Merry Christmas!!

Ut oh…the entries are getting further and further spread apart. Don’t you hate that? You check every day, and there’s no update. Well, the truth is that there just isn’t much change going on right now. We got moved in and we’ve spent most of our time cleaning, unpacking, and adjusting the little things that need fixed. Exciting, huh?

This is the promised week off…no working on the house anyway. Last Sunday was our ABF Christmas party, and we’d promised each other no working on the house for a week after we got through the party. So far, so good!!! We’re just kind of taking it easy this week, enjoying the house, and getting some R&R.

Somebody asked us about the concrete countertops, so here goes…Sherry and I originally got the idea from watching HGTV. The first “cool” thing we saw was some guy who made a gorgeous bathtub using concrete slabs. We made a note of it (like we do with a lot of the things we see and would like to try) but didn’t put much other thought into it. Then we saw another guy a few months later who started experimenting with concrete in his house. He was an artist did all kinds of stuff with it from countertops and cabinets to flooring and wall-hangings. My first thought was that if he could do it, so could we.

Since we already had floor cabinets from the basement that we refinished and needed some 40’+ of countertop, it made sense for us to at least try making them ourselves. So we bought a couple of different types of concrete mix, reinforcements, colors, and some lumber to make the molds. We started with a small piece to fit on the dishwasher, and the first two attempts ended up in the trash. The third piece looks like the surface of the moon, but it is now part of the kitchen. From there we rolled out the rest of them. The finish we got was from pouring the countertop upside down on a real smooth whiteboard material. A little sanding and a couple of coats of poly-acrylic finish gives it the final look that we have. We will also be experimenting with oils and waxes to keep the finish looking nice.

I don’t know that this look is for everybody, but we like it. We made some mistakes, and we learned as we went. Plus, we have stone countertops now. The finish isn’t as nice as a marble or granite top, but it also cost us less than $10 / square foot to make.

Anyway, since I seem to be running out of things to write about, feel free to ask questions or give us topics for writing. And in case we don’t make it back on here in the next week or so, we wish each of you and your families a Merry Christmas and safe holiday season. God Bless!!!