How to Paint Countertops - Looks Like Slate - $65 DIY Budget Friendly Kitchen Update

hello everyone today I have a little bit of a different video however it is still really fun and creative so I thought I'd bring you along for the process we are going to repaint my countertops we have about a $600 overall budget for the kitchen remodel and I am going to give ourselves new countertops for about sixty-five dollars and I'm going to bring you along and show you the process we're taking a look at my current laminate countertops and what they look like before we get started an old cast-iron sink when we bought our house I've always hated that whoever installed this cast-iron sink did not cut the hole out correctly and there's always been a space around that both sides of the back of our sink so we've already removed the trim you can see I still have some adhesive at the back of the sink to clean off from where that was we've removed parts of the backsplash you can see where that's missing and then there's this little island with cabinets underneath that I'm also going to paint and you can see the paint's that I've purchased at Michaels we'll go over those in just a few minutes but I'd really love for my counters to match this late looking floor so that is my goal as we begin I'm going to go ahead and start to get ready and prep the countertops for the painting process and I think this will be a lot of fun the very first thing we're going to do is replace this cast-iron sink and I just thought I'd document this process because my dad came along and helped Harlan and I just thought it would be fun to be able to look back on this day and finally see the sink go away here they are taking the sink out and then we're going to clean off where all of the adhesive was from the old sink and check the hole to make sure that it fits for the new sink get everything on and cleaned up and ready to install the new a pretty stainless-steel sink so there was a lot of scraping a lot of sanding and then we were able to put in the nice new sink and here we are with a nice new clean sink everything's hooked back up there's no leaks there's no more holes at the back of my sink and I'm thrilled with that I will be taping this off before we begin the painting process and while they were doing that I went ahead and used a two-part wood filler to fill in the seam in this corner on my countertop and that is getting ready to be sanded so here we go now that the sink has been installed I went ahead and took mean green it's a really good cleaner and degreaser and a scouring pad and really scrubbed down the countertop I removed all the adhesive from the trim that was behind the sink and I've sanded the two-part wood filler that filled in the seam in that corner and I've cleaned the countertops really really well now that the countertops are really nice and clean and dry I went ahead and taped off my sink and you may want to tape off your backsplash cabinets and floor or the wall area to protect those areas from getting paint on them today I'm going to be using this primer that we got from Lowe's it was about $9.98 I'm going to show you the back of the label and you can pause the video if you want to read the instructions and prepping different uses for this primer we have Lowe's tint our primer - this dark dark gray color and this will act as our base for the painting process which i think will work fantastic and then you'll also need some other supplies like some foam rollers and some brushes and the foam rollers range from $5 to $10 and you'll want to also get some refills for your rollers as we get started priming the counter top I'm going to take my small brush and get into the areas with the primer that the roller won't be able to get into like behind the kitchen sink behind the range top if you have a small backsplash behind your countertop you might want to use a brush on those areas as well and I am applying a good coverage of primer right in these areas and the brush works really really well and those small hard-to-reach places I'm going to go in right along the sink and apply a little bit of primer there as well all the way around the sink I'm also going to brush on some primer right up to the edge where the backsplash meets the countertop to make sure that area is good and covered as well as you can see I'm not really worried about getting paint on my backsplash because we are getting a new backsplash but you might want to tape off those areas if you do not want primer or paint on your backsplash now I don't know about you but this is the fun part for me pulling on the paint now that all of the cutting end work is done the countertops will really start taking on a different transformation and a different look really quick after this part I'm just using a small foam roller and applying primer a really good nice covering coat over top of all of the remaining countertop I'm using good pressure applying a good thicker coat of primer right over top of the seam you can see that seam where the countertop meets in the corner it's going to blend that area and really nice I'll have a seamless looking countertop there and we're just blending all of the primer in I am really liking this primer it's going on nice and smooth and flat it's covering really well with the first coat however when this is dry I will come in with a second coat and because it's getting later in the day I'm going to let everything the first and second coat dry overnight before I begin with the pretty part of the painting process make sure you get your edges really well all over your seams really well your counter top edge just like I'm doing here and let's take a look at what this looks like when all the primer is on now the primer is still wet but you can see the transformation up into this point we're going to let this dry overnight and then begin the next part here we are the next morning my countertops are nice and dry we're ready to start the fun part of the painting process everything is nice and smooth it already looks like a different kitchen and you can see now I'm starting to have a seamless countertop in this