How to Update Laminate Counters

In one of my bathrooms I have a sky blue laminate counter top. OK, you can stop laughing now. Well it matches the sky blue wall tiles, sink and toilet. My money isn’t that long but I’m long on creativity and always wanting to try something new. I looked around the Internet for ideals and saw examples of regular people attempting and succeeding at replicating real granite counter tops. The pics were amazing and each one stated that they were afraid they would ruin their existing laminate counter tops. After seeing the before pics, anything would’ve been an improvement. I have never seen so many bright yellow and orange laminate counter tops in one place. Hey, I was one of them, so I can tease them. HE HE.

Anyway, in the “faux granite” community, you could feel the apprehension in their typing. They were so afraid to try this new technique and getting their husbands angry but many attempted and the results were wonderful. It made me feel like I could do it. So, I ‘m about to explain the technique and the supplies needed and what I did to achieve my sexy new “faux granite” counter tops. When its done you will be so proud of your own creation. You choose the colors and its truly no experience required. But you will have to look at real granite counter tops, so you can understand the pattern you want to create. Shall we start?

First for the supplies:

1. Guts and a creative eye. When you begin the process, you will see what you have done and you will begin to doubt yourself but keep going and I promise you it will come out nice. Go find pics of granite counter tops and pick colors that catch your eye.

2. A primer called 1 2 3 primer. It covers stains and helps the other paint adhere to the counter top. It can be found at Home Depot or places like that.

3. Acrylic paint. I went to Walmart and the acrylic paints are in the craft aisle. Get yourself 3-4 colors that match the decor of your bathroom. The little bottles of paint were like 0.47-0.55 a piece. It depends how big your countertop is. I bought two of each. Hell, it was only .47 cent a bottle. While in the craft aisle, also look for a bag of sea sponges.

4. A water-based or oil-based polyurethane.

5. A few paint brushes and sand paper, super fine (optional)

Now for the fun part…..the technique. The people on the “faux granite” forum were taking 5-7 days to let each step dry, and the paint to cure. I did mine in 2 days and it only took that long because I had to go to work and was just too lazy to finish it. The first thing I did was paint the laminate counter top with the 123 Primer. Let it dry. I had a fan in the room to help it along. Then I poured three of my acrylic paints on a paper plate . I used 3 shades of blue. A Sky blue, Carolina Blue ,a True Blue and white. You can either let your sea sponge touch 1 color at a time or a combination of all three and begin pouncing your sea sponge onto the laminate counter tops. To be honest with you, at this point you will say “oh no this looks like crap” , like I did. But if you continue to apply the paint and move your sponge around it will magically begin to look like something. You can apply one color at a time and let it dry or do 2-3 colors and give it a different kind of look… like marbling.

After you are achieve the look you want, let it dry. Now the tedious part…. the polyurethane. I used a water-based glossy satin the second time. This is the tricky part. I used white primer. Depending on your color palette you can get your primer tinted. I used white primer. After putting on a OIL-BASED polyurethane, a few days later, the places where I was heavy with the poly it began to turn yellow. Trial and error, right. I painted the counter top over and began again. Its that easy.

The second time it was a lot quicker because I kind of knew what I was doing and got -r-done in 2 days. OK, the poly is what gives the counter top that glossy appearance. The oil-based is better but it stinks to high heaven and it takes a long time to dry; about 2 days and you have to re-apply 2-3 coats and sand in between and then re-apply. Also making sure that the strokes are even and no bubbles appear in the finish. Water based is quicker and much more forgiven. I put on 2 coats of the water-based poly and it dried faster and the fumes are not as bad. Maybe I should’ve sanded in between the applications but I don’t really care if it has a little texture to it.

Well, I hope this was understandable and maybe you can try to update your laminate counter tops. It made a world of difference in my bathroom. I wish I had pics to show you. You definitely would be inspired to at least try it. I have another counter top to work on now. When people visit they can’t believe that little ol’ me created such realistic granite counter tops.