Make It Happen Monday:: Butcherblock Countertops Finished!!
Good morning, all! It’s Monday, and today is our first Make It Happen Monday check in! Did you get your project finished from last week? I did! But just barely. 🙂 And perhaps some of you will consider my project unfinished because I didn’t do all of my touch up stuff. But I’m still calling this one FINISHED!!
Last week, I committed to refinishing my butcherblock countertops that were showing awful wear and tear, and were beginning to show water damage as well.
And the color was terrible. It was very yellowish orange with a tint of green, and the grain was almost black. I think the color had gradually turned over the year, because I don’t remember it looking like this after I refinished them last time.
But now…NOW…my countertops are gorgeous!!
Drastic difference, right?
Here’s the whole view, and you’ll see what I mean about the whole project not quite being finished. I have paint touchups and recaulking to do…but the countertops themselves are FINISHED!
I am absolutely thrilled with how they turned out. When I started re-staining them, I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to be light or dark this time, but I decided for sure that it needed two coats of stain. After the second coat, I decided it needed to be a bit darker. Five coats of stain later, I had these gorgeous, dark, rich countertops, and I couldn’t be happier!
Now I know there will be questions about how I refinished my countertops. I’ll be posting the details later today.
My project for next week…
So this next week, I’m committing to doing lots of little finishing touches. I’ll be doing paint touchups, recaulking where the tile meets the countertops, grouting the tile in the kitchen and breakfast room, and finishing up trim work (installing quarter round and painting trim that I never finished painting), for example…
And those are just two examples of many little finishing touches that need to be done, so I definitely won’t be able to procrastinate until Thursday before getting started. 🙂
So how did you do on your project?
I want to hear how you did on the project that you wanted to finish this week! Did you finish it? Did you do like I did and wait until Thursday to get started?
If you have a blog post about it, or pictures on Flickr or another photo sharing site, feel free to leave a link! Show off your work!
And then, tell us what you’re committing to finishing this next week.
This accountability thing really did help me. Without it, I know I’d still be looking at ugly countertops. Did it help you as well?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Nice job! I love how they turned out. Love the color of your cabinets too, very pretty!
Love the dark stain – it looks amazing (patting you on the back)!
I cleaned out my closet – well part of it anyway! Now I need to work on the shelves that are up high filled with all kinds of who knows what! But it’s a start – 7 bags to the thrift shop!
Kelly
Seven bags — that’s quite an accomplishment!!
Your countertop looks fabulous! I love the color of the finish!
The before picture really made your kitchen look old and outdated. Now you kitchen looks “Wow!”.
I have not been working on the house so much but doing some organizing and quilting. Had a Ladies Night In and we quilted Friday and Saturday
The counter looks beautiful, Kristi!!!
Congrats!!! It looks great. Can you please tell me which color did you use for the cabinets? I’m painting mine and I was going to go for white but I like your green. Thank you!
It’s called Hallowed Hush. It’s a Behr color from Home Depot, but I had it mixed in interior oil-based paint in a satin finish from Kelly Moore. It’s kind of a bluish green — probably more teal.
Your countertops look really beautiful!
A few weeks ago I started repainting my dog’s house on our back deck, and I got so into the project that I also started repainting the railing on the deck as well! I had finished a couple sections of railing, but the rest was still in dirty, drab shape. Make It Happen Monday was the motivation I needed to FINISH this project!
Here’s where I blog about it: http://www.livinginthesaltbox.com/2012/06/little-bit-of-paint.html
Thanks again Kristi!
Congrats on finishing! That dog house is so cute…and the railing looks so bright and clean now!
I removed some (A LOT) of wallpaper and learned a thing or two! Check out my last blogpost:
Wow, you did get a lot done! That’s great!
Hi Kristi,
Your countertop looks great! Love the rich color. I finished the top of the desk I was working on (since last August), but I still have to add trim to the base–that will be the goal for next Monday!
Congrats on your progress!! I’d love to see a picture of the desk when you’re finished!
I just love how your countertops turned out! The color is gorgeous. And yes, yes, yes, this whole accountability thing jump started my master bedroom makeover.
