Allowing Your Marble to Age Gracefully

I can't tell you how often friends and clients ask me for a referral for someone to come to their home to polish or refinish their aging marble.  In true California youth-oriented style, everyone (alright, they're mostly women) wants to exfoliate the dull sheen to reveal the original smooth, shiny surface that they so enjoyed when the stone was first installed.  I hate to make so obvious an analogy, but ladies, you need to embrace the passage of time rather than resist it.  Your marble entryway has gotten to the state it's in by experiencing life: when it was new, it had a shiny finish; then it was walked over, skidded on, and treated like any other floor.  Why be upset that it's showing its age?

A real patina takes years to form, and cannot be successfully faked.  Think of the furniture experts on Antiques Roadshow who admonish people for refinishing old valuable pieces - it decreases the value tremendously.  In Italy, retail and food establishments almost always have counters and tables made with marble - not even granite, which is more durable - and it is never, ever refinished.  Italians have a way of facing the truth about aging, and wouldn't think to hone and polish a white or green marble counter top to give it the appearance of being new.  Staircases in many old houses, churches, and public buildings have a wonderful indentation in the middle of each marble step formed from centuries of foot traffic. I always look down when I climb Italian marble stairs, thinking of all of those who have preceded me and all who will come after I am gone.

I realize that our houses are not all palaces, but we need to learn to appreciate the beauty that lies beneath the surface and quit trying to stop the clock.  Brand-new and shiny is a lot of fun, but gracefully aged is much more interesting.

The Holy Stairs in Rome (slideshow of restoration)

Stairs to Cupola of St Peter's Basilica, Rome
Approximately 450 years young