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Wondering how to paint your countertops to look like granite? We were excited because we have been remodeling our kitchen and used Giani Granite Paint for our countertops. In our first post Giani Granite Paint For Countertops Review you can see the initial steps of painting your countertops.
We started the next steps of the Giani Granite Countertop Paint and after priming the countertops (which even the black prime color made our countertops look tremendously better!) you have to wait about 8 hours, which for me turned into 3 days! I got busy with work, life, fantasy football….
But now I’m back in the saddle and the next step is to apply the color paints, or the minerals. There are 3 colors that come with the standard Giani Granite package. We chose to go with the Chocolate Brown color, which consists of 3 shades of brown:
- Light brown which is a tan color
- Medium brown which is like a suede
- A dark chocolate color
To apply the colors/minerals you use the included sponge and dab it in the medium color first and lightly press the sponge to the countertop, you are supposed to do this in about 2-3 foot sections, and then you apply the lighter color, and then the darker color.
One really neat thing about this technique is the intermixing of the colors, there really is no right or wrong pattern. When you think of granite, it is kinda random and all over the place with different shades. Also, mixing up the colors adds some depth and an effect that looks really cool when finished.
When you finish with the first section, you move on to the next and repeat, while overlapping a little bit so the paint does not dry in “sections” and you have a continuous look. One big hint, is not to apply the paint too thick, there were a couple of sections that I applied it too heavy and it dried with a peak, and required a couple of extra steps to sand it down before moving to the sealing or final coat.
Lastly, after the paint dries in about 4 hours (or 1 day for me), you can lightly sand down the countertops with a fine sand paper (600 grid is recommended) to remove any spots where the paint dried a little higher than the rest of the area.
Applying the final coat, which is a sealant, is a breeze, it takes minutes and you just have to make sure not to leave any lines or roller marks, again, do it in sections, and backroll over prior sections so there is no line dividing it.
I applied the first coat and had a couple of dimples from the paint being applied too thick still, so I sanded it down again and then applied another finish coat and it looks awesome.
Giani recommends multiple coats of the sealant, but no more than 3, so that is where I am at now. You are instructed to wait a couple of days before putting anything on the countertop and I believe it requires 14 days to fully cure before you are supposed to use it for every day use – like small appliances – toasters, blenders, etc.
Tesa loves it our “new” countertops. I agree, they really do look awesome, and I am very happy with it as well.
The application and process for using the Giani Granite Countertop Paint is very simple and anyone can do it, you do not need to be an artist or a contractor. A funny comment, one day when I was working on it, Kora came up to me and said “you sure are working hard on making this counter beautiful” little did she know that is was such an easy process!
Check out our results! And once this dries, it’s off to do the other side and the rest of the kitchen!
Way Before
(Read Giani Granite Inspires to learn about this before photo)
Before
(Well after we switched the stove and fridge, knocked down tile, drywalled, installed new cabinets…)
After
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