DIY Part 4

Our kitchen countertops are, at best, blah.  And at one time I'm sure they also matched the kitchen.  But ever since we have lived here the kitchen has had wood floors and cabinets, black appliances, and deep purple and green grapevine wallpaper.  So, white countertops don't really fit.

We wanted to replace them but with the amount of counter top space we have anything we picked was going to cost $2000-$4000.  We also really wanted something with some color in it (green or purple) to highlight the wallpaper and other colors in the house but that left very little to pick from.  And the specials and deals that the stores offered were usually for very limited neutral colors.  So, we put it off. 

We then discovered this product and even though it didn't come in colors it did come in black and was only going to cost us $250.  So we figured it was worth a try and were just about to buy it when we discovered the Giani Granite kits while on the Home Depot website.  Not only was one of the options green, but it was less expensive and less work than the other product.  We decided to give it a go.

First you clean your counters really well and tape everything off.  All the kits start with a dark grey/black base. This layer has to dry for eight hours so we did it in the evening and let it sit overnight. 

No going back now!

Each kit then comes with three colors that you sponge on in layers.  You can alter the look of the final product depending on how much of each color you use and how wet they are are when you apply them as this will affect the way they blend with each other.  The green kit came with a pearl base layer, then green, then white.  We wanted our finished product to be on the darker side so we didn't use the final white layer for accenting.  But as a bonus you can any water based acrylic paint (aka cheap craft paint) to use in addition to or instead of the supplied colors.  We chose to sponge on a metallic gray/silver highlight and then I used a small stiff-bristled brush to tap on some purple accents to tie in with the wallpaper.  When all the paint has dried (about 4 hours) you have to option to sand everything down to smooth the surface and eliminate any points or ridges from the sponging.  Then you apply a clear sealer to protect the paint and make it glossy.  This is the tricky part because if you have too much product there will be lines but not enough and you will leave dull spots.  But you apply two layers (again 4 hours apart) so this gives you the chance to get a feel for it the first time around.  

Finally you caulk all the edges to keep water from getting underneath and this is what you get!

(ok, this one is actually pre-caulk)

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We really love the way it turned out.  And the price was unbeatable.  We ended up ordering off Amazon as the kits were $65 there vs. $80 on the product website.  We needed two for our size kitchen but only used a little bit of the second kit so most could probably get by with one.  And I spent all of $3 on paint at Wal-mart and we needed a few ancillary things like sandpaper.  But overall we go this great custom counter for around $150!

We also added on these stick-on decals to our back splash to tie in the new counters with the wallpaper.  They are super easy and can be peeled right off and moved around as needed.  Plus we didn't have to mess with replacing a tile and grout backsplash.