How I painted the counters

I have gotten lots of requests for a tutorial on my counter tops.

The idea to paint my counter tops first came from the blog world. I had seen many success stories and lots of tutorials. I will admit that I did not follow any one exactly. I mixed methods and made some up as I went along so please feel free to do the same.

Materials:

- sandpaper

- 4 paints

- Sponge roller brush

- paint sponge

- Paint tray

- Lots of plastic baggies (like the Wal-mart kind)

- patience (it took me about 5 days)

The very first step was choosing the “granite” color. I did this by going to the home improvement store and scouting out their granite sample chips. I took some home and decided which one I liked. Then, I really, really looked hard and wrote down all the colors I saw. Then I matched them with paint chips. I chose four colors: tan, dark tan, brown and white. The paint guy recommended I used a mixture of glossy and satin finish. Both are easy to clean.

At home:

1. clean and degrease your counter. This is really important. I must not have a good enough job because there are spots that did not accept paint.
2. Sand your counter tops until the shine comes off. I used 60 grit sandpaper but having a sander would be amazing!
3. Wipe down your counter to remove all dust from sanding.
4. Pick your base color.(Mine was the tan) and paint the counter top. No going back now!!!

Hint: to same money and time, I used a tip that my dad taught me for painting. I put grocery bags over my paint tray so that it is easy to go from one color to the other without cleaning it out every time.

5. Let that dry. I left mine overnight.
6. Pick the next color – I chose darker tan. This is where the fun comes in. Dip the sea sponge in paint and lightly sponge everywhere! The thickness is up to you but try to be even – as in not large clumps here and there and emptiness in other places.

Let that dry.

5. Now go brown. If you thought that was fun/scary this will be super fun/scary. You are going to grab a plastic bag and crinkle it as such.

5. 

6. Then….dip it in paint and dab all over the place! ( I know I know…I hate randomness, too)
7. Let that dry. You may like it already, I did. I fact I struggled for 2 days deciding if it needed another color. Since my cabinets were going white, I decided to add a bit of white using the baggie method again.
8. Let that dry.
9. This next step is a very important step. And this is where every tutorial differed. You need to coat the top with a polyurethane or something like that.

*beware, it can smell up the house so do not do this if you are hosting a party, or in my case,Thanksgiving.

This is what gives it shine and protection.

I went with Minwax Satin Polyurethane. It was so simple. I just used a roller sponge brush. And put three coats on allowing it to try between coats. Three may sound like a lot but it was NOT enough.…I would do 5 if you are able.

This process took me about 5 days. The whole thing cost me about $30.

- White paint (1 gallon, I used it for my cabinets too)

- $8 Tan paint (1/2 gallon)

- Brown paint - $0 ( I had it from painting the walls)

- Dark tan (1/2 gallon) $5

- Sponge brush - $3

- Baggies - $0

- Sea sponge - $4

- Sandpaper - $1 (I get mine at the dollar store)

- Paint tray - $1 (dollar store as well)

This is the picture of the finished product. I painted the cabinets too. That's another post for another day :)

If you decide to do it, let me know how it goes. Email me or comment if you have questions along the way. Good luck!