Countertop Adventures, Spring 2014 Edition

Before and after

We rent and we'd gotten the landlord to install a shiny new freestanding gas range, but there wasn't much we could do about the ugly countertop space occupied by the now-defunct electric range. So, we covered it up and learned a bit about tilework in the process!

OSB framed with 2x3s

Oriented strand board (OSB) is cheap, strong, and generally awesome (albeit arguably rather ugly). We bought a 2'x4' sheet of 7/16" OSB for $5, two 2x3 studs for another $4, and put it all together with decking screws.

Sanded smooth

With enough patience and wood filler ($5 for a small can), you can actually sand studs pretty smooth and square.

Tiles glued down

We painted it ($3 for a "tester" size of custom-color-mixed paint!) and topped it with 1' square tiles (8 @ $1/ea). Tile adhesive was $6.50 and pre-mixed grout was $10.50.

That's $42 for parts. We also spent $10 on sandpaper, $3 on some tile spacers, $3 on a brush, and $3 on a trowel, but it was still under $70 with tax. The work was spread over two weekends because the adhesive wanted a few days to set completely.