Countertop Redo, concrete countertops

01/24/2014

The before and afters that have taken place in my house up to this point have been astronomical. When we bought this house it was pretty hideous. This house was a "stuck in the 70's house", and we are trying to make it better on a budget.

I found LOTS of cheaper countertop options and decided to try concrete for our kitchen. Here is a before of the countertops, and the kitchen:

I've seen SEVERAL amazing looking DIY countertops and I thought it would definitely be worth it to try, anything is better than what I had! It tells your how to do this HERE. The picture below is one that convinced me I HAD to at least TRY concrete countertops!

Above is someone else's result of them doing concrete countertops, and it is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. Now I'm going to show you mine, while I'm working on it, before, than the result. I have to admit that I preferred it grey, the staining it was my husbands choice.

Before adding stain or sealer

My countertops aren't perfect! I liked some of the imperfections left in, and if I change my mind all I have to do is another coat on top! The first image is before I did stain or sealer, if I had sealed it then it would have looked like my inspiration picture. My husband wanted to do a tile and didn't want to be stuck with matching our tile to the grey. 

The second image posted was during the staining process, it is pretty blotchy because it is the first coat of stain. You want to do 3-4 coats, obviously the more coats the darker it is.

The last three coats are the finished product, and I THINK that was after I applied the sealer (which gives it a glossy look).

My dishwasher has never worked so well, and lately it has gotten to where it doesn't clean ANY of the dishes. I bought some cute gloves and now we are washing by hand, so once everything dries and I can put them away I will get some new pictures up. The countertops were finished about a month ago, I know the post is LATE, and are holding up well!

Cost Breakdown

Ardex: $34

Sealer: $14

Stain: $25

These are just estimated other than the Ardex. I also spent about $8 on supplies, I went to the dollar store to get something cheap to make the concrete in than bought a pack of putty knives. Overall my total costs where absolutely UNDER $100!

Here is a couple before and after shots

Yes, yes, I know my stovetop has become much dirtier LOL

What do you think of my new countertops?