00:00It's fine.
00:00I'll just need to notch a little out of the sill.
00:04But I think I was going to have to do that anyways.
00:06I'm Bea, a designer and a DIYer with a passion
00:10for home improvement.
00:11Whoa.
00:11I just bought my first house, and it needs a lot of work.
00:14A lot of vandalism.
00:15Rodent.
00:16Stripper pool here.
00:17Rat stage here.
00:18So it's time to put my skills to the test.
00:20I love learning from the pros, but sometimes I'm
00:24going to try things my way.
00:25Join me for the adventure.
00:29Hey, I'm Bea, and on this episode,
00:31I'm building my dream kitchen.
00:34So the kitchen is in the same place as the old kitchen,
00:37but I just needed to change a few things up.
00:39The floor plan, the layout, wasn't working.
00:42Not to mention, the cabinets were not in great shape.
00:45Mice, rodents had been in and out of this thing,
00:48so it needed just a total renovation.
00:51I have all of my IKEA lower cabinets in,
00:54and the next step is building out my countertops.
00:57For countertops, you know, there's marble,
00:59there's all sorts of stones.
01:01I'm going to go a DIY route and do concrete countertops.
01:04In order to learn how to make them,
01:06I need to go meet up with a professional.
01:08His name is Mark.
01:09These are the bottoms of the molds,
01:12which were made from templates,
01:16like a dry-fitting these to just make sure
01:18that the measurements are .
01:21I'm headed over to Mark's studio to start with step one,
01:25making the concrete molds.
01:28Mark?
01:30Hello.
01:31How are you?
01:31Good.
01:32How are you doing?
01:32Okay.
01:33The drill press is all set up.
01:35Great.
01:35Mark put me straight to work at the drill press.
01:38This machine helps pre-drill holes
01:40so that the pieces of the molds can be screwed together.
01:44Last one.
01:49You've got it down to such a science,
01:50and I just think about the way that I work,
01:52and it's just so all over the place.
01:55I had seven guys working for me,
01:57and we kind of had to figure out how to do it,
01:59so it was completely mindless.
02:01Idiot-proof.
02:03Once we get these all made,
02:04we're going to have to seal the edges,
02:06and that seal actually makes the radius
02:09on the corners of the concrete.
02:10Oh, okay.
02:11Oh, so it's not like a sharp edge.
02:13Right.
02:13Got it.
02:15So after the caulking...
02:17Yep.
02:17...the next thing we would have to do
02:18is to make reinforcement for the concrete itself.
02:22So I had you get some rebar.
02:24What's the purpose of the rebar?
02:25So you see all these little ridges on it?
02:28Concrete really grabs to this and binds to it,
02:31and it will keep it from cracking.
02:33So we have to cut the rebar.
02:55Once we cut the rebar,
02:57we weld it together,
02:58and it becomes a sturdy skeleton
03:00for each countertop section.
03:03Oh, my gosh.
03:06Oh, gosh.
03:07Okay.
03:07Whoa.
03:08I did...
03:09I...
03:09Okay.
03:10It's fine.
03:24Next.
03:24Yep.
03:25I'm done with the wire lath, I know.
03:27Wire lath.
03:28And it's like a wire net.
03:34Wire netting.
03:35Very sharp and wobbly.
03:38What is that?
03:39What is that?
03:41That's the thing that you cut this nasty stuff with.
03:44Oh, whoa.
03:49All right.
03:50So this fits reasonably well.
03:52Yep.
03:52As long as it's got some distance from the edge,
03:55it won't go anywhere once it's in there.
03:59We're back for more of the concrete countertops.
04:02Mark, it's pouring day, right?
04:04Correct.
04:05Today's the big day.
04:06The big day.
04:06The final step.
04:08So walk me through what we have to do today.
04:10Okay.
04:11So we had you come and you helped me measure out all these things into buckets.
04:14And we've got mini marble chips, Portland cement, and sand.
04:19Correct.
04:20So first we're going to mix all of the ingredients dry.
04:23Mm-hmm.
04:23Throw the bag of pigment in there.
04:25Pure black pigment.
04:27It's carbon black.
04:28Yep.
04:28Carbon black, because I'm going for like a dark gray.
04:31All right.
04:31We need helpers?
04:32We're good to go.
04:33Yes, my helper.
04:34This is Jeff, my oldest friend.
04:38But we're going to start the mixer first and get this going.
