Decor club went on a little excursion yesterday to a stone works warehouse because my friend Stacie is redoing her mantel. She’s having it custom done and was interested in something modern and subtle, like brushed limestone—until I got into the picture. She invited me along to make sure her choice would be bullet proof and would ensure she could resell her house easily when the time comes. Her mantel is going to be this shape:

But I think the real reason she invited me along was to have a moment to fantasize before she played it safe, so I tried to persuade her to make a statement. First we stumbled, literally onto this spectacular piece of blue Lapis. When I pointed it out to her, the owner said, “You like that? Its the most expensive thing in here.”

But he can’t sell it because it has too much white and was dropped and has a lot of little cracks in it. Then I found this:It’s gorgeous and scary and a crazy risk. Stacie tried to imagine it but it made her dizzy, so much so she had a tripping incident.But I still think it would be spectacular. It’s Turkish marble and very rare. It looks like mountains from the Hobbit. I know it would be like inviting friends and family to have an LSD trip in your house every time you hung stockings (not that you would on that kind of fireplace), but I just love it. I admit that seeing it dusty and undiscovered probably makes it seem more chic than seeing it in installed and polished in your home. It is a brown, mindbending slab of marble and there’s a good chance it would plunge her home back to a time when women actually wore Jean Natay in an unironic way so I didn’t push too hard. When I asked the owner about it he laughed again and told Stacie she shouldn’t shop with me. The Turkish slab is the second most expensive piece after the Lapis. More than seven times what she wants to spend. Clearly I need to stick to throw pillows. But I know it could work, I really do.