Once upon a time there was a lady who had really ugly tile countertops. She thought she was stuck with them for eternity. She dreamed of solid, easy to clean surfaces. Until one day the “kitchen” fairy visits her and with a wave of her wand new countertops magically appear…

For real?! Is the story true?…No, but it sure felt like it did! Here’s how our story goes…

Eric and I have always loved the look of polished concrete. Concrete is a bit raw and industrial looking, but with the right stain and polish it can look warm and even resemble soapstone. We thought we’d sledge out our tile, then make and install some DIY concrete countertops. Sounds easy enough right?Until we got a good look at what might be lurking underneath our kitchen tile…

We knew sledging out 4inches of mortar, tile and lath was not something we wanted to tackle in the name of countertops. Nor did we want to lose our kitchen for more than a couple weeks. (Especially with two big pups underfoot, who love to “help” in the midst of projects) A bit desperate we started scouring Pinterest and DIY blogs for a solution to our problem. There were many, many great options for laminate countertops but very few concrete options for laying over tile. Until we stumbled onto the Encore Countertop system.

There are awesome blogs featuring the Encore system, but none which had chronicled their experience applying it over tile and all the detail. We took a mighty leap of faith and contacted Encore. (“Hey so can we be your…um ’tile test bloggers’?”) And since our first contact with them, we cannot say enough how fabulous their customer service, and experts have been! Kind of like our own “kitchen” fairy god mothers:)

Over the next two Sundays we’ll be sharing all the project details and more pictures of our new countertops;including tricks, tips and the “what not to do’s” .The meat and potatoes of how we turned this:

And with the help of Encore into this:

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE!