Countertop Transformation

Finished!

Last spring we started our big remodeling project in Myrtle Beach. We removed the popcorn ceiling, painted the whole place, replaced all of the flooring with tile & hardwood throughout. One of our plans for last spring was to do something with the unattractive green laminate countertops. Best laid plans. It got warm. The beach called to us... We answered... The countertops didn't get done.

Winter came... It was cold. We stayed home. Spring arrived (again)... Enough already. We've got to get this done!!! We've had the boxes of stuff sitting for almost a year. Let's do it!! That's what I said. Stephen said, "grumble grumble" when I proposed it on Thursday after hearing that the weather in Raleigh and Myrtle Beach had rain rain and more rain in the forecast. But... good man that he is - He went along with the plan.

Overall Thoughts: Great product.  If you're considering replacing countertops but don't have the money or just plain don't want to spend the money to replace them - Try this.

Our lessons learned:

• If you have the ability to do it over a three day weekend. Do it. We did it in two days but three would have taken a lot of pressure off. If you don't have a three day weekend - Start Friday night with the cleaning & sanding part.
• You need two people. No more than two is necessary but two for sure. It'll help things go a little faster.
• The time frames they estimated were off. Well. Either that or we're super slow. We spent WAY more time sanding, prepping the countertops than their estimated 30-45 minutes. I think we were at least double that. Day 1 was about 4 hours. Day 2 was... 6 or so hours. (We had repairs... See bullet towards the bottom.)
• We bought two kits. We'd heard from a friend who used the product, through reviews & in the videos that you need to make sure your base coat is pretty thick. Technically we had enough with one kit to do the whole kitchen - but because it was just the right amount we were worried. We're glad we did. Otherwise we would have stressed over having enough of the base. We found the additional tools to be useful too. Of the 2nd kit the things we didn't use: The additional spreader, the chips and the extra top coat. Everything else we used.
• REALLY REALLY inspect your countertops for laminate that needs to be repaired. Figuring that out the morning you start the work isn't the best time to be fixing stuff. You want to give the rubber cement enough time to dry.
• We started a humidifier the night before to bring up the humidity for day 1. I'm not sure if it helped or not, but... we did it.  
• We used an orbital sander to rough up the countertops. It helped take the first layer off but didn't prevent the need to sand using the diamond sanding block. Stephen used the sander (because I can't be trusted with power tools) and I did most of the sanding block work. The directions say to sand in a circular motion with both hands. They're right. It's much easier on the hands/arms and you get a more even sand.
• Tape/plastic after you've sanded and wiped down the countertops. You don't want all of that dust in your tape to accidentally get in the base coat. 
• Taping & plasticing is a must. Particularly the taping. And make sure that you extend the tape up at least a couple of inches. This isn't so much because you're going to get paint on the walls but when you spray the rewetting agent if you happen to get it on the walls, and then use the spreader to put the chips on and it hits in the wetting agent that's on the walls... You may have problems getting the chips off the wall. (Personal experience.)
• The base coat is thick. I agree with all reviews, friends, directions - put it on thick! You'll be thankful later when you're tossing on chips and then sanding. 
• Repairs to spaces that you accidentally bump into (with your butt - yeah, no joke) aren't hard to fix. Just make sure you lay the base coat on pretty thick and REALLY toss the chips at it. Throw them hard. And if your aim is like mine you'll throw 5 handfulls and only one will actually hit the spot you're trying to get to. *sigh* 
• After you're done putting the chips down. Walk away. Leave it alone till tomorrow. Leave the plastic, etc and all of the mess as it is. Seriously. Tomorrow is just going to add to the mess.
• Sanding and chipping on day 2 is the messiest part of the whole project in my opinion. Messier than the chips spreading. Messier than the original sanding. That stuff is going to get up your nose, in your mouth.. If you have a mask and can use it - do so. I can't stand it on my face so I took 2 years off my life by sucking in the dust. 
• After we sanded & chipped we took out all of the plastic & cleaned the floors and such. Part of this was because I'd exceeded my time frame for allowing a mess. The other part was that I was worried we'd be moving around the dust when we were putting on the top coat. I'm really glad we removed it. I also removed some of the taped sections that I thought were sketchy (i.e. really painted on and/or chipped) and replaced the tape. This turned out to be a great call. In fact, if I had to do it over again I'd probably retape all of the walls again just to make sure that I didn't hyper glue the tape to the walls with the base coat and then chips & then top coat.
• Plan for repairs. There's going to be a section you didn't coat well enough with chips, that you bumped and didn't realize you bumped or that you just plain missed. You'll need an extra four hours for this purpose alone. If you plan for it and don't need it - great. If you don't plan for it and you do need it you'll be like us finishing at 10:30pm on day two.

