How to Update Your Countertops with Concrete

It’s week 2 of 3 for the Choose Your Own Adventure Refresh! If you missed last week’s post you can read that here. Here’s the mood board of what I’m going for in the room. (You can click the items in the image to be taken to their shopping site. This post contains affiliate links.) **click here to see the full reveal!*

At first I had every intention of working with our gold glitter counter but when I picked paint colors, I didn’t pick them with the counter tops in mind. You can read my post about paint undertones right here. The colors I picked made the counters look yellower and yuckier than ever before. My bad…

Enter concrete. I’ve seen lots of tutorials on using feather finish concrete in thin layers over existing counter tops. I’ve been so tempted but always felt a little nervous to take the plunge. Welp, I DID IT! and IT’S GREAT! I actually used this awesome tutorial from Tasha at Kaleidoscope Living. (she’s part of this challenge with me too!)

Her tutorial was so thorough and helpful. I taped off the counters from the walls. Sanded the surface with a sanding block.

My husband installed the new drain, because that’s what Tasha said to do.

I used Henry’s Featherfinish patch and skim coat. Call before you go. Our Lowe’s didn’t have what we needed but I found this at Home Depot.

I mixed it according to the box and it came out thicker than what Tasha described it. I just used it anyway and made sure I kept it really thin.

I used a trowel for the counter top then gloves and my hands to apply a coat to the sink. I used a cotton swab to clean out the drain and faucet holes.

I actually ended up filling all but the center faucet hole. The new
hardware I got is all one piece and I love the idea of not using a plate
around the base. Makes things easier to clean around.

I sanded after this coat dried. Side note: this created dust but not NEAR as much as I thought. It was totally manageable and was probably the biggest reason I hadn’t been willing to try it earlier.

I ended up with 3 coats. One day, morning and night and the next day in the morning.

I tried really hard to fill in some of the ridges on the sea shell. You can see the darker areas in the photo below. That’s where the product is a little thicker. It took almost 2 full days to dry out and look more uniform.

Here is was the afternoon before I sealed it. (see the ‘STUD’ on the wall? Just a little love letter to my man)

To seal them I ended up having to buy the Quicrete Acrylic Concrete Cure and Seal from Amazon. They have it at Home Depot but it had to be shipping to our store and it came quicker through Amazon.

I used a foam brush to paint it on and I was a little freaked out by the patchiness of the concrete. The sealer just made the contrast a little too obvious. Sorry for the lighting. We didn’t the fixture hooked up yet so I was taking these by light of a work lamp.

Here’s what I did wrong. I did a layer on concrete by hand, lightly going over thinner areas and spots with uneven texture. I should have just stuck to the trowel. There would have been a little discoloration but not near what I ended up with. Knowing that it would look this way, I may have also been more intentional with my last coat so that the organic look of it would have been more uniform..Still better than the yellowing cultured marble but dang, I wasn’t happy.

I did another coat but this I stirred a little grey paint into the sealer in hopes that the slight tint would even out the contrast.

It did make it a bit better. I’ll for sure be doing this to my side of the bathroom but I’m also seriously considering this for the kitchen. I still have more of the product I already purchased.. Sure, it added work to this makeover but it was so worth the extra couple days. So much improved. I’m really working to try new things in this house. Embrace the in between and the projects that are temporary.

I can’t wait to show you the bathroom reveal next week! As of right now it’s pretty much done and I LOVE IT!  I have to be honest though. Things did not come together the way I had hoped. For a while I couldn’t figure out what it was… Then I did… Sadly, I won’t be using the mirror I’ve been so excited about. I just couldn’t get it to look right with everything else.  I know that was such an awesome piece. It’s still here. I still love it. I’ll find the perfect spot for it at some point. I replaced it with a mirror I found on facebook marketplace for $6, so score! That being said, here’s the design board now. Again you can just click the images for the source links.

So, what do you think? Thoughts on the revised design? Thoughts on the counter tops? Do you have some that could look better with a DIY project like this?! Make sure and pin the image below to save or share.

Make sure you check out week two of the other projects. It’s been fun to see what these ladies are working on:

Also, a big thanks to our sponsors.

I’ll tell you all about what I got when you come back next week for the reveal next week!

Thanks for reading, friends!