So here’s the breakdown on what I did. First I took everything off the counters and this was quite confusing to Murphy that the microwave was now out in the hallway…it was actually right in the spot where he usually lays when I’m working on something in the kitchen. I moved it for him though so he could have a birds eye view of what was going on. After that I taped off everything around where I would be painting…generally I don’t tape off anything when I paint, it’s just a hassle and it’s not worth it in my opinion as long as you use a good brush. But in this case I wasn’t using a brush so I knew things could get kind of messy. Next I wiped down all of the counters and then went back over them again with a dry cloth to make sure nothing was still wet…then I started painting! My friend that did this in her kitchen told me what colors to get if I wanted to go with a granite look. Wait…let me back up a little bit. If I had my way I would totally want an all white kitchen with white cabinets, concrete counters and floating shelves and all stainless steel appliances, oh and a huge island right in the middle all with dark, rich flooring…kind of like any one of these. Yes, that would be my dream kitchen, but let’s be realistic…this is a rental house that we have no idea how long we’re even going to be in. So I worked with what I had and felt like the granite look was my best option to make a big change on a limited budget. So anyway, I got two different colors of tan, a brown, and black. These were all acrylic paints and I actually got them at Wal-Mart because they had the colors I needed and the bottles were pretty big for only $2.50 each! So I started with the lightest color first and dabbed it onto the counters with wadded up pieces of newspaper. After that was dry I did it again with the next darkest tan, then the brown and finally the black. With the brown and black I was more sparse with the paint. I waited for each color to dry before going on to the next but by the time I was finished the place where I had started was already dry so I never had to wait at all for the paint to dry. Once all four colors were on I went back over with the lightest tan color. I had planned to just leave it at that because you could still see the brown and black showing through under the tan, but Scott thought it was still a little too light. So I went back over it again one more time with the black and just kind of played with it until I liked the look. I left everything to dry over night and then with a foam brush I went over everything with a clear wood lacquer. I did four coats in a gloss finish which sealed in the paint and also made everything shiny! For the first two coats I actually used a semi gloss but in the end I didn’t think it was shiny enough so I ran out and picked up the same brand just in a gloss this time. That was it!!! I started Wednesday and finally finished up Sunday night. So, what do you think??
This is the "before". Pay no attention to how messy everything is...what in the world! Honestly I think we had just moved in and I must have not been real interested in making sure the kitchen was clean before I took the picture.
And these are the "afters".
Looks fantastic! Can't wait to do mine!!
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