The Counters

Old Kitchen

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Kitchen :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 Ok so I've not loved my counter tops ...well pretty much ever since we moved in. It's not like there horrible they just didn't really go with the other work we had done in there. So I stumbled upon a blog one day and read about someone who had painted their counter tops. Hmmm interesting,  I thought I'd try it so I read a little more about it searched a few more blogs...and did it...and LOVE it!

I looked around at formica and granite samples I liked that went with my kitchen picked up some different paints and did a few practice runs on some scrap wood out in the garage

Base Coat I used Rustoleum countertop paint purchased at my Lowes store. It was $21 for a quart and 1 quart did 2 coats on my counters which I have a LOT of counter space.They have 16 colors you can tint it too and I picked earth. I had read other options for base coats but to me this was the best choice because it's made to stick to laminate/formica counter tops so you don't have any prepping to do such as sanding. I just taped everything off cleaned everything with a wet rag and then rubbed it down with rubbling alcohol to make sure it was super clean. I rolled it on with a foam roller. Now just a warning this stuff is super stinky and super sticky I highly suggest getting your kids out of the house, wearing a mask and oh yeah...be smarter then me...wear gloves :)

 Already liking them more

 Now for the craft paint- yes just regular tole paint (sp? Is that even what it's called?) You use a sea sponge I used a different sea sponge for each color so they all had their own texture and weren't to uniform.

 2nd color craft paint

My 3rd color was the black. (I had 2 other colors I was going to use but after applying the black I was in love and decided to stick with it and be done)

 The close up pictures are the truest to how it really looks the ones of my overall kitchen look pretty dark but lets just be honest I don't really know how to use my new camera very well yet.

 After applyiong the black I applied 6 to 7 coats of semi gloss water based polycrylic. Waiting an hour or 2 between each coat. The first 5 coats I rolled on with foam and the last coat I put on with a foam brush instead of roller it added a lot more shine and was a heavier coat. Big difference! Then I let it dry 24 hours before doing much with it. I am still super careful on it and will have to use a cutting board with everything but you have to do that with formica anyway. I have noticed if water sits on it it looks like there is a little foggy spot there but after it dries the spot goes away.

 Sorry I threw in so many details but just in case some of you are interested I thought I would share...all new counter tops for under $100 was pretty nice for me :) I've had a few people ask me how I did it or how to do it in case they decided to try so I thought I'd put the info out there for all of you! If you do have more questions feel free to ask and I'll try to comment back or get hold of you about it somehow.