Recently, Young House Love blog showed their Ardex kitchen counters project, and I felt inspired to finally start on our kitchen’s mini-makeover.  I bought some supplies and dove right in.  I’ve hated our tile counter tops since we bought this house ten years ago.  It feels GOOD to cover them up.

Jay offered moral support.  I’ve started with just the kitchen island so that we still have the rest of the kitchen available to use.  I also plan on painting the kitchen island, and then I’ll move on to the other counters and cabinets.

Since the thinner areas of concrete dried quickly, it was easy to see the tiles as the concrete was just beginning to set up.  The smudges are areas repaired after a stubborn cat decided he could walk on the counters even if I did say No.

After the first layer dried overnight, the tile lines were still faintly visible.

But with a second layer, no more tiles!  (Yay!)  I don’t have a picture of it yet, but I’m on the third layer and will decide after sanding and cleaning whether or not I’ll do a fourth layer.  I’m really hoping I’ll decide three is good, but I can be a harsh taskmaster.

Meanwhile, I’ve done a much quicker redo on our fridge.  It’s never made sense to me that our refrigerator has a black front and almond sides. So I bought a roll of black Contact paper and traced the stencils I used on our headboard wall in our bedroom.

And it looks like this:

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get started on it this weekend or not, but I have ordered a kit to paint the island.  I’ll need to order sealers for the concrete, too.  This project has slowed down my sewing, but I have managed to start on a new quilt-as-you-go cat quilt.  I need a nap.