Spring 2022 One Room Challenge: Week 4

How are we already half way through the One Room Challenge by Apartment Therapy? I absolutely cannot believe how time has flown by. If you haven’t been keeping up with other creators or the featured designers, you absolutely need to check out the amazing work that everyone else has been up to. I am blown away by the talent of this maker community. You can check out what everyone has been up to on the One Room Challenge Blog.

Well friends, after spending three weeks on the ceiling, I probably don’t need to tell you how badly I needed a break. But I’m going to anyway. The ceiling was the HARDEST project I have EVER taken on! From all the details, to standing in an awkward position with my head always looking up, to the pure physical strength it took my arms to just keep going. So this week, I took it easy on myself with an old familiar friend of a project.

When we first moved into our house, there were two countertops stacked on top of each other in the back hallway, which is the space I took on last year for the One Room Challenge. A few years ago, I decided to build a coffee bar in our dining room in this weird nook that really had no other function. I used one of those stacked countertops for it because it was free, but my intention was always to find a way to resurface it. If you were around last year for the One Room Challenge, you might remember that I chopped a countertop in half and coated it in feather finish concrete.

You’ve probably already guessed where this is going, but I decided to take the coffee bar countertop out to the garage and apply the same finish. This time around, I chose to cut off the rolled backsplash on the countertop, because it’s really important for what’s going on top of the counter, which you’ll see in the next few weeks. I added 1×2 boards around the edge of the countertop to give it a modern squared finish. Then I sanded the entire thing to help the concrete adhere to the surface.

Feather finish has rapidly become a budget DIYer’s best friend, but what is it exactly? It’s a rapid-set thin concrete. You apply it in smooth layers with a trowel. Its actual purpose is underlayment for flooring, but in the DIY community, I’ve seen it applied to countertops, tables, walls, stairs, you name it.

For the countertop, I applied two layers of it with a trowel. Something I did differently than last year was after the first layer, instead of letting it dry all the way before sanding, I wet sanded it. I used a specific sanding sponge that was meant for this purpose. It was way less messy and dusty than sanding it dry. After the second layer dried fully I did hit it with the power sander some, just to make sure it was smooth. Thankfully being outside and wearing a respirator mask, dust was not a concern.

After that, it came inside and got a few coats of polycrylic in a satin finish. Since this is not our main kitchen countertop, polycrylic works just fine as the finish, and it is food safe once fully cured. If I were to use this method on my kitchen countertops, I would probably do an epoxy finish instead because concrete is very porous, so that would prevent staining more.

I am just as happy with how the countertop turned out this time. I love that it adds neutral warmth and texture to this space. Up next, the coffee bar gets a major upgrade, and I jump back into major project mode.