Yep, I did it.... redid the Kitchen Counter tops!

If you recall...... soon to be two years ago I painted our kitchen countertops with a Gianni Countertop Kit... I did it in a Black Granite look.... well I was never REALLY happy with the outcome although I would have happily lived with it... but because the sealant they provided was a polyacrylic it just didn't last!  About 9 months ago the paint around the kitchen sink started chipping away until in front of the sink was pretty much bare.... yes, I should of taken pictures of that!

SO in the mean time I have done some investigating on other blogs to see what people were doing for a top coat... in doing so I came to this conclusion .... it doesn't matter what you paint onto the counter tops, if they are not properly sealed it doesn't really matter cause honey it is gonna come off!  In saying that I have seen people put a base coat down of anything from a primer that has been tinted to just sponging layers of acrylic paint!

HERE is what I did!  I didn't bother taking any of the old painted surface off that was already on there other than to sand the areas that my old paint job had come off of!

I painted a base coat of a tinted Rustoleum (around $20. buckaroos) counter top paint I added in some Valspar silver glitter (very fine)  ., I then had to decide whether I could live with a plain color.... nope not me...... the glitter was not showing up a whole lot.... so here is what I did, I took a container of Modge Podge and added two different glitters, one was a coppery color and the other a brownish color... and used a sea sponge and sponged away!  No that wasn't enough either so I had some light chocolate brown latex sample paint and sponged that on all over!  I used Envirotex Lite pour on High Gloss sealant, we ended up putting two coats on and am thankful my sweet husband helped me!

Words of advice if you decide to do this no you do not have to replace your sink like I am doing but it would be quite helpful to lift the sink up an inch or so ...I am told you can do this without hurting the plumbing.... put plastic all around under the lip of your counter top this stuff WILL drip!  Make sure you protect your floors! AND make sure that if you use glitter you sand down any rough edges BEFORE putting on the Envirotex Epoxy sealer!  That is why we had to put a second coat on! (oh and by the way we waited a day and a half between coats, and wiped the counters down with rubbing alcohol before we put the second coat on and if you have any areas that need sanding lightly this would be the time to do it!)  We just spent the last 3 1/2 hours doing this... you also need a blow torch for any bubbles that may (WILL) appear!  have a large squeegee to help spread the top coat around plus a wide sponge brush to help on the upper back of counter top plus to get the drips along the edges! And don't do it all at once, do an area and get it done before you head onto the next section of countertop!

So we ended up using 10 kits.... they each cover 8 square feet and were $18.98 each I got mine at Menards, but am told you can get them at Hobby Lobby and you can use coupons!

Can I say LOVE IT?????  I cannot wait to get the backsplash up and the new sink in and also the new exhaust fan!!! (you know one thing leads to another!!!) shhhhhh don't tell my husband!!


So WHAT do you think?


Nancy

****edited to say that I woke up at 4 am and decided I needed to check the drip areas on the edges and I used a paring knife on the underside of the counter edges to cut them off, yes it took a little patience to do that... but an hour later I was done and the counter tops are dry to touch this morning but need to cure for up to 72 hours before setting anything back on the counters, and oh by the way we have a cute little gnat that got stuck.... ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!  oh well..... ;~)  nwb