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DIY Marble Restoration

I found an antique dry sink with the original marble top and backsplash that I wanted to clean up and re-do… the cabinet part I could easily paint, but the marble top was in horrible shape, could I successfully do a DIY marble restoration project to it and be happy with the results?

SimpleDecoratingTips.com How to DIY Marble Restoration

The answer is yes, and here are the tips to restoring an old marble counter yourself…

So I’m calling this top marble, but I’m not a stone specialist… I know this is a natural stone, but it may be soapstone and not marble? I’m pretty sure it’s not granite because this is a fairly soft stone and I think granite is harder. But whatever the stone is, I believe this following process I did to it would apply to any of these types of stones.

Like I said, the counter was in horrible condition. I don’t know what caused the severe discoloration, but it almost looked like some sort of lime deposits on the counter.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com antique marble before DIY restoration

A close up of the front edge of the antique marble top to the dry sink shows how much it was detracting from the natural beauty of the stone.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com before close up

So I set to work.

A while back, an old carpenter friend told me that I could sand a ding out of my granite counter top edge, so I figured I would sand the entire top of the marble and see what would happen…

I started with a fairly fine sandpaper… 220 grit.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com220 grit sanding paper

After cutting the right sized strip of sandpaper and placing it in my sanding block, I sanded the entire marble top and edge.

The discoloration did seem like hard water deposits or something like that and they actually sanded off fairly easily.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com with sanding block sanding off yucky stuff from marble

You can see the ‘dust’ here in this picture.

I wasn’t sure if the sandpaper would wind up leaving some sort of scratches or marks in the marble top, so I sanded the entire top in one direction, like how you’d sand a piece of wood, with the grain… even though there’s no visible ‘grain’ with this marble slab.

Once I felt I had all of the old yucky stuff sanded off the top of the marble, I switched to a finer grit sandpaper… 400 grit.

And repeated the whole thing on both the antique marble countertop and backsplash for the dry sink.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com 400 grit sanding paper

This is what the marble counter looked like once both sandings were finished and the piece was wiped down with a dry cloth… (that light edge on the front left corner is the sun shining on just that part)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com after sanded

Next, I remember seeing on Martha Stewart many years ago, her using mineral oil on the soapstone sink and counters she had installed… (by the way, I used mineral oil to restore the antique hardware for this same dry sink project too)

So with a clean dry rag, I poured some mineral oil out on the rag and started wiping.

I gotta be honest, the mineral oil is kind of thick and I can be a bit impatient, so after one swipe with it on my rag, I decided that was going to be too slow… so instead I just went right ahead and poured some oil directly on the marble slab. That worked much better.

Working on a small area at a time, I continued to pour out a bit, wipe it into the stone and move on…

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Mineral oil on marble

The oil soaked into the old stone and instantly revealed the depth and beauty of the stone that was right there just hiding from sight.

Here you can see the left half of the slab that’s finished:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com half oiled

Once both the backsplash and top were oiled, I left them out on the bench in the courtyard for the rest of the day to dry. (I’m not really sure how long the actual drying time took, but a few hours after they were done, when I brought them back in, there was no oily residue at all)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com granite after sanding and oiling

This was such an easy restoration project, and the results were amazing.

At the beginning I wasn’t sure how it’d turn out because I was only grasping at a few random tips I’ve heard about…

but I’m thrilled with how the DIY marble restoration actually worked out, and that it was really quite an easy process.

Be sure to check out the complete dry sink restoration project and see how this marble looks installed on the antique dry sink.

Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by.

 

This post is linked up at the following other sites:

Too Much Time on My Hands

Design, Dining & Diapers

Posed Perfection

Vintage Charm

Pocketful of Posies

Savvy Southern Style

 

For those of you interested in following the link parties I typically follow and join in, due to SEO recommendations, I will not be joining most of them, just one or two interspersed is all. One of the best link parties that I get wonderful results with is from our friend Susan at Between Naps on the Porch… so I will still be linking to that party when I can on Mondays. 🙂
And of course, the Before and After party at Thrifty Chic Decor is fab to say the least!
But if you’re interested in seeing more link parties, I still have them all listed on my ‘About Me‘ page.

 

 

 

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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