04:40Okay.
04:41Ooh.
04:43Okay.
04:44We're going to let that mix around.
04:46Okay.
04:47Oh yeah.
04:49It does.
04:50There's some water with some water reducer in it so we don't have to use as much water.
04:54Got it.
05:07So Mark, why do we have to work so fast?
05:10Oh gosh.
05:11It's okay.
05:11First spill of the day.
05:13You won't be docked for spills.
05:17Because right now it's at a really good point where it flows nicely.
05:20Uh-huh.
05:20And in a half an hour it may not do that.
05:24So you want to take advantage of it.
05:28I'm going to turn on their vibrators.
05:30Those orange things.
05:32It's about to get noisy.
05:34The motors with an eccentric weight on them.
05:36When you turn them on, the whole table shakes.
05:39And it's really loud and annoying.
05:40And the shaking is to settle.
05:42Basically to get all of the air bubbles out that will be on the surface.
06:06So all of the molds are now poured.
06:09Mark is going to finish troweling the top so they're nice and clean and flat and smooth.
06:13And then we will wrap them all in plastic.
06:17Seal them so that they can dry for 10 to 14 days.
06:22Slowly.
06:23Slowly dry.
06:29All that time putting all these screws in.
06:32Now we're going to take all these screws out.
06:35Uh-huh.
06:36Wow, I love how they look and they're not even finished.
06:39It's got like a little shiver.
06:42Faucet hole there.
06:45So that's kind of where we placed the blobs of concrete.
06:49Before I can bring these countertops home, I need to apply a concrete sealant to protect them from liquids and
06:55scratching in the kitchen.
07:01The countertops are in and now I'm installing the backsplashes per Mark's instructions.
07:06A little glue on the back and they go right against the wall.
07:09Now I just have to clean up and this kitchen is ready.
07:19The kitchen is done.
07:21Let me show you everything that's happening in here.
07:24First of all, it's all about the countertops.
07:28Check these out.
07:29I am so unbelievably happy with how they look.
07:34The color, the texture of the concrete, the kind of wabi-sabi look of these countertops, the very kind of
07:42imperfect, handmade, organic, textured look completes this whole room.
07:50With very clean lines and very kind of clean colors, I think these countertops just pop in the best possible
07:57way.
07:58So my parents were one of Mark's first clients for these concrete countertops.
08:02It was like his prototype ended up going into the kitchen I grew up in.
08:06And when I thought about my dream kitchen, it was a no-brainer.
08:10I knew Mark could make them like no other.
08:14It was so amazing to be able to go to him and work with him to create these for my
08:18home.
08:19His craftsmanship is unparalleled and you can see in the way it turned out.
08:26All the cabinets are in.
08:28Those were box cabinets that I was able to build and install.
08:33Hardware, which I love, just like that matte black, really pops on these cabinets.
08:39My refinished parquet floor, those are original to the house.
08:43So this is parquet from the 60s.
08:45Parquet was very trendy around that time.
08:48And I uncovered that parquet under layers of vinyl, plywood, carpet, and sanded them down, brought them back to life
08:57with a silver gray stain.
08:59And I just think they came out so good.
09:02I actually love how you can see the subtlety in different wood.
09:08Liam built these floating shelves from beams that I used in the dining nook.
09:13So I just love how this is a moment that I'm able to draw part of this other room into
09:18this room.
09:18It just makes it feel a little more cohesive.
09:21I have this little bar with S-hooks where I can dry herbs, hang utensils.
09:27For me as an organizer, I just love being able to, like, think ahead and plan this kitchen around its
09:32functionality.
09:34Hidden dishwasher. Love that.
09:37It was important to me to have seamless cabinets underneath to not take away from these amazing countertops.
09:46Working with Mark was really rewarding because not only did I get to see his craftsmanship and years of experience
09:53at work,
09:54but it kind of trickled down and I get to have something in my home that I had a hand
10:00in making and that hopefully lives on beyond me in this home.
10:04They're pretty sturdy. They're going to last a while.
10:11One little surprise feature when these got installed, this little thing right here.
10:16So that's Mark's bug, he calls it.
10:19And that's just a little logo from his days of actually manufacturing these for clients.
10:24So I'm a proud owner of Mark's little bug here.
10:27Yeah.
10:28Suck.
10:28I love you.
10:28We'll never know you guys ahead here.
10:30I love you.
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