What I Did With My Weekend

From September until some time in January, my saturdays and Sundays are normally filled with football. My wife and kids are football widowed and orphaned.

But this weekend was different. I took a break from constant football action. I barely watched any (of course I watched the Spartans). But it wasn't like I took a break to do silly shit like "spend quality time with my family" or "be a good dad to my sons" or "volunteer in a soup kitchen." No.

This weekend, I finished the bar in my basement. Out of beer labels.
Here you'll see that we are covering the bartop in beer labels of various Michigan-brewed beers and coasters of beers from all over the world (you'll see a Rogue and a Speakeasy in this pic).

Many of the labels were stickers and thus stuck reasonably well to the top of the bar, which we had just painted with Killz white primer. Also, the bar rail itself formed a lip, and we finished a lip all the way around the rest of the bar using 1" trim. We caulked the whole thing before painting it.

The caulking was an important step because instead of Polyurethane, which is highly-toxic, causes caustic fumes and requires both mulitple coats and sanding, we used a cool substance called Envirotex Lite. It is less toxic, the fumes dissipate in about 2 hours and do not require a respirator as you use it, and it only takes 1 coat if you do your math right. It dries in a high gloss like glass and hardens like polyurethane. There is, in fact, nothing to hate about this substance.

After mixing the 3 gallons of it I was using, I had about 25 minutes of workable time, which was plenty to smooth this out and deal with any air bubbles that rose to the surface. 4 hours later, it was merely tacky to the touch. The next morning, it was rock-solid and smooth as glass.As you can see in the pic, it gives the bartop a beautiful lustre. There are a few spots that are a bit wavy and in one spot, there was an abberrant label that just wouldn't stay the heck down, but all-in-all, for a total amatuer, I am thrilled with the outcome.

Even after placing and taping-down all the labels, pouring goop over the whole thing and smoothing it out, I still get a kick out of staring at it. I notice some new label or favorite beer every time.

I must thank Mrs. Smitty. She placed all the labels like a puzzle over the entire bar top, and helped me tape them all down before I got to play in the plastic stuff with my buddy Greg and my Father-in-Law. She also patiently watched the herd of kids and assured they were fed as I dicked-off in the basement with this project. Couldn't do it without ya, Mrs. S!