Home makeover contest

AFTER

"We completely renovated the duplex leaving no surface untouched. We put hardwood flooring everywhere, except the back entrance and upstairs bath, which we tiled. We scraped off the popcorn stipple on the ceiling and retextured, we replaced all our appliances and cabinets, and of course, we painted. We used IKEA cabinetry in the kitchen, which we upgraded by adding shaker paneling to the ends, crown molding to the top, and painting black. After discussing where else we wanted shaker paneling, I observed we were pretty much going to have it everywhere. Susan jokingly replied 'Let's add it to the stairs too!' I was immediately sold and added shaker paneling to the stair risers -- something neither of us had seen before. When I was still in university Susan took a book out of the library by Fu-Tung Cheng titled Concrete Countertops. It looked like a lot of work but we vowed we would do it when we bought a place of our own. Now that we had a place the question came up again: should we do concrete countertops? We had yet to say no to any idea and this was no exception. We didn't like the vibrant colors that resulted when using dyes but preferred the subtle tones of natural concrete. However, we also didn’t want it to look like a sidewalk was lying on top of our cabinets. We experimented with different cement/sand combinations: white sand with white cement, white sand with the regular gray cement, masonry (orange) sand with gray cement, white sand with white cement with grey cement scattered throughout for a mottled marbling effect… While I had all the cement, sand, aggregate, and water out Susan thought it would be a cute idea to get the feet imprints of our two boys, Jack and Charles. It was late and I was tired but Susan insisted. Using a nearby Tupperware container I quickly mixed a batch with what was nearest me; white cement and the ugly orange masonry sand. I was sure the gray and white marbled concrete would be the one we would use but when we stripped the moulds off and flipped the samples and the feet imprints over there was really no contest. The masonry sand and the white cement had combined to make a beautiful creamy colored concrete. We used this color for our countertops and also for a sink I made for the main floor bathroom. Enjoy the photos!"