Monday, March 21, 2011

Grrrr....

So, when we started this project, we enlisted the help of many friends to help us along the way.  The idea behind a DIY project is obviously to do everything ourselves, save money and learn many valuable lessons along the way.  Well, check, check and CHECK!

One valuable lesson that I learned the hard way is that you can't simply PAINT over laminate countertops.  Even IF you buy special, expensive LAMINATE paint for COUNTERTOPS...the product just simply doesn't work.  After all my sanding, priming, re-priming, painting and re-painting those bad boys, the paint would just simply scratch off with a fingernail.  ARRRGGGHHH.

The Painted Counters...

Travis and I went to this awesome store called Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.  It's basically all of the leftover building materials from the various Habitat projects.  What's even better, it was just like the Rebuilding Center, but ORGANIZED!  We priced the laminate/formica sheets online and at Home Depot and each sheet was anywhere between $45-$145 for a 4'x8' sheet...totally out of our price range.  So we kept looking.  We weren't able to find anything on Craigslist or at the RBC, so we trekked down to the Habitat store.

JACKPOT!!

Joey cutting the formica.

Along with buying the formica, we also got to use some new power tools....(Cue Trav dancing...).  The formica is not pliable at all and kind of hard to work with, so we had to be very careful.

Travis edging up the sides.

We were able to get 3 counters done, and I must admit, the new surfaces look MUCH more professional.  We have a ways to go, but getting there one step at a time.

HAPPY SPRING FROM PORTLAND, OREGON!








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