"Granite" from a bottle!

Or several little bottles, actually! Whew, what an interesting couple of days it has been around here! Did I really have time to tackle this project? . . . NO, but I was ready to just get it over with!

First, a little background info. When we moved into this house almost four years ago, the countertop had just been put in by the builders. Even though we really didn't like the color, we hated to spend the money to replace it when it was perfectly fine otherwise.

All this time that green countertop has bugged me. We planned on eventually replacing it, but it never seemed to make it to the top of the priority list financially speaking!

I'm a big DIY kind of person, so when I heard that you could PAINT countertops, I was ready to give it a shot! I researched techniques and found a tutorial from someone who had done hers over three years ago and they are still holding up perfectly.

Enough rambling - I'll get to the project!

Here's where I started (click on the pics to see better)-

Here's my new look-

I've only done one side of the kitchen. My oven, fridge and pantry are on the other side along with two small countertops so it won't be as much work!

Supplies-

-Acrylic paints in your choice of colors
-Paint roller or foam brushes
-Zinsser 1-2-3 primer tinted to your base color (this stuff is really great!)
-Textured paper towels (I used white Sparkle towels)
-Frog tape (again, great stuff!)
-Minwax Polycrylic in clear gloss

Basically you just prime the countertop with a small roller, use scrunched up paper towels to blot on the paint and then seal it really well.

I'll share the link to the video that I followed at the end, but right now I'll share about a thousand pictures for you to see the process!

OK, the above picture was after the primer and the first two paint colors were dabbed on. THAT  looked horrible! I'll admit this was about 11:00 at night and I can't remember for sure, but I think there were tears involved. You can see on the right corner I stopped and did all the layers just to remind myself that this was really going to work!! All was better after a good night's sleep!

More layers - still pretty ugly, but you can see how the colors are building.

A little better, I was getting excited at this point!

The finished product BEFORE the gloss polycrylic was applied. Exactly the colors I wanted but notice how dull it looks here.

AFTER the polycrylic. The colors are richer and it has that nice shine that makes it look more realistic. This is after only one coat. I still have several more coats to go!

That's about it! I promise it wasn't hard. If I can do it, anyone can.

I already had all the supplies I needed except for the polycrylic and the Frog tape. Very inexpensive project!!

Again, I have no idea how it will hold up, but according to Kristi's blog hers have held up fine for three years. I figured I had nothing to lose since we have been seriously talking about replacing them soon anyway. If it works out, we've saved a TON of money - if not, oh well! I'm going to stay positve!


Here's the link to the video. She does a great job explaining everything.

Creative Kristi

I'll be glad to answer any questions!

***Update! It has now been 9 months since I painted the countertops and they still look as good as day one. No chips or peeling paint at all!***