When we left the countertops were still a little tacky so I'm not sure how they feel completely finished but we'll find out in a couple of weeks when we go back. Again, great product, easy enough to do and way cheaper than replacing the countertops, even with laminate again.

Good luck!!! :)

Photos of our before/after.

Four Shots of Giggle Juice

Enjoying some FroYo at the Frog :)

I forgot to mention in the last blog that Katherine also had her 4y/o check up. She was pretty excited on Tuesday morning when I told her we were going to see Dr. H. In fact, so much so that when she got to school she ran in to tell her teachers how she was going for a check up later that day to see how she was growing.

I didn't mention shots.

Her friends did.

When I picked her up from school the conversation when something like this...

K: Mommy, am I going to get shots today?
Me: I don't know honey. (I really didn't.) Why do you ask? Who told you you were going to get shots?
K: My friends.
Me: Which friends?
K: The friends that are 4.
Me: Oh.

When we got to the doctors office she was so enamored with the fish tank (LOOK MOMMY SHARK BAIT OH LA LA IS IN THERE!!!) that she forgot about the shots. I didn't. This was the first time I was going to the pediatrician sans Stephen with me and I'm the mom who cries when she gets a needle.

I filled out all of the paperwork and back we went.  She started out with a vision test that she did great on.  Then we went to the height & weight check.  She's now 31lbs and is 39.25" tall.  (It's not lost on me that she's a mere 20" shorter than I am. At four. That puts her in the 50% percentile for height and the 25th percentile for weight. "Tall and skinny like we like it!" ~ Says Dr. H.

When we went back to the exam room the nurse asked if I had any concerns.  I mentioned her snoring (seriously for something so little the snores are unbelievable) and the fact that I was worried she might have a hearing issue.  As for the snoring... her tonsils are huge and the doc said she might need to have them removed at some point. For now, if we can deal with the snoring, she can. Don't fret.  Her hearing... I struggle between wondering if she can't hear OR if she's just ignoring me.  After a hearing test it was determined (by the nurse AND Dr. H.) that she's ignoring me. The good news is she has no medical issue. The bad news is... I have a parental issue.  She even proceeded to tell Dr. H sometimes she just doesn't listen to me.

Then the moment came... I think she was more afraid of the fact that Dr. H laid her down and said to me "hold her down. Hold her hands. Hold her TIGHT. Do not let go." She started crying then. Heck, I think I started crying then. He was done in under a minute and she was up in my arms. Dr. H gave her a Strawberry Shortcake sticker for doing so well with her shots. She smiled. And then cried again.

We talked about how we were going to meet Aunt Nikki for dinner to celebrate her check up. She calmed down and we sent Aunt Nikki a video text telling her we'd see her soon.

Then she stood up.  Apparently Dr. H injected 4 shots of giggle juice into Katherine's legs. Or at least that's what she told me. From that point on when she walked she giggled.  And walked bo-legged... Because of the giggle juice in her legs. When asked what it felt like she said "It feels like my legs are giggling mommy!!!" Mmmkay. Whatever you say babe.

The good news is she doesn't hold a grudge. She still thinks Dr. H is awesome and that the giggle juice shots, while they pinched, weren't so bad. After all... they made her giggle for days!  :)

She's four.

