How I Painted Faux Marble Countertops!

I used THIS PRODUCT available on Amazon to paint faux marble countertops. Here’s how I did it, how they turned out and how they have held up…

The problem

My son and daughter-in-law’s, (Melissa) beautiful kitchen is large but had mismatched counters when they purchased their house a few years ago. They didn’t have it in their budget to buy new counters yet, so I offered to paint a faux marble countertop treatment for them.

I should back up a second…

When they bought the house, the counters around the perimeter of the room were a very dark greenish brown granite and the center island was this Corian type plastic-resin product.

The mis-matched counters, combined with the dark granite and wood cherry cabinets made the kitchen lack a congruent and lighter airy feel that Melissa wanted in the space.

As most of us can relate, one day Melissa had it and just painted the counters! I’m not sure what type of paint she used, but whatever it was, the paint, (just a white color) with a clear varnish top layer actually stuck on the countertops really well. It looked decent for a while, but then over time it discolored in patches. We couldn’t figure out if it was somehow leaching from the countertop up into the paint, or if a soap she was using to clean them with was staining from the top down, but the blotchy look wasn’t the best look.

Coming up with a solution

As she and I were brainstorming what could be done to fix them, there were some different considerations: contact paper with a marble pattern or just adding more paint. But then, we landed on a specific faux marble epoxy treatment meant for countertops.

I was excited to offer to do it for her because I love learning new paint treatments.

Roughly figuring the square footage of her counters, we ordered 2 of these epoxy kits from Amazon.

Soon after the kits came, Melissa, my son and grandkids went away for a week. Perfect timing to do the counters!

The link I shared above, also includes really great video instructions that were super helpful to wrap my brain around the different steps for application.

Prep

After washing, rinsing and fully drying the counters, I carefully taped the edges around the backsplash and placed drop cloths on the floor.

I did this project last year in the late spring, so I was able to open lots of windows, placing an exhaust fan in the window for cross ventilation.

I also wore my respirator for protection from the fumes of both the shellac-based primer I was going to use and the epoxy at the end.

I added the first step

The first step for the new faux marble countertops was to ensure the discoloration of the previous paint finish didn’t bleed through this new finish. Therefore, although this step isn’t part of the kit application, I did prime the countertops that Melissa had previously painted, and not with just any old primer!

The absolutely best stain blocking primer I’ve ever used is THIS shellac-based primer. I do NOT recommend the newer ‘synthetic’ shellac version. I only recommend the good old, stinky, messy original version!

Carefully cutting in the edge with a smaller paint brush and rolling the rest of the counter with a small, velvet nap roller, this first layer of primer went on quickly.

Rolling on a thin layer, careful to not overwork it and cause texture in the finish.

Good news is this stinky primer dries super fast, so after an hour I applied a second coat.

First coat of actual paint

Then after an hour I applied the white paint that came in the epoxy kit. It dried to a flat white color.

I carefully removed the tape to let it dry overnight.

First day finished.

Veining Step

After the white base paint dried overnight, I could attempt to do the veining.

At first I was a little intimidated, but quickly got the hang of it. Applying the veining was actually really fun! The videos on the their site offers wonderful instructions, but a huge tip is to look at real marble for authentic resource.

I had a couple photos of marble pulled up on my phone that I kept referring to as I was painting the veins.

First I applied a ‘vein’ of the included grey paint to the counter with the small artist’s brush, then I gave it a light mist of water to stop it from drying too quickly. Immediately I softened the edges of the ‘vein’ with the soft bristle thicker brush, (both brushes are in the kit as well).

If I made a mistake on the veining, I could always go over it with a little more of the white paint to hide or soften it a bit.

After a couple layers of veins I removed the tape on the backsplashes to let this veining step dry overnight before the final epoxy topcoat step.

Veins up close

Here are a few details of the veins, before the epoxy was applied:

Overall they really look pretty realistic.

A close-up of the veins shows the imperfect painting…

When you look super close, you can see the layers of paint over the same vein.

Each counter area is similar, but still unique because it’s painted by hand and to mimic the natural veining on marble.

One tip I read is to remember that marble veins mostly go in the same diagonal direction.

Prepping for epoxy

Before the epoxy application, I had to carefully re-tape and cover everything with plastic drop cloths, including the fronts of the cabinets and the floor, as the epoxy is supposed to flow over the edge of the counters for proper coverage.

When taping the backsplash, this final third time, I carefully applied the tape to be just slightly above the counter.

I also had to figure out the square footage of the island so I could mix up the right amount of epoxy for complete coverage in a single pour to avoid any weird overlap marks where part was wet and part was dry.

Yikes! This was actually the most stressful part of the job…

Fortunately I have a very smart engineer son that figured it out for me in a second…

and even tried to teach me how to figure it out for myself next time… haha, don’t worry son, I’ll just call you again!

Measure and mix epoxy really carefully

When mixing the epoxy, it’s imperative that you follow the directions exactly how they tell you to mix it.

There is part A and part B and you need to use exactly equal amounts of both parts mixed together for a precise time and then pour it out.

If you use more of one part, the epoxy won’t cure properly and could be soft or even a bit sticky after the cure time…

Pour and spread

Time to pour! I started on the smaller sections of counters against the wall and saved the island for the end once I got the hang of it, mixing just enough epoxy for each section. Mixing the correct amount for each section was important so I didn’t waste it and run out, but also so I spread it to the right thickness. If I applied too much, it’d be hard to tell how much to take back off.

Also, if you’ve never worked with epoxy, it isn’t like paint, it doesn’t stay wet and spreadable indefinitely. It will start to harden whether it’s covered or not. Though this counter top epoxy takes several hours to fully harden, and days to completely cure, there was a relatively short time to get it spread out and then leave it to finish its thing.

Self-Leveling

The epoxy is self leveling and will drip over the front edge, so as suggested in the directions, I used a wooden paint stick to scrape off the drips on the bottom edge of the counter as they formed.

I hung out, scraping the edge for a couple hours and then headed home thinking the dripping was done.

It wasn’t, so there are a few spots where you can feel a few small rounded drips under the counter edge, but you need to be actually looking for them. My son said a bit of epoxy dripped into the bottom of the cabinet where the sink hole was too… (I didn’t even think of laying plastic inside that… good thing they had removed everything out of the cabinet before I started).

So here it is all finished

I wish we could have found a picture of these perimeter counters when they had the dark granite… the new light faux marble finish difference is amazing!

They changed out the light fixtures and installed a new stainless steel sink and faucet for a beautiful facelift.

The ‘after’ is now light and airy and flows across the room with all the counters now the same.

So how has it held up?!

It’s been almost a year since I painted the faux marble countertops and Melissa said she still is very happy with them. The epoxy dried to a very hard finish and they seem very durable.

Would I do it again?

Yes! I’d definitely do this treatment again, I think the product is really good quality and it’s a great way on a budget to get a fresh new look on counters with a durable finish.

Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate you reading along.

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