The before (ugly blue laminate)
The during, out with the old!
And in with the new! Granite is heavy....took four big strong guys!
After the old countertops were out (they went allll the way up to the cabinets) and the new granite was in (they only had a 4in 'backsplash', we were left with a layer of sticky glue-y residue between granite and the cabinets (see above picture). So it was like having thicker, heavier wallpaper that wouldn't peel off. So instead, we had to mud over it all....ever so carefully as to not mess up new counters! Brad did the mudding and I came in after him and flattened and textured.
After it dried, which took a full day!, I sanded it out so it wasn't pokey. Then we could paint. Funny story here... we had not quite enough paint left over from painting the whole rest of the house (which took 4 galloons by the way), so Brad had to go buy one more can of paint. By the time we opened it up and started painting it was 9:30 at night. And it was the WRONG COLOR! It had the right label and everything on it. But it was quite obvious a very different color. So he rushed up to Home Depot to get it switched out before they closed at 10p. He did. They were baffled but gladly exchanged and we got the paint home and up on the walls. We also had to get some white glossy paint to paint just under the countertops where the old had come off but the new didn't cover. So while I was at it, I just went ahead and decided to touch up all the cabinets. Whew! A LOT of work. Then I decide, 'oh I might as well paint the doors too (the doors to the backyard and to the garage). A LOT more work. But it was worth it. The next day we took the tape and protective towels down and cleaned up. Only supposed to use plain water on the countertops. There's theories of using windex w vinegar or soap and water or different granite cleaner. But our guy said...just water to clean up any spills or messes. Its sealed for now and will have to be maintained by being sealed every year or so to keep it fresh and up to par.
Our new kitchen looks soooooo good though. Wow! What a difference, huh?
Notice the pretty new white door? And I even painted the doggie door! LOL
And a new sink too! I REALLY love my new sink. Hard to tell in the picture, but it is SUPER deep (10 inches to be exact) and its a single sink now too. Which I equally love. I hated hated HATED having a double sink. I never used the left side. So I love being able to put something big in there. And the cool new faucet (and soap dispenser too!) too. Love all of it. :)
A few days after the granite was installed, we noticed one or two chips in it, so we called them back out and they happily repaired them. While there, I asked the guy to make our extra piece (the cutout from the sink) into a cutting board. He gladly obliged! It was fun watching him cut it from a jagged piece to smooth it to sand it to round out the edges and make it pretty.
No comments:
Post a Comment