corner and now comes the fun part these are the acrylic paints that I bought at Michaels to give my countertops a slate look I got the color zinc slate gray a light gray from Martha Stewart a warm white which I ended up not using and a nickel color which is a metallic silver and a burnt sienna and then I also bought these microchips which I ended up not liking at the results but altogether $27 I think the most expensive part were the mica chips which you could eliminate if you do not want any sanding and your project to stay on budget was my project I am using the plastic bag that came with all of my paints so budget-friendly for sure I'm gonna start with the zinc color which is the darkest gray color I apply a little bit of paint to the plastic bag that's all balled up and then I get rid of a lot of the excess paint off to the side on just a paper plate or a foam styrofoam plate easy cleanup and I begin applying the paint and you can see it's just going on in a random pattern just like this and you can apply it to the whole countertop I tried to give it a non uniform pattern but evenly covered over the entire countertop so that it was all pretty consistent but not so much that it looked man-made at this point I am finished with the first color and I want you to be able to see really well what the first application or the first color looks like when it's nice and dry now you can see that seam and my countertop is completely disappeared I'm so happy about that and I want you to be able to see what the entire countertop looks like of course you might want to stop at this point just one color I think that's kind of pretty the Sun coming in the window makes it really hard to see with the shadows but you can see I did the same thing behind the sink on the edges of my countertop behind the range-top everything is pretty consistent a nice good coat make sure to get the edges of your counter just like this I think that's looking pretty so far again you might want to cover up your cabinets underneath that's new paint so I did not want to apply any tape to it but this is where we are with the first color now that the first coat or the first color is really nice and dry I'm going to come in with the second color which is a lighter gray this time I'm using a paper towel so you can kind of see what kind of patterns you can achieve with a paper towel and I'm going to cover the entire counter tops again making sure to get the edges and the sides of your counter top they sell all kinds of sea sponge pieces that you can cut and apply the paint with they have sea sponge rollers they have brushes all kinds of different things that you can purchase to do a faux finish on your countertops and walls I'm going very budget-friendly for this process now that the second color is nice and dry we'll take a good look at how the countertops look at this point I think it's very pretty and very unique no one will ever have a countertop that looks exactly like this I think is turning out fantastic and again you could stop at this point with two different colors I think it's very pretty and it really does not take any professional painting skills to do this this is the first countertop that I've ever painted and it looks so much better than the laminate that was there I'm really loving the countertop so far but of course I'm not going to stop there I'm coming in with the third color which is the Martha Stewart paint and a plastic bag this time and now I'm going to start creating what appears to be veins in my slate a would say granite but I'm trying to match the floor which is sort of like a slate tile look so I'm going for more of a slate finish on my countertops however it's kind of like a granite look as well so this time with the pain I'm going to give what appears to be veins in the stone so I'm being very selective and trying to keep all of my paint running in lines kind of the same direction with veins going off in different splitting directions now that the vanes are done I'm going to come in and selectively lay down some of the metallic nickel paint now this is where we are after four different colors have been applied the nickel metallic paint is really hard to see in certain angles but from other directions you can see it really really well it gives an awesome effect to the countertop now the seam has completely disappeared and this is how everything looks you can kind of get a glimpse of the metallic paint it was really hard to pick up with the camera but I really think the countertops look like slate to this point I am really loving the finish now comes the part of this video where I have to explain the mica chips or the mica flakes if you are looking for a faster finish to your countertops and you do not wish to sand anything then I would highly suggest that you eliminate this part of the process as I quickly found out after the microchips were on and I started applying the clear coat that this part actually created myself a lot more work now the paint dried so quick because it was acrylic that the mica chips were not sticking to it so I did have to break out some clear acrylic varnish and apply a thin coat to my countertop just so that these mica flakes would stick and not just blow off before I applied my clear coat coming up so that was another thing that I had not planned on doing so that added a little bit more time to my project and at this part I'm really loving the mica flakes especially when you look at certain angles and the light it's very very beautiful however I'm going to realize when I apply the clear coat that they start to pop up and create a very rough finish in the clear coat even after it's dry so I almost wish that I had not done this part of the process in the end it all works out it was just a lot more work and so again if you are looking for a one coat clear coat and be and to be done then I would highly suggest not applying the mica flakes so let me show you my floor and the look that I'm trying to achieve see the two lighter pieces of the floor that's really what I was trying to achieve with my countertops after applying the mica flakes I really felt