QUESTION

I'm remodeling a house with beautiful 12x4 marble tile floors that are a neutral/blush shade (completely neutral in places and deep Almost brick red veins in others but a faint blush tint throughout) they were installed in 1986 when the house was built and believed to have been purchased in Mexico. The original builder put curved carpet areas in the floor design and I want to fill in for a continuous look but we can't find the stone anywhere. We can't even figure out the name, we've taken it to every tile and stone place in town and even took some samples and photos to some contacts in Mexico.

The closest we have found is cherry blossom marble but it's not nearly as pretty and now the concern is that it will be very obvious what is old and what is new when it is feathered in. What do I do? Any guidance on feathering in flooring that is close to one another? Or any idea what the stone I have could be?

ANSWER

ANSWER - Your description of the marble sounds like it could be a Perlino Rosato Marble.

Depending on the type of natural stone you are trying to match, it can be easy to match or more difficult to match.  All natural stones will vary to some degree, which is inherent in the material and adds to the beauty of it.

Stone is a nature made product, and some stones can vary a lot in color, veining, visual characteristics, and in physical characteristics.   For instance travertine stones are normally easy to match because they have so much natural variation in its appearances that it is installed with that variation.

Some more monochromatic colors stones may be more difficult to match depending on the geological classification of the stone.

In some cases you have to order more stone than you need, so you have the ability to sort through the material to pick out the stones that you want to use or not use.  The suppliers of the stone will not let you cull through their inventory because then the natural variation will be disrupted and won't be consistent with its natural characteristic variations.

In your case, if you can't find a close enough match to the marble by sorting through a marble selection and picking out the ones that work, consider going entirely with a different color and look to create an intentional design and accent to your floor.   You might create a very special and desirable look.