Sunday, July 14, 2013

The Countertops are Coming! Part 2 - The Installation Pics

First of all, since I really hated my old laminate counters, we decided to give them a proper send-off and basically, well, DRAW all over them with sharpies!




Um, we got a little carried away. The funny thing was that when the countertop installers came, they said that it wasn't the first time someone had drawn on their counters before giving them the old heave ho. And I thought we were being original.

Before we knew it, Premier Surfaces had arrived with our granite! Yay!

The two young men from Premier were great, and they got right to work removing the old laminate.


I highly recommend vacuuming out those empty spaces before they lay down the new counters - the stuff that's lurking down there is pretty gross - not just dirt, but spider webs, spider egg sacks, small countries, etc.
Next, they carried in and placed a large slab of granite using metal clamps and a stabilizing bar so that the stone doesn't flex as it is moved.

Then they mixed an adhesive that would be used to join the one seam...

After the adhesive is applied to the seam, a machine that makes a vibrating noise (sorry I can't be more technical) is connected to these weighted bars for about 20 minutes or so, and the process causes the stone to almost meld together and leaves an almost seamless appearance.

Within a 3-hr time frame, the finishing touches are applied to make everything just right...

And, voila! I have my new, beautiful granite countertops! ( I did the backsplash myself the very same day the countertops were installed so I could start enjoying my kitchen's new look right away! : )







Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Countertops are Coming! The Countertops are Coming!

I have been waiting for this day for over 9 years! I am finally having my old laminate countertops replaced with granite today. Alas, it's not a DIY project - I'm leaving it to the pros. Nevertheless, I thought my glee was worth sharing. I've never installed new countertops, so for me, this is a learning experience. I will be posting pictures today /tomorrow of the whole process. Stay tuned...

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Painting A Stone Fireplace: From Eighties Eyesore to Cool and Contemporary

Have you been wondering if you can paint a stone fireplace?  Well you can, and I did. I whitewashed both the stone and the wood mantel, with beautiful results. Here's the story…
So, as with most anything I do in life, I completed another home improvement project on an impulse. When I decide I want to do something, it'll take an act of God (or the offer of a frozen margarita) to change my mind. This time, I decided I was tired of my living room fireplace. I didn't like the dark wood of the mantel, and the brownish stone surround and hearth were so eighties, man. Frankly, it was an eyesore.

Here is the 'before' picture:













And here is the 'after' picture:


I used a whitewash painting technique on both the stone fireplace and the wood mantel, which produced a more natural look than full-on latex paint.
Perhaps the coolest part is that this project didn't cost me a dime. As in nothing, nada, zilch. All materials were things that I already had around the house. The only investment was about 5 hrs. of my time.
Like the transformation? Read on for the How-to... 

First, clean out the fireplace.
If it's a gas fireplace, make sure to turn off the gas as well as the pilot light if it's accessible. Spread a tarp or an old shower curtain over the hearth and on the floor so you don't make a sooty mess everywhere. Remove any logs carefully, brush them off, and set them to the side. Sweep out all the old ashes, soot, dirt, gravel, etc. with a small broom and dustpan, and then use a vacuum cleaner to finish up. NOTE: My fireplace is gas with an electric vent system to "push" the heat out into the room. You can see the black electric cord in the first photo. I thought about cutting off the cord since I rarely use that feature, and even pulling the vents out for good, but decided against that for now. I wiped down the black metal vents so they'd be really clean for painting.
Now- on to painting the black vents and fireplace screen. Because I didn't want to take the time to pull out the metal vents and spray paint them, I painted them using a 2" paintbrush and Valspar (Lowe's paint brand) Bonding Primer for glossy surfaces (not paint) in Tintable White. I know I should have used a product that was heat resistant, but didn't, so we'll just have to see how it holds up next winter when the fireplace is in use! The brush allowed me to get into the slots nicely. I was careful not to get primer on the stone, so didn't need to tape it off. I took my old, black fireplace screen outside and used White Rust-Oleum High Heat Enamel Spray and gave it 2 coats. It looked brand new!

Next up, painting the stone. I used a whitewash technique so as to preserve the basic beauty and the natural stone look. This can be achieved by mixing 3 parts water with 1 part paint and mixing it in a bowl. I used 1 cup of paint, and 3 cups of water, and applied it using the same paintbrush I used on the metal vents. I already had a gallon of Valspar Ultra Paint+Primer in White Semi-Gloss on hand from when I painted my kitchen cabinets, so I used that. Be sure to tape off surrounding areas and cover the hearth when you do the vertical surfaces, as whitewash can be messy and drips A LOT.
Working in small sections, brush on the paint mixture (the brush should not be dripping) and then wipe it off with a white cloth or rag. You want to kind of rub the paint into the stone as you wipe it off. It the whitewash drips down to the hearth, wipe it off right away.


...and this is what it looked like after all of the stone was whitewashed:

Kind of has the same effect as Annie Sloan chalk paint, but a heckuva lot cheaper!

Moving on to the mantel, clean it using a good degreaser or TSP, and then sand it down, just enough to get rid of the shiny varnish on the wood. I used a medium grit sanding sponge.

Wipe down the wood with a tack cloth or similar to remove the dust, and again, tape off the walls and protect surrounding areas from drips.

I decided to use the whitewash mixture for the wood as well because I wanted to avoid the stark contrast of a bright white fireplace in a room that doesn't have a lot of other white in it. I wanted it to be a focal point, but not to dominate the room. I was able to use the same original whitewash mixture that I had used on the stone to completely cover the wood mantel with 2-3 coats, with some paint still left over! Amazing - and cheap!

Using the same basic technique that was used on the stone, paint the wood with the whitewash mixture (I used another 2" paintbrush), using long, smooth strokes to minimize visible brushstrokes. You can wipe off/rub in the paint with a rag again if you like, but I found that removed too much of the paint, so I just let the paint absorb into the wood an dry, and then decided if I needed another coat. If you want a more rustic beach wood kind of look, then 1 coat might do just fine. I ended up applying 3 coats to get the look I wanted.
TIP: Since the whitewash paint is thinner and tends to drip more, as it dries (particularly on vertical surfaces where gravity is working against you) use your paintbrush to continually brush out the little "pools" and drips. This may take a lot of extra brushstrokes, but it's worth it.


 ...and this was the look of the paint after the 3 coats I applied:

 And that's it! It really wasn't very difficult at all to give my fireplace - and my living room - a dramatically different look. From eighties eyesore to cool and contemporary!

I hope you like it, and I hope this gives you the inspiration to try this yourself!