Kitchen makeover- Mama.

We love our house. It's in great shape. It's brick and on a very shady lot, so it stays very cool and keeps the humidity out. And the only major repair we've had to make is to replace the 35 year old water heater. Not bad, little house.

The previous owners had great taste and painted every room in colors we love. They put in new tile floors (and replaced the roof and windows- yeah!).

I love my big open kitchen. The cabinets have been repainted white, which is a complete pain if there are any kids in the house, especially kids prone to knocking toy cars into said cabinets. But they is the south, and they paint every piece of woodwork they can find down here. But I can live with that. The one thing I can't stand in the once white countertops. I'm sure I've complained about them before. They are slightly yellow after 35 years. If you look at them long enough, they stain. And they show every tiny crumb. Brandon gave me permission to replace them, but after buying a new water heater and having to pay the medical bills for this baby, I don't want to spend any more money. (We miss you, wonderful Wisconsin student insurance.) So instead, we decided on something a little unconventional- we painted them.

Here's a before look at the awful counters. There is a tiny (but growing) gap between the counters and the walls, so there was an adhesive strip to cover it up and keep it from growing gunk. Brandon took a few hours on his birthday to peel that grossness off and clean it up.

Bleah. Thanks, papa.

June played for 3 hours straight without me while I taped everything off. then during naptime, I primed the counters black. We actually bought a kit online specifically made for countertops. Supposedly, this is the paint used on cars, so it's should stand up to normal kitchen use.

A view of the other side. I ordered the kit to get here in time to paint before we left for a wedding. Then it would have plenty of time to dry. It got here on Wednesday afternoon, leaving me about 30 hours to paint and allow for drying time between layers.

After the primer was dry (around 11pm), it was time for the fun part. I sponge painted 5 different colors in 2 foot squares to look like granite.

This took a little longer than I anticipated. I didn't finish until 5 am, but I knew I had to get it done, and I didn't want to try and juggle that many cans of paints and supplies with kids running around. (Luckily, Brandon volunteered to take Henry to school, so I didn't have to get up. And my best little buggy ever, slept in until 11 am! I know I heard her up around 9, but she must have gone back to sleep. I swear that kid would stay in bed all day, if you let her.)

Today, we added 2 coats of polyurethane to make it nice and shiny and protect the paint. I don't think anyone's going to mistake it for real granite, but I also don't think anyone will walk in and say "Did you paint that?" Overall, we're pretty pleased. Plus, the whole project only cost about $70. Brandon took the tape off tonight and there was a little bleeding, but the new adhesive strip we have to install to close the gap should cover it up. We'll let you know how it holds up after I let people start touching it again.