Faux Marble Countertops!

The existing countertops were in great condition, they are black granite; they just weren't what I wanted for the look of this kitchen anymore. So, I decided to try my hand at painting them!

First, I cleaned the countertops several times making sure to get rid of any dust or debris, and I scraped off any little bits of paint or anything else that was stuck to the counter top.

I removed the sink because I was planning on changing it, but it's not necessary for the procedure. 

After everything was cleaned, I just lightly sanded the surface of the countertops using a little piece of sandpaper that came in the kit, and then covered up the area so that I could protect the cabinets.

I also protected the backsplash a bit, but to be honest, I'm going to change out this backsplash so I really wasn't too worried about it (and I ended up getting paint on it in the end).

I used a kit from Amazon for this entire project. You can find a link to the kit here.

(I am an Amazon affiliate and as an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualified purchases).

I mixed up the paint and the activator, poured it into my tray, and started brushing it on.

I brushed it along the backsplash and into the crevices, and then I used a roller to get it on the main surface of the countertop. 

This first coat didn't give great coverage, but I didn't expect it to. I was just getting the surface level stuff done and trying not to get any streaks or bubbles.

Here it is after the first coat.

Once that dried, I added a second coat.  You can see how much more coverage this second coat gives (pictured above).

That might be enough for some applications, but since my countertop was black, I still had some color coming through, so I added a third coat and that gave it the coverage that I wanted.

I then painted on gray veins, running them in the same direction.

Afterward, I sprayed down the veins with water.

Then I brushed them with the wide brush to lighten their look, and even dabbed them with some paper towels where I wanted to lighten and blur the lines further.

Here's how it looked at this point.

The next step was to add tape along the bottom of the counters to catch any epoxy that might fall in the next step.

The final step was to add the epoxy. I poured it onto the counters and spread it around.

Here's how it looked as it was drying.

I like the softness of the veining and the shine from the epoxy.

And here's a view of the lighter and brighter kitchen overall. I also painted the cabinets, wrapped the pulls to make them look and feel more beachy, and I used $22 special contact paper to change the dishwasher from black to silver. You can view those projects on my website (link at the top of this post for my DIY renovation projects list).

My next step is going to be replacing the backsplash and making it a shiplap backsplash instead.

I hope this inspired you to give the faux marble technique a try yourself!