DIY Faux Marble Counters
Since I moved into Danny’s condo in May of 2016 (remember all those B&A’s of the living room and dining room makeovers when I moved in??)…I’ve been wanting to update our original Formica counters. I bought this kit from Amazon about a year (or more) ago called the Giani granite countertop kit and I’ve been meaning to do the counters ever since I got the kit! I got it in white diamond – I saw a few tutorials and photos online that really looked like marble!
I have to be honest…I REALLY underestimated the time it took to do this! I recommend about a full week from prep to waiting to put your small appliances back on the counter. I also recommend watching all of the videos in the kit and looking up multiple tutorials to see what you like and don’t like about their counters and get little tips and tricks from each. My favorite tutorials were:
- This video by Giani Granite
- This blog post
- This video tutorial
- This blog post
Here are the products I used, also linked in each step below:
Step 1: Prep
Scour the $h*t out of those counters! I used SOS steel wool scouring pads because they’re like an all-in-one type of thing and the kit highly recommends SOS. Also use gloves! That stuff stains your skin.
Step 2: Black coat
Don’t ask why you have to paint it black to paint it white…just do it.
Step 3: Drink wine
Obviously
Step 4: Minerals
Super weird, I know but it will come out great I promise! If you care about your nails, use gloves. If you don’t care, the paint comes off in like 2 days.
Step 5: White coats
I sponged on two white coats, just waiting about an hour in between coats.
Step 6: Lines for marbling
Honestly, I wish I didn’t do the lines for two reasons. One, because I did them
too thick (do them suuuper tiny, guys!) and two, because I liked the look of using the darker under-coats as the marbling (see photo’ed). I tried to cover up most of the lines as possible to blend them in. But whatever, we’re just renting it out.
Step 7: Order more white
We have more countertop than most old formica-countered kitchens and I wanted it super white like the tutorials I watched, so I found the single cans of the white paint on Amazon and ordered two (which honestly still wasn’t enough for my liking, but whatevs).
Step 8: More white coats
We ended up doing four coats of white! I also wanted to reduce the appearance of the lines.
Step 9: Switch to beer
I mean at this point I’ll take anything.
Step 10: Top coat
Danny did this one – it’s with the roller and you have to be super precise. I just don’t have the patience for that. I definitely recommend watching the top coat tutorial that they have!
Step 11: Wait and VOILA!
