So, this may not have happened had I known what I knew within the next week, but I will enjoy it non-the less. A day after starting on this project we got $800 worth of medical bills in the mail, the next week found out bad news at work that my downstaffs may become an every day reality due to the pre-Obama changes in healthcare reimbursement. It's a scary thing. But, all this came too late and I have a beautiful kitchen. :) Isn't that how things work!
This is the kitchen when we were looking at the house... old dirty white appliances, gold knobs on all of these amazing cabinets, a stained, scratched up white sink that will not come clean easily, Salmon colored countertops, builder grade light fixtures and a soon to be very leaky faucet. Livable, but not ideal :)
A close up of the "pink" and a stained marker drawing courtesy of my sweet kids who drew me a cute goodie bag on a Ziploc bag then set it on the counter. Oh well. :)
So the appliances and gold knobs were the first to go when we moved in. Ahhh... much better. We were planning on living with the countertops, sink etc for a few years. Granite is EXPENSIVE!
And then the faucet started leaking. And the hubby didn't want to install that then un-install it in a few years when we wanted to do a new sink. And I didn't want to buy and install a new sink until we did something to the countertops. Along.came.Pinterest. :)
Child labor. I'm a strong believer.
So, I should be getting paid for this advertisement but I'll settle for great looking countertops and saving $8,000!
I pinned a link not long ago but was kinda afraid to try it out. Rustoleum Countertop Transformations.. check out this link if you are thinking of doing this... http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Indoor-Projects/Kitchens/Kitchen-Countertops/ideas-for-the-kitchen-renew-kitchen-countertops/Step-By-Step . Heck, why not go for it! For $215 we bought a kit to "paint" the countertops. It was time consuming and messy but honestly not that difficult. Goodbye pink! (Oh yeah and notice that cool light - love it! Thanks Lisa TM and Randy for that Christmas gift last year!)
Steps... Cleaning and sanding, then sand, sand and sand some more, then clean. Tape off and put up drapes to catch most of the mess. Then sand and clean some more.
Then as you work quickly in sections... put on a thick layer of a special paint and before it drys spray it with some special spray then spread chips all over. They said you could be liberal with the chips and I should have listened better as I have some areas that could have used more and I had 3 bags left over. I was concerned bc it said it covered 50 sq ft of countertops and that is pretty much exactly what we had... I didn't want to run out! Listen to them and be liberal!
Let it dry for 12 ish hours. Then sweep up the mess.
Then sand sand and sand some more. (Oh and you guessed it, clean and clean and clean some more)
The amount of sanding depends on how smooth you want it to be but make sure not to scrape off to much or you will see your "pink" underneath and have to touch it up. (and when it tells you which sanding block to use for corners and such make sure your hubby listens... mine didn't :)
Once everything is spic-n-span then put on the top coat. This was the only stinky part. Let it dry before cleaning up so nothing sticks to the top coat.
Clean up and Enjoy!!!
This reminds me of the commercial..."I want to design my entire kitchen around THIS" Love the black granite sink and faucet! Perfect! And so worth it to go with Delta... did you know that if it goes bad for whatever reason (well, with normal use I'm sure) call the company and you get new parts or a new faucet for no charge! Worth it to go with Delta! (No, I didn't get paid for that advertisement either!)
A close up of the color. They have a few other colors to choose from. The black with speckles was really pretty too, but with a black sink and black stove top would have been too much. It has brightened up my kitchen so much without spending thousands of dollars to do so. Worth it in my book!
Only thing I don't know is how it will hold up over the years. Will it chip and scratch? Not sure but worth it to buy time!
I'm loving my new kitchen!
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