Countertops!

Yet another do it yourself project at our house. Concrete countertops were a must for the basement. I wanted something totally different than your granite or solid surface. These babies are a fortune to buy, so we decided to take it on ourselves. Luckily Steve is skilled and I am a great cheerleader and helper.

First Steve made a template of the cabinets in the kitchenette and bathroom. Next he built some forms with melamine to pour the concrete into. We used the Buddy Rhodes system so you had special concrete just for this. We chose Bone as our base color. Basically Khaki. Steve mixed the concrete and then brought it down to me. I made balls with the concrete and then pressed it lightly into the form. This made the tops of the countertop kind of have little holes. It is hard to explain.

Then you did lots of other steps and then smoothed the top. The top became the bottom. Make sense? Basically you flip it over when it is dry.

We let the kids each make handprints in the bottom of the tops.
Finally wen it dried we took it out of the forms and lifted it up. It was really scary. We had no idea what we were doing or how it would turn out. I was worried they would just crumble, but they were so strong.
Next we placed these heavy as crap things onto the cabinets. I helped with the bathroom and nearly fell over and Tim helped with the kitchen. I told Steve it was like picking up the sidewalk and just walking around. Really, they were SO heavy!!

Once they were in place I put a paste on them. I used a chocolate color. You put the paste all over it filling in all the holes, and then sand it off.




If you want you can keep sanding them and they get all shiny and perfectly smooth. I wanted a more natural and rugged look. I think I am going to make more of these, I LOVE them.