I've finally taken photos of the guest bathroom vanity project that I completed while Jeff was out of town at his conference. I had been waiting for a good opportunity to work on this since we are currently living in the guest room and using this bath while we complete the master suite. With Jeff gone, it was a perfect time to clear the counter and work for several days.
With the new decor in the guest bath, everything was coming together with the updated avocado theme except the vanity countertop. It was a white faux marble laminate material that looked out of place with all the warm tones I had brought into the room. (This previous post shows the newly painted vanity but old laminate top.) Since we're keeping the sinks, I didn't want to tear out the old counter and make more work for Jeff just because the color was wrong. So, I painted it!
Before/After
I used an abrasive cleaner, wiped it down well, and primed with a good bonding primer. I used a base coat one shade darker than the walls (walls: SW (Sherwin Williams) Ecru, counter: SW Harmonic Tan). Then I used a sea sponge and acrylic craft paints to faux finish the counter with a granite look. Three coats of water-based polyurethane and it's sealed and durable. We been using it regularly for almost two weeks now and it's holding up great.
During (primer and base coat)
Close up without the flash
(true color is a little richer)
The countertops look wonderful. I was a bit perplexed as to how YOU, alone, installed the granite countertops. Now I know: with a paintbrush. Amazing work!!!
ReplyDeleteWOW Sarah!!! That's awesome! Wanna come do mine? :)
ReplyDeleteYou're remarkable! Very impressive countertop! To be redundant; I have two countertops that need a lot of attention!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much ladies! I'm really not very artistic at all, so if I can do it, you surely can ;-) Laminate is cheap, but it's a lot of work to install, so if your counters are in good shape but unattractive, I'd say go for it.
ReplyDeleteI used Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer, since the prep and priming steps are most important. A small quart goes a very long way. Hobby Lobby has the acrylic paints for less than a dollar. You can always get a scrap of laminate from the Habitat for Humanity Restore or someplace similar and try out your technique.
Kelly, is that an invite to St. Louis? We'd love to come sometime! Maybe the countertops can be a hostess gift, instead of the more usual bottle of wine ;-)
Wow, super job. I am always afraid of trying the faux finishing because what if it doesn't look right and you just dig yourself into a hole trying to fix it. :) It's like our doors. I got some stain for another project and when we tested it it looked alright but on the whole door it's mighty red. :) So now, we have a little darker, browner stain that we're thinking of trying to tone it down with but "what if" it looks worse than the first mistake. It makes us feel a little better that someone else put the red stain on the entire door, but still it doesn't really match the rest of the woodwork. :)
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