Our laminate countertop looked fine, but the protective coating was pretty much gone. Coffee, tea, wine, juice, sauces, and egg yolk caused stubborn stains that required almost daily scrubbing. So when we decided to update the kitchen, it seemed like installing a new countertop was a no-brainer. “Think of the annual savings in Soft-Scrub,” said my wife.
But that was before we priced a new countertop—$1,400. For that much, we could buy a new refrigerator and dishwasher! Plus, I’d heard horror stories about countertop removal sometimes damaging the base cabinets beneath the counter (not to mention the tile backsplash, a feature of our kitchen we were determined to preserve).
So instead of replacing it, I decided to try my hand at re-coating the plastic laminate. Several experiments on scrap material later, I settled upon a non-yellowing, clear acrylic. A small eight-ounce can of Polycrylic by Minwax ($6) was enough to make my 30 square feet of countertop appear new again. Here’s how I did it:
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House Envy: Modern Colonial in MA
findnewenglandhomes.com
HOUSE STYLE: Modern Colonial
LOCATION: Brookline, MA
PRICE: $4,999,900
HOUSE STATS: 5,786 sq. ft., 6 bedrooms, 6 baths
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6 Home Improvement iPhone Apps To Know
The number of home improvement iPhone apps on the market leaves smartphone-equipped DIYers with few excuses for putting off projects. Since the variety of digital tools may seem overwhelming, and of course not all apps are created equal, the following six are ones you should know about.
Construction Instruction
Construction Instruction
This home design and construction app seems custom-made for tablets. There are in-depth articles, vendor manuals, photos, schematics, animations and no-nonsense instructional videos. It’s easy to imagine using Construction Instruction—a combination textbook, cheat sheet and clipboard—not only to plan and build your own home, but also to examine a contractor’s work on the fly.
Overall, though, Construction Instruction is like walking through an unfamiliar, sheetrocked building. You can see potential, but it’s not ready for a certificate of occupancy. Where there is content, it’s crunchy with useful, often technical info. But there are a lot of blank pages and obvious topical gaps. It’s also too easy to lose track of where you are within the app. All or most of the textual content is displayed on PDF pages, difficult to navigate on small screens. Download this one and hope for frequent updates.
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