Hellooooooo –
Wow I can’t believe here we are week 5 of the One Room Challenge with the reveal NEXT WEEK!!! Ahhh!! You may or may not have noticed that I ‘skipped’ a week 4 update but no worries we were busting our butts around here – so much that I didnt even have time to stop and give an update!
SO MUCH has happened but here’s a picture of where we left off Week 3.
After the sink episode and the final pour had set it was time to sand our white concrete counters. Now, I had read that sanding a lot allowed more of the aggregate in the concrete to pull through resulting in a more grey looking concrete and that definitely proved to be true. But – we had to sand so Mr. Wright got the palm sander out and attached it to a shop vac (because DUST) and went to town.
So here’s a picture of the island post -sanding. You can see where there are smooth white spots and marks that showed up after sanding. And here’s where things get real.
What started out as a white chalky surface post sanding became a blemished and very organic grey. In other words – concrete is NOT forgiving people. What you think will buff out (trowel marks, dips, and divets) will only be enhanced by the sanding process. This is where being an amateur installer (like us) just really sucks to be honest. Despite our best efforts at mixing and smoothing there were flaws and setbacks along the way that may have been avoidable with more experience working with concrete. The product from Concrete Countertop Solutions is truly amazing and with a bit of concrete knowledge we would have had a more fine tuned appearance.
We also had a really hard time getting it level – the screed worked great on a rectangular surface like the island but the counters against the wall were really difficult. So – as you can imagine there were a lot of tears and feelings of nausea along with some deep breathes – and maybe a cocktail or two. I do want to stress that it has nothing to do with the product – its purely a novice installation issue. It takes quite bit of skill to get these right and had we been able to do them again I’m sure the outcome would be different. But, the show must go on and we had to continue with the renovation!
{We will do a full blog post about the countertops and some troubleshooting tips}
After the countertops were sanded we needed to seal and protect them from stain, heat, and life in general. We did a lot of research on the topic and went with the Stonelok sealer system.
The kit is a bit intimidating both in price (almost $250) and in appearance but since the husband is a Chemist for a living it was no sweat for him. Over the course of 3 days we sealed the counters per instruction and waited a full 5 days before really even touching them.
While we were waiting for those to cure I began prepping and priming the kitchen cabinets. I never thought we had an excessive amount of cabinets until I saw them all layed out in the garage – totally overwhelming!
I scrubbed the front and backs of each cabinet door and drawer with a liquid deglosser I picked up at Home Depot. It leaves a milky film on the cabinets which is totally okay. Then I primed with 2 coats of Zinnser Primer giving a light a sand between coats.
After all the priming was done it was time for my favorite part- seeing some color!!! We decided on Sherwin Williams Iron Ore for the lowers cabinets which is a grey-black.
HUGE shout out to my Dad for coming up and helping me out with the cabinet painting! It’s such a daunting and tedious task but always more fun when you can rock out to some Aerosmith and Styx with your Dad!
In between painting cabinets and LIFE we started to lay the backsplash and it is so gorgeous!!! The tile comes in mesh backed sheets but the pattern requires quite a bit of tedious cuts where the edges are. But its marble and fantastic so totally worth it right?!
The Builder Depot really pulled out all the stops with this beauty! My husband has been working countless hours on this tile and has stayed up into the way hours of the night but he’s made so much progress! Here’s where we are now :
You’d think I could of moved the ladder first before snapping this quick iPhone pic huh? Geesh. He’s cutting the small pieces as I type and fitting them all in like a puzzle – my brain hurts just thinking about that. You’ll also notice the two white cords sticking out of the wall and that my friends is for my amazing gold sconces above the open shelves!
SO – the to-do list is still a MILE long but we’ll pull it through – we always do! See ya on the flip side in the WEEK 6 REVEAL!!
My sponsors have been amazing and I can’t think them enough! You all have been so supportive as well and I so appreciate the love! And as always thank you again to Linda from Calling it Home for the challenge!
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