Brook Stephens

When I started pinning ideas for our master bathroom remodel over a year ago, it’s all tile: stone, glass, mosaic; tiles. That’s all you can seem to find these days. You’re either looking at a fiberglass or Tiled shower.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the look of tile: subway, natural stone, colorful mosaics that bring amazing personality to the space, but they all started to look the same. Unless we wanted to make it a much grander size or take the budget to the moon with plumbing and excessive upgrades in fixtures, it was just going to be another tiled shower.

When I was chatting about options with C&D Granite in Richmond, I asked if they ever used granite in showers. Lisa Steil was like, “Yes!” This is where my brain about exploded with questions, options and more. I didn’t fully understand where this would lead and I certainly never expected the amazing shower I’m looking at today.

When Lisa said that C&D does bathroom surrounds, countertops and showers, I thought ‘Granite tiles’. This is where I started to google “Granite Shower”. This is where I realized that my searches were leading me nowhere. I found a couple, fit for royalty, super extravagant room sized marble showers with super loud/heavy movement patterns. The kind of showers that made you think there would be a dude in a tux offering you a hot towel and a mint. Well, this was no where near what I envisioned for my shower.

So, when I joined Lisa and Brad Steil in their amazing new indoor showroom in Richmond, this is where it all started to make sense. it wasn’t granite tiles…it was granite SLAB walls with granite shelves. Holy cannoli, this is where it got really exciting. Not only was it much simpler in look that I thought, but when I told Lisa I didn’t want loud and heavy movement in the granite pattern and showed her my color palate, she brought me immediately over to Himalayan White. A beautiful speckled grey with flecks of white, blackish blues, grays, blacks and even burgundy’s. it was so grand looking.

I decided that this would be perfect for both the countertop and the shower. It was stunning, yet understated enough to not look pretentious. A quick turn to my best friend, Juli, whom I had along, and she even nodded in approval.

So we sat at Lisa’s desk for about 20 mins discussing finish (satin or polished), who would be doing the plumbing, what my timeline was and more. I gave her the information of my contractor and it was off to the races.

C&D came out and measured for the shower first. Just the back wall. It would be a multiple day process. First would be the install of the back wall. An 800lb stone that goes from floor to ceiling. Next, they would measure for the side walls and the curb into the shower. They also took into account measurements for how high/far apart I wanted the shelves, how many shelves, their shape and of course cutouts for the plumbing fixtures.

After installing the two sides, part of the Curb and the shelves, it was time for the last measurements: the Countertop with a beautiful white undermount sink and the facing for the curb on the shower.

I still remember walking into the bathroom seeing the custom lit up floor to ceiling granite shower and the countertop in place…we didn’t even have the plumbing fixures or the toilet in and I was almost in tears.

To say this shower is grand…is an understatement. I was also very pleasantly surprised at how affordable with all that granite, the sink, the installs and everything, it was.

This is the third time we’ve used C&D Granite and we are so happy with them! It may be our last time using them, but only because..we’re running out of granite projects! However, knowing me, I’ll think of another grand way to use Granite in our home again soon!

C&D Granite is located it Richmond and Brooklyn Center, MN. I highly recommend them! Lisa and Brad Steil are amazing to work with and the end result is even more proof!