In my master bathroom I had this hideous green countertop. I’m not joking, look at it:
I had changed out the drawer/cabinet pulls when we first moved into the house almost 4 years ago and I switched out the light above the mirror as well.
I finally decided that I needed to CHANGE THIS COUNTERTOP!
So I started researching paints to see if any would do the job.
After a bit of research I found that Krylon Fusion for Plastic primer would do the trick of sticking to the laminate. Once I saw that, I started looking at other Krylon paints and thought that the Hammered Finish looked like a good countertop color. I looked at the textured spray paints, but I didn’t think I would be happy with the bumpy surface they would leave.
These are both spray paint, which make the job quicker, but also SMELL and leave a dusting over everything, so if you go this route, make sure to COVER EVERYTHING and that your bathroom is well ventilated. WEAR A MASK and GLOVES as well to help protect yourself from the fumes.
Prep your area. Clean your countertops with a cleaner (I used SoftScrub with bleach). Allow your counter top to dry. Next, tape off the counter tops (seen above) and then cover any walls, cabinets and sink with sheets, thick cloth or newspaper. I also laid a sheet on the floor.
Although the Fusion for Plastic Primer is a no-sand primer, I decided I didn’t want to chance it so I lightly sanded down my counter top – this was definitely not necessary and would skip if I did this again.
Don’t sand too deep. It will require more coats of paint than usual to hide the small scratches. Just break the surface to help allow the paint to stick.
Wipe your countertop down and allow to dry.
Now it is time to spray on your primer. Make sure to do thin coats, spraying 8-12 inches away from the surface. Spray in long sweeps side to side.
(Above: first coat of primer)
(Above: third and last coat of primer)
I let each coat dry for 30 minutes before moving on to the next coat.
After fully covering my counter I let the primer dry for two hours and then moved onto coating with my counter color.
It is the same process as above.
(Above: first coat of hammered metal paint)
(Above: 4 coats of paint – LOVING IT!)
The next step that I did involved a Krylon clear coat. However I do not recommend doing it this way. The clear coat kept spitting out globs, so now I have spots instead of a smooth finish.
It is still better than the green, but VERY frustrating.
(click image to enlarge and you’ll see the spots).
This is what you should do instead:
Make sure not to put anything on your counter during the 7 days.
We aren’t even showering in this bathroom during this time period.
After it is set, you will want to use polyurethane to cover the paint. Follow the directions on the package. The more coats the better… 3-4 should be good.
I have plans of re-coating with the hammered finish and then letting it set for the 7 day time period and then taking the poly route.
A new counter for under $35!!! Now that is a bargain!
Fantastic! I think it looks great, can’t tell there are spots from these photos. My god, the green was stunningly bad. Thank you so much for this one, it could make my life so much easier!
Love the new countertops. I would love to do that with mine but not sure if I can convince my hubby! 🙂
As far as the blog, how do we make our ‘writing spaced’ wider across the blog? Or possibly change it to a 3 column? I love all your ‘how to’ for the blog- so helpful and slowly but surely my blog is getting cuter! THANKS!
Please give us an update on how this works out. As far as scratching and ect. Cause I have the same green counter top in my master. Ugggh! I really I don’t want to spend any more money on our house (cause we won’t get it back) but I can handle about $35. Did you look into using Kilz? Cause that is what comes to my mind, or did your research show that the Krylon for plastics was the best. Thanks soooo much for sharing.
is it tacky, to the touch?? I love the idea!
I had no idea that you could spay paint a laminte counter top!!! I love it! Thanks so much for showing us this.
So cute! I would love to have you link up over at Sassy Sites for our Trash to Treasure Tuesday party! 🙂
Marni @ Sassy Sites!
http://www.sassysites.blogspot.com
Great job on the transformation! Thanks for linking up to Sassy Sites for our Trash to Treasure Tuesday! Hopefully we can see you again next Tuesday! xoxo
-Marni @ Sassy Sites!
Wonderful..
Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life As Lori! Please join me again for another great party!
Spray paint a countertop? Awesome! I am highlighting this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com
wow! do you think you could do this in a kitchen??
How creative. I had never thought of painting a laminate counter top!
I’m hosting a link party “Cheap Thrills Thursday”. It’s for creative ideas that cost under $20. If you have a project you’d like to share, I’d love for you to stop by and join in next Thursday!
Kat
http://www.BlackKatsDesign.blogspot.com
I think this is great -I’m sorry you are not 100% happy with it after all the work and waiting , I didn’t see any spots The color is really pretty -so I guess this would work for the kitchen counters too ?
Hi! I’m new to your blog and was surprised to find that someone else “painted” their counters as I did 13 years ago. I posted about it here http://lynettesphotoart.blogspot.com/2009/08/hamburgerbylynettesphotoart.html if you’d like to check it out. It was one of my “Money Saving Tips” series. You can find all 35 of them here http://lynettesphotoart.blogspot.com/2009/08/hamburgerbylynettesphotoart.html.
One thing I’d like to say is that the polyurethane yellows over time – significantly. But in all, I have only started getting chips at year 12 and it’s still servicable, though it does need redone now. Good luck to you and come visit my freebie blog any time at
http://lynettesphotoart.blogspot.com – Lynette
Great job! Lovin the cost & color 🙂
That’s great! I would love for you to come link this up at my Strut Your Stuff Party, and enter the giveaway as well!
http://danajeanward.blogspot.com/2010/11/strut-your-stuff-link-party-and.html
Nice job 🙂 We did the same thing about a year ago in our kitchen, but we bought countertop paint from Lowes that you brush on. (All our appliances and cupboards are white, but the countertop was beige). I painted it tan, and although it looks awesome, I had a hard time with chipping. We put the house on the market, and I had to completely paint the counters again to make it sellable! I hope you have better luck than me 🙂
I loved this idea when you first did this, so how is it holding up?
Kim, I have been holding onto this tutorial since you linked it on my site! I am featuring it tomorrow (Tuesday)- stop by and see yourself in the spotlight! Thanks for the great tutorial!
This looks TERRIFIC! I am wondering if a similar process would work on a marble countertop?
~a
We did this to our bathroom too.
http://readysetplan.blogspot.com/2010/10/bathroom-makeover.html
Six months later I can happily say that it has held up perfectly!
Wow! You are a brave soul. It looks so nice! If the spots show as little in person as they do in the photo (and I enlarged it), no one except very jealous friends will notice it;-}
I need to do this. Thanks for the tutorial!
How is it holding up so far?
There is a fairly new product out by Rust-Oleum. It is called Countertop Coating. I got mine at Home Depot. It comes in 16 colors and it is only $21 dollars. It is specifically for laminate countertops and it works AMAZING! I did my kitchen counters and only used like half a can. It has held up very nicely so far. I would highly recommend it!!
Ooo, it does look better! If you want to take it one step further, check out what Creative Kristi did to hers! Faux granite: http://bit.ly/dV2IDU
Brittany
http://www.prettyhandygirl.com
That looks great! When I painted my countertops once upon a time, I just used a melamine paint. But wow. that gloss is amazing.
Hey – great transformation, can I ask … 2 years later, how is it holding up? Thanks!
It held up awesome… until we went on a week long vacation and I forgot to tell my cousin not to see her flat iron directly on it. I have several places where her iron touched that melted a teeny portion of the paint (about 4 spots). Other than that, I haven’t had any issues. 🙂 And that was my fault for not telling her.