like I was not there yet and so I did come in with some of the burnt sienna and just sponge that on in different places to really warm up the countertops and to really match it more in with the floor you can sort of see some of the mica flakes here on the countertop I love that look I'm about to realize how much more work it's going to add to the process here in a little bit but I do love the mica flakes in there it does add a little bit of a sparkle in the light the warm sienna really does tie in the countertops with the floor a lot more so I'm glad I did come in with that and this is the finished look before the clear coat for the clear coat I am using Minwax one coat polyurethane from Lowe's the cost of it was thirteen dollars and ninety seven cents if you want to pause the video you can read the back of the label and see how to prep and use the product now because I do not follow directions and I tried applying the clear coat on the other part of the countertop with a roller I could not get a nice smooth finish with this product because it is so so thick so for the smaller part of the countertop I am just pouring it on and then I'm going to smooth it out with the roller this does apply a very very thick coat and so it's going to take a long time for this to really dry and cure up now you can see I'm going to take the roller and just smooth out all of the clear coat over the entire surface of my counter top and along the edges again you might want to protect your cabinets and your floor down below to make sure that you don't get any drips and you will have to check for runs and drips along the side and edges of your countertop now I am NOT a professional countertop restore and so I am probably going about this and the totally wrong way of application and I understand that and I'll probably get comments telling me I'm doing this all wrong and that's okay this is what worked for me and gave me the best application for this product I've never used this product before however the label said that it stays crystal clear and that's really the look that I'm trying to achieve I did not want it to yellow over time and so that's what I'm shooting for with this product I might have an afterthought wanted to go with a regular polyurethane that might have been an easier application but after all of this is done and the countertop is dry I'm really pleased with the way that it turns out and so in the end I'm very pleased you can tell from this angle that the clear coat is nice and thick and is really starting to self level I found that the roller gave me roller marks but there's so much product on the countertop and it dries so slowly that it does sort of level out this is when I'm starting to notice the mica flakes are starting to pop up and create an issue and so I let the countertop dry overnight I'm realizing that the next day I'm going to have to sand the entire entire countertop to smooth out those mica flakes so if you don't want to do that do not use the mica flakes here we are the next morning and my countertop is dry I'm loving the sheen of the product but you can start to see my issue with the mica flakes in certain areas when the light shines on them you can see the mica flakes are raised up just like that and so when you run your hands across the countertop you can feel it is very very bumpy I'm loving the painted countertop though look how pretty that is so I'm going to come in with some wet or dry 400 grit sandpaper and some scouring pads and sand the entire countertop and re clear coat and here we are to finish up today's video we are 13 days after the second clearcoat application and these are my finished countertops now because that product is so so thick my countertops are dry I would say they still need a little bit more curing time however I can still I can work on my countertops now but I have to be very very careful because I want them to fully cure and I don't want to mark them up you can see the sheen is very very pretty they're all nice and smooth I think they match my floor very very well with the lighter parts of my floor and I think it really looks like slate with the clear coat the metallic nickel paint really shines through in some parts of the counter and I'm very very pleased I'm so happy we did this and it's a nice budget-friendly alternative to replacing the countertops completely and you can see we've applied the backsplash and so my counter my kitchen is all nice and pretty I'm actually going to show you right here when we bought my house what my kitchen looked like and so this is when I bought my house and this is my counter top and my kitchen now and I love the transformation so if you're looking for a budget-friendly update to your kitchen I would highly suggest doing this you could always come in if you are not pleased and repaint over top of it again I love my new stainless sink you can see how pretty that finishes around the sink so if you give this method or try I'd love to hear from you down below if you have any questions I'll try to help I'm not a professional but I'll try to give you advice and what I did and any questions about the products I used you can ask them down below in the comment section so here's my finished kitchen I've had a lot of fun I'm glad I could share this process with you a lot of my friends were asking about it and I thought I'd videotape my process and what I did along the way and share it with them and I love my new kitchen ok everyone I hope you enjoyed today's video we'll see you really soon

Channel: Lisa Capen Quilts

Views: 1,590,843

Rating: 4.7795568 out of 5

Keywords: painted countertops, painted countertops that look like granite, painted countertops that look like marble, painted countertops that look like slate, diy painted countertops, painted laminate countertops, update your kitchen, painted countertop ideas, how to paint your countertops, kitchen update, budget friendly kitchen update, diy update kitchen, minwax one coat, minwax one coat polyurethane, acrylic paint on countertops

Id: TJl_M6X_VTg

Length: 24min 38sec (1478 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019