Last week I finally refinished a craig’s list dresser that has been sitting smack dab in the middle of my family room for a full year. Here’s the link:
I also managed to weed and plant the front yard too.
So this week’s big project is bead board wallpaper in the master bedroom. I’m scared to death. I’ve never hung wallpaper before. So I need to prep the room, draw my level line and at a minimum get the first “test” roll up to see if I can really do the whole space.
Oh, and that dresser? It needs to be moved to the master bedroom … which means I need to clean out my old dresser first. So that absolutely has to happen too!
Thanks for providing the motivation to move forward …
🙂
Linda
Linda, your dresser turned out amazing! And weeding and planting in the front yard too? You definitely get this week’s Overachiever Award. 😀
Here’s the link that I forgot to attached to my previous comment …
http://www.itallstartedwithpaint.com/2012/06/my-four-season-dresser.html
🙂
Linda
WOW that dresser looks great! 🙂
Your countertop came out beautiful! Love the color!
Love, love, love the color of your countertops! What did I accomplish? Geez, other than taking 4 days to do a vintage market that was 200 miles away, I finally got out that gallon of paint and did the touch up of the drywall in my upstairs bathroom. Womp womp. Big deal, right? This week, I’m hoping to put up some new light fixtures and make curtains for my breakfast nook. We’ll see how far I get!
I think the market would have been plenty, Jean! I hope you had fun! I’m sure you’ll dazzle us next week with your light fixtures and curtains. 🙂
Love your counters – I really like the deeper colour – it suits the rest of the kitchen
Sigh, unfortunately my project for the week hit a snag on the first day. I needed a piece of wood for the shelf I need to build, and well the saw at Home Depot was broken bringing my project to a screeching halt. So, my project for this week is the same as last week – I aim to hopefully have my Craigslist buffet refinished by this time next wee, or at the very minimum stained, and awaiting polyurethane. Cross your fingers for me – it will be a lot of work.
Can’t wait to see your buffet finished! I hope this week goes better for you and you can get it finished!
Epic fail. Me, not you. Your countertops are gorgeous. My storage room is still a disaster. But I did another project that had been sitting around instead: turned a 16″ x 20″ shadow box with a hinged front into a pretty place to store my jewelry, so that my 4 yo will quit turning my necklaces into a giant, unwearable tangle and my earrings will stop going missing. Still an epic fail on the storage room, but somewhat mitigated., *sigh*
I don’t think that’s a fail! Sometimes you just have to go where inspiration leads. 🙂 If I’m not feeling inspired to do one project, but completely inspired to do another, that’s still progress!! And I love the idea of turning a shadow box into a jewelry holder. Brilliant!
Well thanks for making me feel better. The shadow box thing was totally not my idea. Freddy and Petunia did it and then sent a pic to BetterAfter, which is where I saw it. They put a print in the front to hide the necklaces on the inside, and put chicken wire over the outer picture to hold earrings, but I wanted to show my pretty jewelry, so when I saw the shadow box 50% off at JoAnn’s, I knew that was just the ticket. I decorated the inside backing, layered 1/4″ hardware cloth over it, added some cup hooks to the inside top of the box, and painted the whole thing to “go” with my master bedroom. Still working on finalizing the frame paint. It was a bit plain, so I’m doing some layering and distressing and tinkering till it looks right. I can send you a pic when it’s done if you want.
I’d love to see a picture of it!
I finished mulching my front flower beds – hard work for sure because my beds are HUGE. We also finished the brick work around our front tree (a project that has taken 1 year to get to). NOW my front yard looks great! I did not take a picture unfortunately. I will go straight home from work today and do that! It looks amazing and I am very pleased with the final results. Even my kids talked about how good it looks.
What an accomplishment! I’m always amazed at the difference that mulch makes. Congrats on finishing!
No project to report from last week….we have had a busy week around here and now that I am on summer break, I’ll have lots more time to finish up projects! I do need to finish my light fixture makeover….have run into a few snags. So I’ll be hoping to link that up next Monday.
I LOVE your countertops. We have ugly puke-colored laminate and although they are perfectly fine, I’m dying for something new. I’m not interested in the investment of stone, so I’m thinking butcher block might be the way to go! If I can get them nice and dark like yours, I would LOVE them.
