Our plan was to replace our countertops this summer. We all know how expensive that can be (insert eye roll). One night, right before Mother’s Day, I was scrolling Amazon and happened upon this kit that promised the look of Carrara marble with a $180 price tag. I was skeptical, but the reviews were great and so were the images in them. (Tip: always look at those when buying something, because it gives you a better idea of what the product looks like in real life!) I added it to my cart for safe keeping, so I could think it over.
Well, I obviously ended up ordering it and was super excited when it was dropped at our front door. Some people bought just the paint and epoxy to “save money” but this kit literally comes with everything you need, down to the paint sticks and gloves. I was already pleasantly surprised.
(All of the product photos on my post are shoppable and will take you right to where you can purchase them on Amazon!)
We have pretty standard white solid surface counters. The previous owner did a number on them though, leaving behind tons of scratches, stains, and knife marks. Here are some before pictures:
The first step is prep work, honestly the most tedious part in my opinion. You have to remove all the caulking. I used a flathead screwdriver and box cutter. Make sure to get it all and use rubbing alcohol to get up any residue. The paint won’t stick to the caulking, so this is an important step! Clean your countertops with an abrasive Brillo pad using water only!! Luckily the directions are pretty clear and detailed, which was nice! Tape off everything with blue painter’s tape.
The next step is the white primer base. You will paint 2 coats of this, with 4 hours in between each coat. My suggestion is to work in smaller areas and work quickly to blend as you go to prevent any brush marks or uneven spots. Using a foam roller helps remove any brush marks as well.
Then comes the fun part, veining!! I have to admit I was having anxiety over this. How was I going to paint marble veining that looked convincing and not too obviously painted?? Again, the direction are super clear on how to accomplish this. Here are a few extra tips!
The first thing that I did was plan out my design. I looked up images of countertops and drew an outline of our kitchen counters with the design of veining that I liked. This was nice because I had an idea of what types of lines I was painting as I went along.
The paint for the veining and highlights is much more liquidy than normal paint. If you don't get the entire kit and buy the pieces separately, I recommend getting:
detail paint brush
sponge (I cut mine into smaller pieces that were easier to handle)
Misting bottle with water
1 inch flat paint brush to feather with
baby wipes or wet paper towels
The directions state to paint, then spray, then feather. I found that by the time I painted and then sprayed, some of the paint had already dried and was hard to feather/blend. What worked best for me was to mist the countertop first, then paint my vein, then feather and blend. The veins were much more blended and natural looking. In a 3-foot section of counter, you want three major veins. Then you can fill in around that with lighter "ghost" veins. The nice thing is that you can customize this exactly to a style that you like. I liked a more simple style with not as much veining. The baby wipes come in handy to wipe up any mistakes as you work. The paint dries pretty quickly, so having baby wipes allows you to quickly erase anything that you don't like or pull up some of the paint if your line is too dark. It's also important to hold the brush really lightly and let it drag naturally on the counter to create more organic lines.
-spray
-paint
-feather
-blend
Repeat until you are happy!!
Before I applied the epoxy, I wanted to add a backsplash on the island section of our countertops. I've seen tons of people use the peel and stick tiles with success, so I figured this would be a good project to try them out. Originally, I ordered a while subway tile to try and match what we have in the rest of our kitchen. When it came, it was off-white and really clashed with the bright white of the new counters. I returned them and ordered these instead:
I installed this before I started epoxy part of the counters so I didn't have to worry about denting or scratching the epoxy before it was fully cured. It was fairly easy to apply, but here are a few things I learned along the way:
Don't peel off the back of the entire sheet and then try to align it (ugh). I did that the first couple of pieces and it was awful. Then I realized I need to peel as I go. This is also helpful with making sure that you don't get any bubbles!
You can peel it back off to realign, just be careful because they do tear pretty easily
To cut out around outlets, the easiest way that I found was to take the covers off, place the sheet of tile over the outlet, use a washable marker to mark the top, bottom, and sides of the outlet, fold the sheet in half, cut a slit in the sheet, and then cut around to make a hole. It's much easier that cutting pieces and trying to fit around the outlets.
Sidenote: As soon as I painted the counters, I realized how outdated and yellow our outlets looked. There was no way I was going to go around replacing a bunch of outlets...and then I found these!!!!
How brilliant it this!! It is a faux outlet. Look at this before and after:
Honestly, I avoided the last step to finish the countertops for a little while. The directions are EXTREMELY clear about this process though. You have to pour the two epoxy chemicals together and stir constantly for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. You pour the epoxy directly on the countertops, brush the edges and roll the larger areas. You have to work fast as the epoxy starts to get tacky and harder to spread after a few minutes. I did this project in two sections, so I had the luxury of learning a bit from my first go around. Here are my tips:
wear a hat, keep your hair up, and make sure pets aren't in the room. I had little hairs fall into the epoxy as I was working, which leads me to my next tip
make sure that you have tweezers on hand. I used them to pluck anything that fell into the epoxy as I was working.
tape the drop cloths to the cabinets and them drape them over chairs like this:
Here's why: The first section that I did, I just let the drop cloth fall over the cabinet and onto the floor. What I quickly realized as I was working is that the epoxy was dripping down the drop cloth onto the floor. It got on my feet, which of course I tracked everywhere, and was just really messy. By draping it over chairs it creates a little pocket to hold the dripping epoxy as it levels. It ended up being a much easier clean up.
Once you have rolled the epoxy on it will start to self level. You will see the brush and roller marks smooth out. Now is the time to double check your work! I got down eye-level with the counters to see if I had missed any spots or if there was something I needed to pluck out with my tweezers. Don't worry about the marks you leave doing this, they will continue to smooth out as the epoxy sets.
1-2 hours after you finish, take the painter's tape and drop clothes off. You want it to start to set a little but not too much that it creates a jagged edge. The directions state that you can start to use your counters and appliances after 24 hours and your sink after 2 days. It is completely cured after 7 days. To air on the side of caution, I am not putting anything on my counters until day 7. I don't want to risk denting or leaving marks in the epoxy.
If you are considering doing this project in your own home and want some more video tutorials, check out the highlight that I made on my Instagram page! And of course, feel free to reach out and ask any questions!
I am seriously loving the end result and can't wait to do a big reveal next week!
Happy DIYing
-Laura
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