance, while Fantasy without Gold is more gray, making it look cold and dirty.
I don’t know what can be done now. As you can imagine, since this is a developer project, the window sills were significantly more expensive than the usual market price. Removing everything and reordering would lead to four-figure losses. Since the sills are custom-made by the stonemason, they can’t be returned. And my wife absolutely refuses to accept this.
My question is whether there are any chemicals that can alter the color tone of the granite sills in a certain direction (in this case, beige)? I’m about to be kicked out of the house 😀 and would appreciate any advice.
I made a disastrous mistake when purchasing from the developer. When ordering the interior window sills, I specified the granite type "Ivory Fantasy" instead of the planned "Ivory Fantasy Gold." The names sound almost identical, and the textures look very similar, but they differ in color tone. Fantasy Gold leans more toward beige/yellow and has a pleasantly warm appearance, while Fantasy without Gold is more gray, making it look cold and dirty.
I don’t know what can be done now. As you can imagine, since this is a developer project, the window sills were significantly more expensive than the usual market price. Removing everything and reordering would lead to four-figure losses. Since the sills are custom-made by the stonemason, they can’t be returned. And my wife absolutely refuses to accept this.
My question is whether there are any chemicals that can alter the color tone of the granite sills in a certain direction (in this case, beige)? I’m about to be kicked out of the house 😀 and would appreciate any advice.
F
fach1werk27 Jun 2016 13:42Sure. Unfortunately, I have to start by saying that I would never attempt this myself. The risk of damaging the window sills is too high for me, and creating an even raw surface would take too much time.
Polished surfaces are smooth and don’t necessarily absorb evenly; water will likely pool on them. You could sand them with a fine grit, but you won’t be able to reach the corners perfectly.
Sealed surfaces often have a "plastic" layer. For example, if a very thin film (acrylate in aqueous solution) has coated the particles, a reaction like silicification is no longer possible. In that case, there’s really no point in trying anymore.
The sample area provides insight. But is it worth it? If I were restoring a valuable piece, I would consider a partial modification to achieve the right color temperature. That is usually sufficient. Maybe I would simply avoid placing hard white near it: something warm-toned becomes strongly noticeable only when contrasted with something cold. For example, if there were an earthen wall nearby, you would perceive the room as warmer with cold window sills than with warm-toned ones. Too much harmony is dull and cannot enhance the desired effect.
Polished surfaces are smooth and don’t necessarily absorb evenly; water will likely pool on them. You could sand them with a fine grit, but you won’t be able to reach the corners perfectly.
Sealed surfaces often have a "plastic" layer. For example, if a very thin film (acrylate in aqueous solution) has coated the particles, a reaction like silicification is no longer possible. In that case, there’s really no point in trying anymore.
The sample area provides insight. But is it worth it? If I were restoring a valuable piece, I would consider a partial modification to achieve the right color temperature. That is usually sufficient. Maybe I would simply avoid placing hard white near it: something warm-toned becomes strongly noticeable only when contrasted with something cold. For example, if there were an earthen wall nearby, you would perceive the room as warmer with cold window sills than with warm-toned ones. Too much harmony is dull and cannot enhance the desired effect.
Yes, I am aware of the risk of damaging the window sills. Of course, I would first test it on a sample piece. However, as things stand now, if the window sills remain as gray as they are, they will have to be removed and replaced anyway, as I have already been given an ultimatum. It’s not just the color alone that is driving my wife crazy, but also the fact that we paid a significant extra charge for them, only to end up with something worse than the basic option. If we had not ordered these window sills, we would have received fairly neutral white window sills made of artificial stone.
I’m attaching two pictures. One shows a sample piece, as we expected the sills to look, and the other shows an installed window sill.
I’m attaching two pictures. One shows a sample piece, as we expected the sills to look, and the other shows an installed window sill.
Why did you receive something of lower quality just because it’s missing a bit of beige? Natural stone is always more elegant and attractive than “white engineered stone.” The additional cost was certainly justified. But if you think this is worse, then you’ll probably have to remove the window sills…
ypg schrieb:
Please place the sample piece on the installed window sill so we can have the same lighting color in a photo.I’ll do that as soon as I’m back at the construction site. But it probably won’t be until next week.
Elina schrieb:
Why did you receive something worse just because it’s missing a bit of beige? Natural stone is always more elegant and beautiful than “white artificial stone.” The additional cost was certainly justified. But if you think it’s worse now, you’ll probably have to tear out the window sills...I’m not saying artificial stone is more elegant. It’s just that the color looks quite dirty. And if you don’t like the color, then it’s better to have neutral and unobtrusive window sills than ones you find unattractive. It’s all subjective and a matter of personal taste; there are plenty of people who like gray. For example, one of our neighbors has a gray front door, a gray garage door, and tiles with a concrete look. That wouldn’t suit us either.
And the price was definitely not justified. Unfortunately, we had no idea at the beginning what natural stone sills would cost. Only after seeing the installed sills and realizing they weren’t the type we wanted did we think to get a quote from the same stonemason. The surcharge for granite was about 160% of the total material price for us. Considering the removal of the basic option, we ended up paying double for a type we don’t like at all (but that last part is our own fault).
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