A Laundry Countertop for under $200

We've lived in this house for almost five years now, and I have been wanting a laundry room countertop for about four of the five years. 

My desire was twofold: 

1) It would be super functional to have a dedicated place to fold laundry straight out of the dryer. There are times when my kids need their school uniforms in the morning and I find myself doing this:

It is fine, but whenever I do this I think to myself how nice it would be to have a flat clean surface instead.

2) It would make the room look complete and polished. The reason for the baskets on top of the washer and dryer is to conceal the water hose eyesore that the builder placed in the most visible spot in this little room for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE. I thought, really?

I asked a contractor if he could make a countertop for me, but I couldn't justify his $1200 price quote even though my sweet (and frugal!) hubby told me I could have it done. It was tempting. However, I had also asked the contractor how he would address the water hoses and he said he could either make a box to cover it or make a cutout in the new countertop around the water hoses for access. Neither of those options appealed to me. They sounded less like a professional job and more like a DIY hack. So I decided to let go of the idea. 

After living with this sitch for a few more years, it continued to bother me. As with most of my projects, when something bothers me enough, I will finally address it. So I did some research at the University of Google and Youtube and when the kids started the school year, I attempted to tackle a laundry room countertop myself. 

Sadly, I don't have a work table or table saw or big impressive tools. When I set out to do my first DIY project, I thought it would be "one and done", so I bought one of those yellow $15 miter box and hand saw sets. These are the tools I used for this project:

This is why I have to rely heavily on home improvement stores to do big cuts for me. Fortunately, they are always very kind and willing to do them. And for free! The only thing I really have to do is plan out the fewest and optimal cuts to have made. For this project I bought the following:

• 2  4'x8' sheets of 3/4" oak plywood
• 1  8oz can of Varathane wood stain in "Weathered Oak"
• 1  8oz can of Varathane Clear Satin Water-Based Interior Polyurethane
• 1  sanding sponge
• 1  quart of interior paint in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (the color I used to paint our mudroom cubbies and cabinets)
• 1  bottle of Titebond wood glue
• 4  spring clamps
• 1  access panel

1. I had the 2 sheets of plywood cut to the sizes of what would be the countertop and 2 side panels. Before putting the cut pieces in my car, I used the sanding sponge I had just bought to sand the edges that were cut. There were so many splinters!

These were the three largest and most important pieces I had the store cut:

2. I cut the side panels to the correct depth and used the remaining pieces to cut two small front panels as well as three small strips to make the countertop "look" thicker than it would actually be. To do this, I used my circular saw, a Kreg rip-cut, and my miter box and saw. I wish I had taken pictures of the strips, but I honestly didn't expect to write a blog post on this until someone requested it. Sorry! :(

3. I then painted the two side panels and two front strips in Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace color. I had already used this color to paint the cabinets and mudroom cubbies in the room. Note: I took the following photo after I had attached one of the front strips to one of the side panels:

Tip: Instead of painter's tripods, I use plastic cups to hold the pieces I paint. It is much less expensive!

4. While the paint was drying on the side panels, I attached the three thin strips to the edges of the underside of the countertop piece to make it appear twice as thick as it was. I used wood glue to attach these strips and spring clamps while they dried. 

5. After it dried, I sanded, vacuumed, and wiped the top and sides of the countertop piece. 

6. I then stained the countertop's top and sides and finished it with a few layers of clear water-based polyurethane in a satin finish.

7. Next, I nailed a support beam on the wall behind the washer and dryer. This piece of wood would act as security for the back of the countertop to rest on. I had a long scrap piece of wood on hand that I used for this. I don't have a photo, but it looked something like this (only longer):

8. When all the pieces were dry, I then put them in place:
     * I nailed the left side panel to the mudroom cubbies. 
     * I nailed the front left strip to the left side panel.
     * I put the right side panel in place. It is not nailed to anything!
     * I nailed the front right strip to the right side panel.
     * I put the countertop in place. I had planned to nail the countertop to the side panels and back support beam.
        However, after living with it for a few weeks, I decided not to. It doesn't seem to need it and makes for easy access should we need to remove it for the machines. I can always nail it in the future if it becomes necessary.

9. I then caulked along all the seams where the new wood panels met the existing wall or cubby. I did not have to purchase caulk, because I always have some on hand.

10. As for the water hose eyesore, I decided an access panel painted the color of the wall would be much, much better than having to see the hoses, have a box sit on top of the countertop, or have a cutout in the countertop around the hoses. Honestly, I love it. From this:

To this:

To this:

You may be surprised to know that the hoses are exactly where they were before this project. I simply measured and placed the new countertop right above the black hoses. I then cut the wall just enough to hold an access panel to cover the spigots in case we need to access them.

It's only been a few weeks, but I love my new countertop! It makes me so happy when I walk through the room or when I am doing laundry (which is daily). What's most satisfying is knowing that with some determination and help from the internet, I was again able to tackle something on a small budget. Since this project cost me less than $200, I was able to save $1000 based on the contractor's quote. :) 

Painting Kitchen Cabinets White

I am going to preface this (again) by saying I do not consider myself skilled in home projects by any means! I’ve been asked quite a few times and twice now in the last week about my cabinet painting process so I figured I should at least attempt to document it in one place and not just have all the bits of info all over my laptop.

