painting countertops

[rasj]

I am painting over my kitchen countertops (because they are reaaaaaaallllly ugly). I did alot of research on how to start, and finish them, but I am a little lost on how to give them the appearance of granite. Any ideas? :thinker:

[kimeyers]

Get a real piece of granite in the colors you want to duplicate and practice. Decide which colors (for instance a cream base and three tones of browns and a black) and sponge on the colors mixed with a glaze. Cover about 25% of the base with the darkest color using the larger holed side of the damp sea sponge. Use the other two colors to highlight. The smaller "prickly" side of the sponge gives nice fine points, or can be twisted to subdue the pin pricks. Mottle and blend the colors, and you can do them all without waiting in between, but if you let each color dry first, you get more depth. Once you have your technique down on paper (painted poster board works well) start on your countertops. Be warned though, while there are plenty of products designed for this application, even professional "guarenteed" jobs get chipped. A friend paid big $ to have this done, and within 6 weeks her 8 year old had marred the tops with a wooden spoon.

Good luck.

[marksimms]

unless you are using 100% pure acrylic resin paint for the "granite look" ...
and then using really, REALLY expensive urethane or even Ultra-violet cured urethane clear top coats.
For this job to be lasting, you must have the hardest clear coat possible...and that is one sprayed onto your own car.