Aside from the fact that I remembered I had a blog, I also remembered the password.
I did alot of DIY projects during the past year. One that I'm particularly pleased with is our kitchen counter re-do. Our kitchen counters were a dark green color with swirls intended to make them look like marble (not so much):
And while in hindsight, that photo doesn't look terrible, I really, REALLY hated them. I felt like it made the whole kitchen so...dark. After reading (stalking) many other blogs on the process of redoing countertops, I set out to do my own.
First, I took our hand sander and sanded the entire surface of the counters. My main goal during this process was to take away the shine.
Second, I primed the countertops using a paintbrush. I gave the countertops three coats, allowing for 24 hours drying time between each.
Third, I wasn't brave enough to paint the countetops with several different colors/coats to mimic a marble finish. So, I opted to use a stone finished spray paint. I used American Accents in a tan color with black, white, and brown speckles. I really LOVED how this turned out. If I have any regrets, it's that I didn't go with a darker brown. The cap on my spraypaint (I used 4 cans) indicated a tan color, however, the end result is more of a gray. Nevertheless, it's a 100% improvement over the green, so I'll take it! Of course, I taped plastic around my basecabinets and backsplash (probably the biggest pain in the process):
Then I put 3 good coats of pain on top of my primer, again allowing 24 hours between coats.
Fourth, I used a clear polyacrylic in a semi-gloss finish to seal and protect my counters. Otherwise, you would be unable to wipe them or get water on them. I went through 1 quart: painting, drying 24 hours (with fan blowing directly on them), until my polyacrylic was gone. I gave it another 48 hours (to be safe) before I placed any of my items back on my counters. I placed felt on some of the larger items that I was afraid might scratch or adhere to the tops the first week (microwave, coffee pot, plate holder).
Close ups of the color:
Final product. Wish the lighting was better
in the picture, because it truly looks great in person!
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