I love this kid.

I know everyone says this. Heck, I've said it like a thousand times already... this week, but I can't believe how quickly four years have flown by. There are moments that I look, or listen, to Katherine and think "Seriously?! When did you grow up?" I know this is only the beginning and I have MUCH more of this in store over the years.

Last week we kicked off what turned into a week of celebrating Katherine's 4th birthday.  It started on her birthday (the 11th).  She had a super cool t-shirt that made the announcement of her big accomplishment (and ours... after all we've kept her alive and healthy for four years :))! 

This greeting customized with Smilebox

After our morning photo shoot on the steps we headed out to school as a family. She and one of her classmates share their birthday so we split up the celebrations for the day.  We took morning snack and he had afternoon snack. Given it was the morning we went with munchkins for the big event. 

It was complete with Happy Birthday tunes from her friends and teachers in addition to the normal morning snack treats.  She was asked to be the "snack helper" which is a coveted "job" in the class. She set out cups for her friends. And she got TWO donuts!!! A chocolate and a jelly. (Super awesome!) 

This photo collage personalized with Smilebox

She requested spaghetti and meatballs for her birthday dinner so we'd started that before we left for school that morning. After school she came home to a pretty festive party at home. Aunt Nikki came over to join us for dinner. Then our neighbors, and friends, came over to join us for some piñata slaying, singing, presents and cake!

Create a collage

I'll admit that the piñata again foiled me. I thought this year I'd figured it out after last year's debacle. Turns out that not all piñatas come filled with candy (lesson learned and remedied early in the day), the strings are likely to break before any of the piñata is loosened, Daddy ripping the piñata open with his hands (or razor knife) is still the only way to get the candy out. *sigh* This might be the last year for the whole piñata thing.

The start of the piñata fun: Strawberry Shortcake Piñata 2012

Presents were a hit on Monday and continued through the week. She had presents to open every night as more kept arriving daily for her. One of the things she asked for for her birthday was a "vanity just like mommy's"... Fortunately I used common sense and didn't go overboard on the whole thing. I found a Melissa and Doug make it yourself vanity that she and I did one evening. Note, it was also "dress like a movie star" day at school so she was dressed up as Princess Aurora (AKA Sleeping Beauty).

Free collage created with Smilebox

On Friday my sister Jacki arrived in NC for the weekend. Friday night we had another round of birthday cake celebrating and singing (A Princess Belle cake this time) and pizza on the porch... followed by, you guessed it... more presents. :)

Saturday was her big birthday party with her classmates.  This is the first year we've done a class party. Gone are the days, it seems, when parties are at home with your friends over. Katherine had a Chef party at a place called Lil Chef. She had so much fun cooking up some dinner with her friends. They made 4-cheese macaroni and cheese, Strawberry Shortcake Sweetie Pies and had some cupcakes for dessert. They made chef hats, played, read a Pinkalicious story and sang a song about going on a bear hunt. And of course... we came home with (more) presents.

This is a video of Katherine's friends singing happy birthday to her, with apparently some words that she asked be inserted into her song. :)
Happy Birthday... EAT MORE CHOCOLATE...

Lil Chef takes photos at the parties and posts them for parents to look at later. This is our party...
Lil Chef Photos (Take by Lil Chef)

Slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Before the party, we managed to squeeze in a little fun courtesy of a hose and some balloons. Water balloon fights are SOOOO much fun. Although the time it takes to fill the balloons is inordinately longer than it takes to smash them against your opponent. Why is that?!

Another collage by Smilebox

It was a great week. Each day I love her more and am in awe of her. She exasperates me, pushes my buttons, makes me laugh hysterically, can make my heart melt, stun me with how smart & perceptive she is and take my breath away with her cuteness... I'm so grateful for my little girl.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate K's 4th birthday! It was certainly a week of fun!

xo
Darlene, Stephen and KK