The Difference A Day Can Make

Seriously.  One day...  

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to change up our kitchen.  We had an old bar cabinet in the garage that matched, and since we needed more storage, we brought it in to replace the smaller one we were using.  Although I painted it a nice rustic black with gold edging for an antique feel to compliment the rest of the house, we were presented with one major problem.  The countertop didn't match.  Navy blue on black is not just a clothing no-no.  For this, we came up with the idea to replace all of our laminate countertops with concrete.  We could pour it ourselves to save money and have awesome, solid-surface countertops.  

We started out by practicing our technique on our old bar.  We moved it to the side, and it will be great extra storage in our dining area.  L-O-V-E it!  We have stain and sealer on the way.  It will be amazing when we are done.  

Next, we knocked out the countertop on the new island (and by "we," I mean Donald...)  Did I also mention this was all extremely messy?  Still, the end result- FANTASTIC!  I'm still in awe.  

(Don't worry.  There is a drawer for beneath the stovetop.  We just haven't put it back yet!)

The stovetop had previously been in the corner of our main cabinetry.  In it's former location, it was impossible to have any more than a one-man operation in the kitchen.  The oven, stove, sink, and dishwasher were all on top of one another, so moving the stovetop to the island solved a world of problems.  Plus, it looks totally sharp with that black cabinet!  

Moving on, I'm sure you are still wondering why we have a gigantic, gaping hole and missing walls in our kitchen now.  The plan was simply to pour new countertops on our existing cabinetry there as well.  The kink in that plan, as it turns out, is that the cabinets had been "modified" by someone previously.  We had worked on them before to put the laminate countertop in, but it became apparent that a complete overhaul was in order for them to support something as heavy as concrete.  The paneling behind the old cupboards was also not in great shape, so here we are.  We have demolished the old walls.  We're correcting wiring and adding more outlets, putting up backer board in preparation for tile backsplash, and adding new paneling for behind the cabinets.  Oh, and we're waiting on Monday to roll around so we can purchase the new cabinet we didn't know we were going to need.  Eek!  On the bright side, I have the vision.  It will be grand, eventually.  If it were easy, we would have done it a long time ago.  

Here are some more pictures of the project!

This was the island before.  It was a lovely sway-back shape with chipping white paint and navy blue top.

Jazz had to check it out.

Sanding. Sanding. Sanding.

The first coat of black.  Donald was worried at this point :)

Yeah, I went there.  The polyurethane was excessively stinky!

A few days, three coats of black paint, antique gold edging, and two coats of polyurethane later, this was my finished product.  I love it!  Now, if i can only get the rest of the kitchen back together!