Countertops Part 1

To give our kitchen a truly modern look we opted to do our own concrete countertops.  Its something George has wanted to try his hand at for a few years now and finally has his opportunity.  Its an extremely cheap way to go, however, its very labor-intensive.  There are several ways to do this but we opted to pour them in place (as opposed to pouring it in pieces and them putting them in place after they've dried) so we can get the 1 full piece.  Here are some of the steps and pics of those steps:

1. Put down plywood to support the concrete and form the bottom layer.

2. Always stay hydrated during the process.

 

3. To form the lip around the edge of the counter (and to conceal the plywood underneath) you have fasted boards to the under side and outside. This took a lot of trial and error to make sure we did this right and got the proper thickness to ensure strength, cover the plywood underneath but keep it short enough to open the drawers and cabinets.  (pics to come tomorrow)

4. Select the proper color you want to use. We finally decided not to dye the concrete and just go natural and then either skim a color on top or spray/dye it the same as the floors when we do those. 

That's as far as we've gotten for now. Tomorrow we'll be pouring the concrete so that it can cure for 30 days before we stain it when move back in a month (fingers crossed!!!)