My 'faux Granite Countertop' Project

Ever wished you owned a 'granite countertop' but just couldnt justify the amount of money it would cost to get it? (or maybe you just can't afford it...)  Either way, I've decided to make my own 'faux granite' countertop (at least until I win the lottery lol)

Step 1: Gathering Supplies I'm Going to Need for 'mynewestproject'

List of supplies I'm going to need to change my countertop into a 'granite' countertop:

base coat of BullsEye123 (tinted)
assorted colours of acrylic paint
polyacrylic finish
sea sponge for a more natural finish
small plates for mixing paint colours
gloves
220 grit sandpaper
cheap paintbrush
a vision of my finished countertop

I'm off to the $ store to see if they have any colours I want for my countertop.  I know they sell the acrylic paints and this is going to yet another 'on the cheap' project so hopefully they have what I need...I did manage to find black/antique white/tan for only $1 each and that's it for the colours they have there for my project..so now I'm off to Michael's to get the rest...low and behold!  they had a sale on acrylic paints so I found a slate grey/bright white/dark mud/reddish brown and only cost $1.29 each so I'm definitely on track.  I also grabbed a real sponge and a cheap paint brush when I was there.
Next I'm going to need a 'primer/paint' combination so it's off to Home Depot...I chose the Bulls Eye 1 2 3 and got them to tint it to match the light grey colour I painted my walls.  Plus it's a primer/paint combo so it will only need 2 coats

Step 2: Priming/Painting My Base Coat

so not sure if you've seen my previous project? but it's a kitchen island I made from two base cupboards and 2 large pieces of MDF, but I'm finished with that and now that's the countertop I'm doing the 'faux granite' finish on.
I used a foam roller to roll the primer/paint combination
the coverage was good and I only needed 2 coats so turns out I have pretty much a whole can left over for later in case I decide to do this treatment to my actual kitchen counter and the bathrooms too...we shall see how this one turns out and that will determine if I go further with the other counters in the house

Step 3: Starting With My Acrylic Paint Colours

so now I choose one of the colours to lay down as the first step.  I squeezed a bit of the first colour (I chose a light tan since my base is grey..I put a bit of the tan paint on a paper plate..this way i can dab it onto my sponge and then smudge it a bit on the plate so I don't get a huge glob of paint on my counter..i basically just went around the whole countertop and put colour wherever it suited me..i also dabbed some down the sides to make it look more realistic..
once that pretty much dried i started dabbing on some antique white paint. (pls see pic 1 on this page)

Once that dried enough. which isnt long at all since Im putting it on so sparingly..I started with my black
do not be alarmed at this point the result is quite ugly, as I'm sure you will agree, but I have confidence I can work through it and end up with a great countertop, believe me, there were a couple of points where I began to wonder if I might have to just roll the primer back over the whole thing and pass on my idea of a 'granite' island countertop??

anyway, I tried to put the black in random spots where I thought it might be naturally

Step 4: Adding More Colours

next I chose a slate grey to dab on over top of what I had already completed...that'll be it for today...
Next day I decided I wanted to tone down the black a bit so I'm putting on dabs of grey mixed with the 'antique white' paint..it still looks pretty bad but I remain hopeful lol

Step 5: And Now to Tone It Down a Bit Again...

it's looking pretty blotchy so I've decided to use the 'antique white' by itself to tone it down a bit...I also don't really like the amount of black thats still showing through...here goes..

but I gotta admit...it's really beginning to look like my vision!

Step 6: And to Tone It Down Even More..

so, finally it's looking somewhat like the picture I have in my mind of my new countertop..

I got up this morning and decided that what it actually needed was just a lot more of the 'antique white' dabbed on in all the spots where I had too much colour showing through..

Step 7: And Just a Few Finishing Touches..

so now I'm really liking this look of my new countertop but I think it might need just a bit more dabs of light grey and maybe add some touches of the light tan colour and we should be good to go

and now that I'm feeling happy with the result it's time to lay down the top coat
I am using a polyacrylic finish.
Ive decided to use a foam roller to roll it on rather than brushing as I don't want any brush strokes (but if you don't have a foam roller a foam brush will do the trick)


get out your polyacrylic, give it an easy stir (you don't want to stir too fast or you'll end up with a lot of bubbles)

i used a foam roller to lay down the top coat
let it dry minimum of 2 hours then lightly sand with 220 grit sandpaper

I ended up rolling the top coat and sanding and repeating this step until I had layed down 5 layers of top coat

Step 8: And Now for the 'grand Finale'!

I'm quite pleased with my finished product...what do you think?  I'd luve to hear your feedback for sure

so, that's my 'faux granite' countertop grand finale...and I didn't break the budget with a total spent of just under $60!

Since I've got lots of my supplies left over I'm going to do the same finish on my actual kitchen counter as well as the bathrooms but thats a whole new project since I will need to add a backsplash to each countertop first since they're either missing or they were never there?

I shall return..