So, this post was delayed a little bit by a few newer projects, as well as our big announcement!  You can read Part I of this post here.

Let’s start with a little refresher.

BEFORE:

There’s really just a whole lot of NO going on here.

AFTER:

Still in progress, but much less MAKE IT STOP! happening now.

Let’s continue talking about how we got here – today we’re talking countertops!

Part II: Tinted Concrete Countertop Overlay
The gray laminate countertop was durable, but so, So, SO ugly. I also knew the 4″ laminate backsplash had to go.  It made the walls behind it feel so small and closed-in, and I knew we’d be putting in a subway tile backsplash next that I wanted to run flush from the countertop.  My inspiration has always been these two photos:

I love the look of soapstone or black granite with crisp white cabinets in a farmhouse, but we’re not quite there yet budget-wise.  So for a quick livable makeover, I opted for a black-tinted concrete countertop overlay.  I was inspired by the tutorial I found on Little Green Notebook, she made it seem so easy!  We ordered the Ardex Feather Finish concrete powder, as well as the black tinting powder from Amazon.  We had about 30 square feet of countertop space to cover, and one bag of each was plenty.  Ardex is not sold in stores unless you have a distributor nearby – you can search for them here.

While we were waiting for the powders to arrive, it was time to do some prep work.  The first thing we did was attack remove the 4″ laminate backsplash.  If you have countertops like we did, you’ll notice that unfortunately they usually screw this backsplash into the countertop through the bottom, before they install the counters themselves.  This makes it near-impossible to just unscrew them from underneath, and trying to pry them off will only damage the countertop you have left.  To get around this, we slightly pried each section away from the countertop enough to expose the screws.  We then used an oscillating saw with a metal blade, and cut through each screw as flush to the countertop as possible, and finished grinding down the screws with a dremel tool.  It’s okay if you scuff up the countertops a little, since you’ll be doing an overlay.  You just don’t want the huge holes that prying might cause.

Woohoo!  So much better already, and we haven’t even started.

Next, we needed to scuff up the surface of the countertop, so that the concrete had something to grab on to.  I used a wallpaper scorer for this, and gave each surface a rough score 3 times each.  Finally, make sure each surface is clean with a wet sponge.  If the surface is really dirty or greasy, clean with a mixture of 1/4 cup TSP: 1 gallon water.  Wear eye protection and gloves if you have to use this solution, because it is serious stuff!  The countertop will look rough when you’re done, but that’s good – at this point there’s no turning back 🙂

Now is the exciting part : time to lay down some concrete!  Be sure you’re wearing disposable gloves for this part, if you don’t want stained hands.  I wish I had more pictures of this process, but we finished the project 4 months before I started blogging.  I’ll do my best to describe the rest from here!  To get the dark color we wanted, we mixed the following ratio:

1/4 cup tinting powder : 2 cups ardex powder : (about) 1 1/2 cups water

It will look like a thin black cake frosting.  Yum?

You want to mix this up until you get the consistency above, then let it sit for 5 minutes.  I know this sounds counter-intuitive because it would seem like letting it sit would give you less time to work with it – but it’s actually the opposite.  After 5 minutes, mix it up again.  This will give you about 15 minutes of working time, which should be enough to do one coat on about 10-15 sq. ft. of countertop.

Take a trowel (we used a magic trowel – highly recommended!), and spread on a thin layer of concrete.  It’s like icing a cake.  Don’t overthink it, smooth it out the best you can, but remember that small ridges can be sanded after each coat.  The vertical edges are a bit tougher – I found the trick to this is to wait to do these until the countertop itself is covered.  This gives the concrete mix enough time to set up so that you can just grab some in your (gloved) hand at the end and rub it along the sides without it falling off.  Let this coat dry completely, about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.  Then it’s time to sand – we did a rough sanding with an orbital sander and a 120 grit pad in between each coat.  You want to put on at least 3 thin coats of concrete to completely cover the surface.

Once you’ve finished your last coat, give it a once over with the 120 grit, then follow it up with a 220 grit to get it really, really smooth.  (Pro tip: if you’re doing a kitchen countertop with a sink insert, don’t be dumb like us.  Remove the sink before you do this.  We didn’t and I’m not thrilled with the results around this area).

Done!

Just kidding.  You have to seal these bad boys unless you want your every move in the kitchen documented on these porous, easily stainable countertops.  To do this, we chose two different sealers:

511 Impregnator Sealer + Safecoat Acrylacq (Satin Finish)

We did 3 coats of the impregnator/sealer, and 3 coats of Acrylaqc.  Acrylaqc is a food-grade, stain resistant sealer, so we thought this was our best choice.  However, it’s been over 6 months now that we’ve lived with these countertops, and it hasn’t proven to be as stain-resistant as advertised.  We’ve got some spots that are left over from spills which is a HUGE bummer, but it blends well enough (it almost looks like well-worn chalkboard) that I can deal until we save up enough for stone.

If I could start over, I would have finished everything off with a clear, 2-part epoxy top coat.  I think this really would have made these countertops super stain resistant, however, that is my only regret.  We’ve had no issues with surface scratches or chips.

It took about a week start to finish, but looks much so much better!