It looks great! Do you have a list of which specific touch-ups you’ll be doing? My goals for this week are, 1) Put a third coat of homemade chalk paint on my dining room table base, 2) plant hanging baskets, and tidy my workshop. Doable, I think. Of course my HUGE project this week is running electric from my house to my building/shop, but my dad is coming for the weekend to make it happen. He’ll hold me plenty accountable for that one!
I don’t have a list. 🙁 I definitely need to make one to keep myself accountable. Be careful with that electrical work! That’s the one thing that scares me enough to hire it out to someone. 🙂
No worries – My dad is a high voltage electrician. Wouldn’t want it keeping you up at night. 😉
Wow, your counter-tops turned out beautiful! Good job!
I finished my garland thingy late last night (lol nothing like waiting to finish it until the last moment) 😉
Here is the link to a horrible photo of it: (it really does look pretty in person)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/itselemental/e2b3f6c7.jpg
I found the project on: http://www.ellinee.com/blog/paper-flower-backdrop-garland/
I had an unusual piece of driftwood just hanging around and made this garland thing to hang in my kitchen window. You cannot really see it in the photo but I strung clear beads in strands and have them hanging in between the flower strands. They sparkle in the sunlight 🙂 The flowers were hand colored with chalks and wow what a pain! But it is done now and thank you for the push to get it finished.
My next project to finish is not really a project because I am moving into my new place next weekend. A little cabin in the redwoods. 🙂 I will report on that next Monday! 🙂 Happy finishing!
What a beautiful idea for a garland…and an amazingly unique piece of driftwood!! Congratulations on finishing! And wow…a cabin in the redwoods? Sounds amazing. Hope the move goes well!
Thank you, Kristi! I hate moving with a passion but all of my kids have grown up and it is me time now. I finally get to decorate any way I want to in my own little cabin in the woods. It is just me and my dog now (and my dog doesn’t care how I decorate lol). So French Country is most definitely my style all the way. 🙂 By the way I did make a clock last week too, out of an old gold ornate frame, a piece of foam board cut to the inside of the frame (white washed and hand painted roman numerals) and a clock kit from Michaels. Here is the finished project: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/itselemental/d94924a4.jpg
I am working on an old bench that will be turned into a coffee table. I don’t have much space in this cabin so everything I put in there has to do double duty. I will finish it for Monday’s post! 🙂
Love how your countertops turned out! The colour of the wood is nice & rich, and works really well with the colour of your cabinets. It’s great that you can change up the colour of your countertops with a bit of sanding and stain 🙂
The project that I wanted to get finished last week was a RAST hack. It’s all done and I’ve blogged about it here:
http://jaxdoesdesign.blogspot.ca/2012/06/ikea-rast-hack-greek-key-with-zinc.html
My project for this coming week is to varathane the wood top of the coffee table that hubby made. It’s a beautiful spatted maple slab, and I think the clear varathane will really make all the graining and knots stand out nicely ::-)
Seriously amazing. That’s all I have to say about that dresser makeover. Amazing.
Thanks Kristi 🙂 Hope next week’s project comes out as well as my RAST did!
Well done everybody for getting to grips with those tasks and Christy your counter tops look great. I did the items on my list – painted the corner of the conservatory and waxed the 5 pieces of chalk painted furniture. I haven’t filled the cabinet though as planned, I’ve listed it for sale instead. When I’d done it, I realised it wasn’t what I wanted in that space.
Next week I will be doing one of 2 tasks – I need to paint and wax 4 dining chairs but there are 2 obstacles to this, first I need to get the paint (not sold locally so special trip) and secondly they need to dry out from getting soaking wet after I put them in the garden to air. If I can’t manage this, I’m setting a fallback plan of painting my bathroom wall.
Thanks to this blog for holding me accountable and making me get on with my jobs.
Sorry Kristi, mispelled your name.
Wow! Waxed five pieces of furniture? And did some painting? That’s quite an accomplishment for one week! Congratulations!
LOL Kristi, they were only small pieces of furniture, a tv cabinet, a nest of 3 tables and a small display cabinet but thanks for the recognition.
