Memoirs of Building Our Home- Part 7

We started building our home in the Spring of 2007 and moved in the end of January 2008.  My husband works in the construction industry so he managed the build and we did quite a bit of the work ourselves.  Lots of sweat, time and energy went into our home and for me, even after seven years (just passed eight years now), there's not much I'd change.

Here's a little reminder of where we started....

Have you ever built a home?  Any regrets or things you'd do differently?  Would you ever do it again?  I'd love to take you through our experience and give you a look at our finished product, definately a lot of work but so worth it!

Here are some links to get you caught up if you'd like:

Part 1- the basement is poured and the beams are in, time for framing to begin.

Part 2- framing is nearly done

Part 3- Windows and doors and a few small concrete projects

Part 4- Lots and lots of wiring and plumbing.  The guts of the project, and the drywall is up and painted.

Part 5- Three main projects with lots of "behind the scenes" work getting completed; the fireplace, the staircase and I started tiling in the master bathroom.

Part 6- Tons of tile work, cabinetry is installed and a unique concrete vanity base in the hall bath. 

Today, countertops galore!  I don't have a lot of pictures of the process for the concrete countertops we built in the basement, what was I thinking?  In all honesty, I was too busy and too overwhelmed to care at this point.  Building a house is a lot of work and about this time I was quite ready for our little adventure to be over.  Physically, mentally, emotional, I was ready for a long vacation.

Here's the pics I do have:

Kitchen

This is the main countertop area with the sink for the island.  It was poured in place.  The rebar poking out of the wall behind the sink is for the bar top.

This is the bar top. The majority of the island (pictured above) was poured at an earlier date.  

Here is the countertop to the right side of the sink.  We poured these in the basement using Quikcrete countertop mix from Home Depot.  They are poured right side up and wet-sanded for a shiny smooth finish.

These are the pieces for the left of the stove and also a small desktop.

We used an edge mold to give it a decorative edge and if memory serves me (it might not, I could definately be wrong on this) the two shades of brown are how we achieved an overhang on the front side of the countertops.

 I can't remember the color we used but the countertops turned out to a light beige color.  Here they are right out of the forms before we sanded or added any slurry.

And here they are installed.  We used Buddy Rhodes Sealer and Wax.

We used black colorant for the bar top.  It ended up being more of a dark grey but I'm good with that.  One of the things I like about concrete, always a surprise!  

Doesn't have to be though if you take the time and effort to make some samples.  When its a personal project we tend to jump in and take the punches as they come, makes for some great "make it work" moments.  

Master Bathroom

Sorry, I have no "in the works" pictures for these tops.  They were made in the basement using Buddy Rhodes products.  His technique requires them to be made upside down by placing handfuls of product into your form, leaving pockets which you'll come in later and fill with a coordinating color of your choice.  Makes for some pretty outstanding results.  Here's a few more projects we've done using the same technique:

Unique Tables

Bathroom Vanity Base

These pieces are for the bathroom vanity and the tub surround. 

We are working on getting them cleaned up and ready for installation.

Installed and ready for use.

I look back fondly at the memories of building our home, even though I pretty much lost it by the end.  It was grueling at times, completely exhausting, but well worth it.  

In case you're wondering, the island picture and bar top, ready to pour, were taken on 12/3 and 12/8.  More than likely we poured real close to those days for the in-place projects.  All pictures of the tops out of forms were taken on 12/11.  That means between the 3rd of December and 9th or so, we'd gotten all that done and the slurry/sanding for the Buddy Rhodes projects as well (wouldn't be that grand of a feat if the muscle didn't work all day at his real job) and the countertops were installed on 12/21.

Next time, well, do you really think I'm that prepared to know where I'm going next?  I'll have to get back to you on that one.