Sometime last year I finally decided to take the plunge and paint my kitchen cabinets white. Here is the before:

And here is the after:

You may have noticed that while painting the cabinets, I also took the moulding all the way up to the ceiling. It was a request by my husband and, in retrospect, a very smart one. It made such a difference in the space, because there was no longer a shelf to collect dust and it made you appreciate the actual height of the entire room. You may have also noticed that this isn’t the kitchen in my Instagram photo. The week I was finishing this project, my husband called and told me that the bank approved an offer we had made on a house many many months before. We had decided after submitting the offer that we were silly for doing so. Then when the bank said they were willing to go lower in price, we suddenly found ourselves reconsidering. I know our home is “just a house”, but I honestly wanted to cry because I had put so much effort into our current house at the time. Even more discouraging? The kitchen of the house we were thinking of moving into:

We ended up moving which meant the next few months were spent updating our “new” kitchen. All this to say, while I am not an expert I have had quite a bit of experience painting cabinets in this last year!

After doing a lot of reading, I decided to use the following:

1. Paint Brand: Benjamin Moore Advance

    * This is on the expensive side, but I bought it with a coupon and for a space that would be used daily and a project I was doing myself, I felt it was worth it. I paid $40/gallon.

    * It is a water-borne paint. I read oil-based paint can yellow over time and is also difficult to use. Perhaps neither is true, but as an amateur I didn’t want to take the risk.

    * It is self-leveling

    * It has a great open time

    * When it cures, it hardens really well

2. Paint Brush: Sherwin Williams Premium XL Tight Spots 2” angled brush

3. Paint Roller & Cover: Jumbo-Koter" Frame With Chrome Plated Shank 14 and Wooster RR314-4-1/2 Jumbo-Koter Micro Plush Roller Cover, 4-1/2"

    * Most websites I read recommend a small foam roller. I tried that on some laundry room cabinets and preferred how the paint dried when applied with the micro plush roller. Just a personal preference.

4. Paint Color:

    * 1^st kitchen: Benjamin Moore White Dove – I had read all over the internet that this was one of best “creamy white” colors out there. I didn’t want cream, but I didn’t want stark white, either. So I went with White Dove.

    *2^nd kitchen: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace – After using White Dove, I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the color. I’m not sure if it was the undertones of the countertops or the dark cherry wood underneath, but it was creamier than I wanted. So I tested a few more colors and decided on Chantilly Lace. It was still creamy but very slightly and definitely whiter than White Dove.

Again, here is how our current kitchen looked when we bought it:

And here it is after we updated it:

Although I may have cried once or eight times while refinishing the cabinets and drawers of this second kitchen, I am so much happier with the Chantilly Lace than the White Dove that it may have been worth it. There may be better processes, but here is what worked for me:

    1. Number cabinets and drawers

    2. Remove cabinet doors and drawers

 3. Remove hardware (i.e. hinges)

    4. Degrime all frames, cabinet doors, and drawers with a cleaner-degreaser

    5. Sand all frames, cabinet doors, and drawers

· I used 220 grit sand paper and an electric hand sander

   6. Vacuum and/or wipe all dust from sanding
    7. Degloss all frames, cabinet doors, and drawers with a liquid sander/deglosser

· This is probably overkill. Every website & blog I’ve read said you either need to sand or degloss. But I am paranoid as well as a glutton for punishment.

     8. Prime frames – 1^st coat

     9. Prime cabinet door backs & drawers – 1^st coat
· To save money, I bought a large pack of plastic big red cups to hold each cabinet and drawer while they dried. Painters triangles are sold for about $5 for a pack of ten. The plastic cups worked perfectly for me and were a definite cost saver! 

     10. Wait the recommended drying time

     11. Prime cabinet door fronts – 1^st coat

     12. Wait the recommended drying time

     13. Repeat steps #8-12 as many times as desired

· I did 2 coats on each side for each kitchen I painted

     14. Paint frames – 1^st coat

     15. Wait the recommended drying time

     16. Paint cabinet door backs & drawers – 1^st coat

· I would first paint the corners and crevices with the brush and then quickly follow with the roller over the flat surfaces of the door or drawer

     17. Wait the recommended drying time

     18. Repeat steps #14-17 as many times as desired

· For my current kitchen, I did 5 coats. Again, I am crazy.

     19. Paint cabinet door fronts – 1^st coat

· I painted each door back completely before painting each door front so that I did not have to lay the door on its front after painting.

     20. Wait the recommended drying time

     21. Repeat step #19-20 as many times as desired

· For my current kitchen, I did 5 coats. Still crazy.

     22. Add hardware

     23. Add hinges & reassemble

     24. Enjoy!

The first kitchen I painted had nice smooth cherry wood cabinetry. Painting them was fairly simple, because it wasn’t “grainy”. Getting the edges and grooves, however, made it a little challenging. I didn’t want to see any brush strokes. Here is a video of how I painted the cabinet doors to minimize brush strokes for an even application.

A friend of mine had a few estimates done to have white kitchen cabinets installed. I believe the estimates ranged from $48,000 to $120,000. Including the kitchen, laundry, and butler's pantry, I painted about 98 cabinets and drawers for about $200. This really was the only way I would be able to justify getting my white kitchen. Although I didn't realize how labor-intensive the project would be, it was so worth it to me. (Of course, I say that now after it's all done and I don't have to sand, prime, or paint another cabinet door!)

I know white kitchens aren’t for everyone, but I am personally very drawn to them. My mom cringed when I painted over the dark cherry wood cabinets at my previous house. Fortunately, it was a huge selling point for the eventual buyers. I love how bright, cheery, and clean the space looks and feels with white cabinetry. It's very "happy". :) Since the rest of the house has a lot of wood tones, I like how the kitchen complements it in a light and airy way. It's so inviting and almost makes me love to cook. Almost. :)

If anyone stumbles upon this post wanting to do the same, I hope this encourages you in some way! It took me months to take that first step. Being a huge homebody, I love coming home to a place that now makes me (& my family) happy.