DIY Countertops For Under $50

For anyone who lived during the late 70s, you know how popular the faux butcher block countertops were. I had them. They were wonderfully ugly. 

The white granite is exactly the look I was wanting, however, I didn't have a couple grand to spare. While keeping the original cabinetry, I spruced up the handles by taking off the scroll backs and painting them with a mirror paint. 

I then focused on the counters. For $16.00, we purchased a gallon of this water based primer and only used a small amount:

And used this little roller to apply:

After 5 coats, it looked like this:

Next step was 2 coats of white paint. You can use whatever color you want for this. It is your base coat to whatever look you're going for. For me, I wanted the white granite to give a nice contrast between the dark cabinets. 

I'm not quite sure how much the quart of white satin paint cost, but I'd guess under $15.00. My husband purchased it:

After the base coat, I began the accent colors, which were less than $2 each:

I chose FolkArt acrylic paints in cream, dark grey and light grey. When applying, I watered it down on a plate and used a paper towel to give a random pattern. If you don't like what you have, keep dabbing. You can also wipe it off if it hasn't dried yet.

This is my first layer: 

Second layer:

The cream paint was just used to subdue the dark colors. 

The last step is to alternate between the gloss(under $4 can. I used one can) and the iridescent sparkles($3):

It only took a few minutes for each layer of gloss to dry. It was amazing! 

The color I am going with is this $45 can of Valspar paint I got from Lowe's for $15.00 because it was a mistint. It's sort of a Robin's Egg blue:

I won't post a full photo of my kitchen because I still have flooring, tile backsplash and new appliances to get, but I'll give you a sneak peek:

Thanks for viewing! 

Bro Country, How I Loath Thee

BRO COUNTRY, HOW I LOATH THEE

 

Here's the largest difference between singing about trucks, girls and beer today vs. about 5-10 years ago:

TODAY

"Nothing but two lane country on up ahead

Girl, you so fine I wouldn't mind if this is all we did.

You got me high on kisses, you got me missing signs

Hard looking left when my world is on my right" 

5-10 YEARS AGO

"I go back to a two toned short bed Chevy

Drivin my first love out to the levvy

Livin life with no sense of time

And I go back to the feel of a fifty yard line

A blanket, a girl, some raspberry wine

Wishin time would stop right in its tracks

Every time I hear that song, I go back"

Hmmm.....they seem to have the similar storyline; a truck, a girl, a dirt road/country/levvy, alcohol, etc. 

The difference: The first song is entirely about those subjects. It festers and festers and festers, but never changes. Never boils over. Never sings something different. It always dwells on this one moment and doesn't get anywhere. The second just mentions it and moves on to something deeper, a reminiscing of times past. This is the problem with today's country music. It's meaningless, immoral, shallow and demeaning to women. Yet, young girls swallow it up. Why? It's insecurity. They think that if they can just "paint on some jeans", wear some "cherry lipgloss" and shake their "moneymaker" then they will be something to be desired. It's a fantasy. That is all. Those types of boys will just chew you up and spit you out. Bro Country needs to cease to exist all together for the greater good. Please stop liking Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line and the others who follow in their shadows until they can begin to release songs with depth and meaning. Until then, they're only people pleasers. They are not artists. They are not country music. They are a fad. 

The Dining Room: Board and Batten

Board and Batten

Believe me, we could not have done this without the phenomenal work of a good friend. Kevin offered to come help us put the board and batten up on the walls, and I'm sure glad he did because it's my favorite room in the house. 

Before

After searching Pinterest for ideas to add character in this characterless house(if you exclude the wagon wheel embedded in the brick fireplace wall), I settled on this for my inspiration:

What drew me to it was the contrast between the dark and light. Being a lover of deep colors on walls, I knew I needed something to balance it out so the dining room didn't feel like a dungeon each time you walked into it. 

TIP: If you're ever in need of paint, check out the mistinted paint at any home improvement store. Lowe's has them for $5/gallon and Home Depot has them for $7/gallon. Almost all, if not all of my paint was purchased for an insanely discounted price throughout the year prior to buying our house. Don't be afraid to mix colors. 

The process was easy, but time consuming because all the boards had to be spaced just right. 

It took 2 days and $150.00 total to transform our Brady Bunch eating space into an inviting dining room....

After

Thanks for reading! 

Move over, Jonses. The Common Senseneys moved into the neighborhood.

Just a brief intro about our family: My husband, Joe, and I met when in high school. We began dating while I was a junior, engaged when I was a senior, and married just on September 2' 2006, just 3 months after my high school graduation. 

We had our first child, a boy, Ashton Joseph, almost exactly a year later. Then or second followed a little over two years later, another boy, Harrison "Harry" Lee. Then two and a half more years passed and we had a daughter, Shiloh Eleanor. 

We had to relocate for Joe's job and I left my dream farm behind to embark on this new adventure with him. We're about 2 hours from friends and family, so, while I'm making new friends, I'm also renovating our 1978 ranch style house in the most inexpensive way I can, even if it means rolling up our sleeves and doing most of the work ourselves. It was well built, just needed some updating. And by updating, I mean it looked like the Brady Bunch just moved out. Yeah.