Thanks to you Kristi, I finished painting my shutter sliders — a big yahoo! I really needed that kick-start to get out the paint & knowing I had to post about it forced my hand on Sunday. Next up is finishing the commission work I’ve named Flower Power.
Again, thanks so much for the impetus to get these projects finished.
That’s fantastic! Isn’t it amazing what accountability will do? 🙂 Congrats on finishing!
Oh yeah, Make It Happen on Mondays is a great idea! I am so looking forward to a lot of finished projects this summer. Thanks Kristi & congratulations to everyone who is pressing on.
Love butcher block countertops and the finish looks great!
I was super zealous last week when I said we’d have our living room/entry/hallway/dining remodel complete. After 9 straight days of work we were actually able to move in some of our living room furniture. Just like you though, we still have touch-ups to do.
Goal for this week (before next Monday): complete living room/dining/entry/hallway paint touch-ups, finish the baseboards and hang some art on the walls!
After nine straight days of work, I’d say you deserve a rest! And a pat on the back! Good job on getting so much done!
Beautiful color, Kristi!
Well, I’m still working on my list but thanks to the accountability I’ve done WAY MORE than I would before your “Make It Happen Monday”.
So an unexpected root canal derailed my plans and then my hubby and I went out of town for the weekend to celebrate his birthday. However, I did clean out the laundry room and I’m in the process of a few projects before I can put it back together. I’ve also made major headway on my 4th of July American Flag wreath. I also finished another blog post!
I’m gettin’ it done!
A root canal definitely gives you a pass for the week! 🙂 I would have used that as an excuse to do absolutely nothing for the entire week, so I’m impressed that you got ANYTHING done! 😀
Ha! Thanks! Believe it or not I’ve been in so much pain for so long that having the root canal made me feel better almost instantly! Ok well not quite…. LOL!
I loved how the countertops came out!! Beautiful! I had committed to cleaning out and reorganizing my master closet and even though I waited til the weekend, I did it! Got some hooks up for hanging necklaces, everything looks nice and organized now. Thanks for the motivation, I don’t think I would have done it without your inspiration! 🙂
Well, YAY for finishing, Sharon! I procrastinated a bit as well. I started on my countertops on Thursday. 🙂 I plan to do much better this week…maybe start on Wednesday. 😀
LOL! I’m going to think of another project to do this week and get it done by next Monday again. 🙂
Gorgeous!!! I love the color!!! I’m sure that it will inspire you to do so much more.
I was wondering you had any idea how to make older counters nice again I rent a house and can’t spend alot
thank you
Brenda
What kind of countertops do you have, Brenda? Are they butcher block?
I LOVE the new color of your countertops! Gorgeous! I’m not really one to like the “grainy” look, so I think that was a vast improvement as well:-)
I actually made/completed a Patriotic Wreath that I pinned a while back on Pinterest. Not only is it made, it’ hung! THAT’S an accomplishment for me! LOL
I’m back from vacation and am soooo impressed with your beautiful countertop. Wow! Great job. My porject to complete this coming week is to get our bushes trimmed and looking better. It’s been 2 years (that’s embarrassing) since they were trimmed up so you know they look disgusting. Weather looks good for the next couple of days so it’s my project to complete this week.
I am so late posting. I’d like to say it’s because I was so busy working on my bathroom tile project (the one I want to tackle through Make It Happen Monday), but I got side-tracked with another project: painting our family room. (You can see that–and why I got sidetracked–here: http://www.thissortaoldlife.com/2012/06/11/as-the-paint-roller-turns/).
Your countertops are beautiful, and I pinned your how-to post. I don’t even have butcher-block countertops, but I’d like to! 🙂
Well i missed this post on monday…. but i finished all three growth charts by last friday. Two went out the door to their respective kiddos and the other, well we’re still waiting for her to make an appearence.
Kristi the counters look awesome I can’t wait to read your how to post when I finish typing this up. I have a unfinished kitchen cart that i’ve been wanting to stain but i’ve never done it before so i’m a little apprehensive to start.
This week project: My BFs bridal Shower invites: Finish the design and get them printed and in the mail by 6/29.
The link has pics of the finished growth charts