A Painted Countertop

What do you do with a pink countertop when your budget doesn’t allow for replacement?

Well, luckily, there’s always the option of paint!

As mentioned elsewhere, when we bought our 100+ yr old home, everything in the kitchen was pink! 

Pink simulated wood-grain cabinets, pink doors, pink baseboards and a pink countertop. 

When it comes to costly renos, I normally like to live with a space for awhile – to see how it functions for me while taking note all the way as to what I find myself cussing at when I’m banging into it, or what is too far away from me and should be within easier reach etc.

I also don’t like to make many decisions in my life without thinking ahead as to the outcome, weighing the pros and cons and end result. And I like to have things ‘connect’ – preferring to take my time where I can until they do.

But a pink kitchen seriously found me thinking outside of my ‘norm’ and it simply had to go and in a hurry. 

As in all things reno related, you most times have a budget to work within and sometimes have to pick and choose what is most needed within that budget. Given the budget we had to work with then, I opted for painting the countertop as a temporary fix.

It’s All About The Base Coat

I started without sanding and simply used a paint roller to apply a melamine oil-based paint in a tan color for the base coat in this project. I normally avoid oil-based paints and finishes at all costs, but it’s a countertop and it would need to stand up to rigorous daily use.  A solid and durable base coat would ensure proper adhesion to the countertop material and be the foundation of the painted finish.

Allowing the melamine base coat to dry completely (I think it was 24 hours due to it being oil-based), the fun began.

The Technique

I used a sea sponge for applying the various layers of color allowing some of the coats to dry in between.  Others, I didn’t allow to dry in my desire for a sporadic mottled effect.  All of the layers consisted of a watered down version in the desired color mixing one part water to one part paint.

The technique required here is a ‘pouncing’ with the sea sponge of individual layers of regular latex (water-based) interior house paints and stencil paints. I lightly dipped the sea sponge into the paint plate and lightly pounced it on the countertop surface. Could it be more fun?!

You do have to take care with sponging in order to avoid losing all evidence of your base color – it’s all about “good measure”.  There is some method to the madness! You want the base color to show through but not too much of it in order to get a blended effect for a close-to granite or quartz countertop look. You also don’t want obvious patterns of any one color so it helps to rotate the sea sponge as you’re applying in random placement of the paint.

I sponged one layer on all of the space very randomly, and waited for that to dry. And all subsequent layers, same method to a total of approx 8 layers, until it reached an effect and overall color I liked. When I found there was too much black, I went over it sporadically with another color. When I thought it was taking on too much of a red tone, I gave it a layer of cream etc.

Drying times between layers were fast as they were all water-based paints.

When I was happy with the finished effect and the final layer was dried, I applied 4 coats of Flecto Interior Water Based Varathane.  It goes on appearing like milk but dries clear and won’t yellow or amber over time.  Because it’s water-based, it dries to the touch in 2 hours, can be recoated in 4 hours and takes approximately 2 weeks to cure but can still withstand use as long as used with care during the curing time.

It Lasted How Long You Say?

I knew it would last awhile and would allow us time to decide on its replacement with a quartz or granite countertop when we were ready. 

What I wasn’t counting on though was still having it 19 years later!

I liked the result so much that I’ve not replaced it with something more ‘permanent’ as yet!  And it’s held up beautifully over the years.  As long as you don’t place hot pots on it and use cutting boards in meal prep etc, it can stand the test of time.

Certainly, I should have my mind made up by now as to what I would like to have as a replacement, but I don’t have the time to go there these days, and this ‘temporary’ solution – if you can call 19 years ‘temporary’, works just fine until we’re ready for a kitchen remodel. But not looking like any time soon!

Now that’s the kitchen countertop.  I’ll share another post soon of a new wooden countertop for our double sink vanity in our master bathroom that saw another fun paint technique used on it! 

Repurposing, refinishing, and refurbishing!  When your budget won’t allow for replacement or you’re just not of the ‘toss it’ mindset, you can sometimes salvage or extend the use of what you have for pennies in comparison to replacing with new.

It doesn’t have to be permanent, or be kept for 19 years even, but you can!

With only paint!