When we moved into our current house, many things were completely original to 1963. The wet bar was one of those things! As soon as we got settled, I was inspired to turn it into a coffee bar – because we rarely drink alcohol but mostly because I absolutely LOVE coffee. Seriously. I think I have a problem. I love it that much! But, since my hubby is so amazing and happy to let me drink my coffee anytime day or night, we decided that a coffee bar would be a fun project!
The Beginning – the original wet bar!
This is what the wet bar looked like when we moved in.
The wall and the counter top are resin with sparkly rocks in them. There is a Montgomery Ward mini refrigerator installed in the WALL (which is attached to the garage). There are three glass shelves, one large wall mirror, a counter-top section that lifts so you can enter the wet bar and a door that swings open under that lifting section. Oh, and it is paneling. Lots of paneling.
Demolition
We began by clearing things out – first the resin wall. That sucker is HEAVY! But we got it out! We also took out the wall fridge and put dry wall over the hole. Then we changed the light fixture to a much more modern and fancy fixture (which I just LOVE – and since it has LED bulbs, I don’t feel bad about turning it on all the time).
We removed the little sink and faucet. Then it was time for a lot of painting… we painted the dark brown cabinets a light grey, and painted the walls a lighter grey.
The Wall
We added a wall of wainscoting where the resin wall used to be! I used a beautiful plum color on it, to really make it pop!
Concrete Counter Tops
Then… what to do with the counter top? We considered going to the big box stores and getting some in stock laminate counter tops – but this silly area is 18 inches wide which the stores do not carry in stock – which means special order, which means $$$. So, on to the next idea. Finally, we decided to try concrete counter tops!! After lots of research, we ended up using Ardex feather light concrete.
Supplies (This list contains affiliate links, see my full disclosure here)
- Ardex feather light concrete
- Tuff Duck concrete impregnator
- Cheng concrete wax
- Trowel
- Plastic to protect everything!
- Sandpaper (we used 220 grit)
- Clean cotton cloths to wipe everything down
The Process
The concrete counter top was not very difficult! I researched many posts online about how others had done their concrete countertops, thus learning a lot about what NOT to do! We mixed the Ardex according to the directions on the bag. Then we applied four coats of the Ardex feather light concrete on the counter, allowing 24 hours between each coat. Our original counter was not a normal thickness, so I wanted to be sure we have adequate coverage. Once each layer was dry, we did a light sanding and then wiped the counter down with a damp cloth to remove the residue. We did learn some important lessons during this process – like do NOT put up a pretty wainscoting wall that has prefect paint on it BEFORE you do the counter tops. The amount of dust that the sanding creates is unbelievable and takes FOREVER to clean up. In fact, several months later, I think I am STILL cleaning the fine dust!
After the final layer and drying time, we applied a concrete impregnator from Tuff Duck, twice, and let it dry 48 hours between each coating. It was a milky substance that was very easy to apply. Finally, we used Cheng Concrete Wax. This product is fun! It is a soft wax that you rub on and then buff off. The wax created a beautiful soft, slightly reflective finish. It also helps to protect the concrete from water and other liquid spills.
The Floor
Our final step was to replace the old tile floor with a rustic wood looking ceramic tile. This was our first try at tiling a floor, and I think we did good! We got the tile from Lowes, and used a dark gray grout to make the tile really pop! The floor took us three full days to complete – 1 day to lay the tile – 24 hours to dry – one day to grout and another 24 hours to dry, and voila! DONE!
We really enjoyed making this wet bar into a coffee bar that we use EVERYDAY (did I mention that I have a coffee problem?)
