REMODEL- PART 5

The countertops are done! It was a HUGE challenge and TONS of work. Would I do it again? I really don't know. It was exhausting and stressful, but it saved us tons of money doing it ourselves. We used the brand Surecrete and I am glad we did. They have made working with this type of concrete so much easier! Here's the process...

Forming the countertop.

We used melamine and styrofoam for our forms and poured them upside down. Big C was so precise with the sink hole that it fits perfectly! I was (and am) super impressed. He traced the shape of the sink onto a piece of styrofoam and then spackled the edges and then taped them with clear packing tape to make them ultra smooth. Then caulked the seams everywhere to create a bit of a rounded edge on the corners. After that, I treated all the surfaces with olive oil.

Big C mixing the special ingredients. Very important!

We chose to do hand pressed countertops because of the textural quality of the end result. It was by far my favorite type of concrete countertops when I researched them. Big C mixed the concrete about the thickness of silly putty and then you press handfuls into place. 

Our island countertop form. The cut out in this form is for our stove.

After the concrete is dry, Big C mixed up a different colored slurry (in our case, a dark gray), and filled in all the holes and gaps left by the putty-like cement. I creates a beautiful texture! He then wet sanded it and slurried/sanded again 2 more times.

He put a piece of plywood on the underneath side so that he could save space on material and weight.

Thank goodness for in-town family! They came over and helped us put in our countertops. They're a little heavy.

My countertop with the undermount sink. I LOVE IT!

Now we need to seal them and they are ready to go!

REMODEL- PART ONE

We are making some huge changes at our house and I am still trying to come to grips with it. Last month Big C announced, out of the blue, that he was going to take off work over the winter (January/February) and remodel our kitchen. I was very surprised, to put it mildly, because I've been asking for new cabinets for years now and all of a sudden he says, 'YES.' I married the least predictable man on earth- haha! I am SOOO EXCITED!

As we got talking, we decided to do even more than just the kitchen. We are doing most of our upstairs. We are taking out a wall and creating a small family room/TV room out of an old bedroom. We had to move Princess P downstairs, but she's fine with it so far.

BEFORE- You can see by the garbage bags that I'd already started cleaning out.

I can't believe it, but we tore out my favorite wall in the house. I had just talked Big C into putting up wainscot in the kitchen two years before and now we have to get rid of it? Sad day, but worth it in the end, right?? Here's to hoping...

Last view of our old kitchen- Sister S and Princess P packing up the cabinet contents.

Upper cabinets gone...

I came home from teaching yesterday and this is what I saw! Bye bye wall...

Demolition is NOT fun.

Huge mess and lots of back-breaking work hauling all that junk out.

The wall is gone! Our first taste of the new, big, open space.

We are going full force now!

SEWING A COLOR SCHEME

Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of my mom's death. In homage to her, I spent a few hours sewing on her machine (actually it was just a coincidence). I finally made some valances for my kitchen windows. Lately I've really loved light blue/turquoise with red and so it has been my plan to use those colors in my kitchen. Big C is not too thrilled with the new colors so far. Maybe they will grow on him.

Blue and red.

Personally, I LOVE them! I even like the valances. I made them up as I went along and am kind of surprised they look as good as they do. All my mom's sewing lessons paid off I guess. I think she would be thrilled.