Oops! The lighting makes one look darker than the other. They are the same color.

That looks great! Was it fairly easy to do? Share your info, please.

It wasn't hard to do, just took a little time. I had to do some extra prep to remove the silicone caulk between the tile border and the countertop. Then I recaulked with a paintable caulk. Basically you prime, allow a minimum drying time, then add your colors, dry, then topcoat. The website says you can complete it over a weekend. I worked on it a few hours each evening after work so by the weekend I had it done. Well worth the effort it took. It's been a year now and still looks great.

They look fantastic, great job!

Did the same to mine! Love it, altho I bought some clear acrylic and added another coat of sealer.

Love the effect .. wanting to redo our kitchen after all the other re-do's we have accomplished; but just can't afford cabinets and counters right now.. this might help freshen things up..just wondering about painting the cabinets though... they have what appears to be a paper finish that is wearing off esp around the handles where they are touched so often.. any suggestions or directions to find out ..Thanks!

Sorry, rommy, I have no idea what you'd need to do in that situation. Have you tried a search here? I'll see if I can find anything.

Rommy, I found this. Hope it helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: painted bathroom vanity

Should I paint my cabinets first or paint my counter tops using the Gianigranite? I need to do both and just didn't know which one to do first...

If you are definitely using the Gianigranite, I would do the countertops first. There are so many color variations you could come up with, depending on how you apply the paint. Then you could pick your cabinet color from there. I chose my cabinet color from the lighter color in my countertop. Of course, it all ties in with my flooring too. Good luck with your project!

Hi Abbisgram! Hey, I know this is an old thread, but now that your Giani granite is four years old, how do you like it? Has it held up well? Would you still recommend it? I've been to their website and it is pretty impressive, I must say. My big concern is that I have no artistic talent whatsoever. Zip. Nada. My only skill in the visual arts is that I have a good eye for interior decorating. I can "see" how a room should look and I can pull things together on a shoestring budget that makes the room look fabulous. BUT, as I said, I have no talent for creating art on my own. I'm terrified that if I tried to use the Gianigranite I would create something hideous, haha! Cathyyg and other posters have also recommended checking out Rustoleum Transformations. Maybe I could hire a friend to do the Giani? I'd like to kind of try out both products. What do you think?

And by the way, your countertops are beautiful!

Thanks, Debbie. My countertops are holding up great. I've had no problems at all. I just sponged on the paint but if you look it up some people can really create gorgeous designs. Even adding fine glitter! If you're on facebook you can find Giani Granite on there with lots of pics. I also did my small bathroom countertop about 3 years ago using the leftover black paint and topcoat from the kit. I added some white and gray acrylic paint from the craft section along with the black. Turned out great. You could practice on posterboard with acrylic paint until you figure out a pattern you like or even just use a solid color and put a sealer over that.

Whoa. Am I glad this thread got bumped up with your new comments! Rustoleum Transformations has no genuinely light-colored counter painting kit, but Giani does. I would be all over this, but I know my husband would have a fit. Heading back to look at the Giani cabinet painting sets, now.

LOL one of the advantages of being single, I suppose...no one else has to agree to anything I want to do with my house. Of course, the disadvantage is the buck stops here; I'm fully responsible for any screw ups, no DH to blame! I think it might be nice to use the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations on the cupboards/cabs and the Giani granite on the counters. It will kind of depend upon how my island and table turn out that I'm semi-constructing. It's really good to know that your countertops are going strong after four years, Abbisgram! Do you by any chance have a picture of your kitchen that shows the floor, cabinets, and counters? I'd love to see how you pulled it all together! Jessicami, if you're still around this forum, thanks for the instructions on painting the cabinets and the materials you used, along with the great pic! Your cupboards really turned out nicely!

Debbie, I have to say I've painted my cabinets twice since I did the countertops. I just redid them this year. I also repainted the room. I still have the original vinyl floor in there, so now I have white cabinets with a white-ish floor. Sometime I may use vinyl tiles or planks but haven't been up to that task yet. Will try to get a pic soon.

Edit to add: actually it's been 5 1/2 years since I painted the countertops.

Thanks, Abbisgram! I bet the white cabs look great with the colour of your counters. And 5 1/2 years strikes me as pretty great for the Giani granite! Lots of bang for your buck. Redoing my floors is going to be my first major project in my new MH. It's really quite necessary as most of the flooring is original to the house--1979!! Exception is carpet in one bedroom and living room that is about nine years old, I think. But while the floors are indeed ugly, my bigger concern is the subfloor and the insulation situation. I want to shore up the subfloor and add insulation; the insulation that's there now is also original to the house, and I'm positive it's completely inadequate. So, since I want to pull everything up for those purposes, that means new floors, which thrills my daughter because it's an improvement she can see.

it will be vinyl wood-look planks, but my daughter and I have a running argument over the whole colour theme. Mind you, she doesn't live there and I don't see her name on the title, haha! But she's almost got me convinced. I wanted to go with a very dark colour scheme, dark red/brown floors, dark cabinets and countertops. But she says it will make the house dark, gloomy, and appear smaller than it already is. She wants a gray and white neutral theme with one colour accent used sparingly for pop, namely maroon. She showed me some vinyl planks in a gray that really look nice. So now I'm rethinking everything.

But anyway, thanks again for being so generous to answer my questions! Anytime you have time to post a pic or two would be great! I'm especially interested now to see the white cupboards! But I realise it's the holidays and everyone's frightfully busy, so no rush whatsoever! :-) I'm going out to my new place sometime in the next few days, depending upon the snow/ice situation, to take a whole bunch of photos and video. It's for planning purposes and also for my "before" pictures, because I want to document the whole restoration project.

I had to turn off the overhead light in the kitchen, it made the floor look really yellow in pics. Might be time to switch those bulbs out. On my screen, the first pic is close. Maybe a little lighter. It has a grey tinge to it.

Your daughter might be steering you in the right direction by urging you to use lighter colors. Those grey vinyl planks sound nice! I've spent a lot of time trying to make my house look brighter. I've painted all the trim white, and my next living room suite will definitely be lighter. I think I'm going to paint my dining room chairs, don't know about the table yet. And maybe my entertainment stand. I don't have a lot of windows, but they are big. Most of my light comes from the sliding door. My one window in the living room is under a covered porch. I feel better in a light room, especially in the winter. But, you must do what you like! I've seen a lot of dark rooms that are appealing to me.

I took the second pic to show my laminate. It's Swiftlock Fireside Oak. It does have a reddish-orangish look to it, especially where the sunlight hits it. That makes it hard to choose paint colors. For instance, the wall color in my kitchen is Glidden Canyon Echo. I hoped to use it in the living/dining area, because it's all open. It took on a pink tone. I have to say it was because of the floor. I had to choose another color (Glidden Toasted White) which isn't really enough contrast. If you look behind the toaster oven you can see where I changed colors but you don't notice it that much really. It's right at the edge of the overhead cabinets, it just looks like it's shadowed there.

The last pic is to show my last little project, painting the baker's rack. It was a wood-tone, I painted it grey. Sometimes it has a blueish look, which I don't mind. That tricky lighting!

Wow, Abbisgram, W.O.W! Your kitchen is stunning!!! All your hard work and angst really paid off!

The white cabinets were a great choice! Your kitchen is just so bright and airy and BIG! It really makes a difference. I've pretty much conceded to my daughter that she is right, as usual, heh heh. A 14x56 just isn't enough space to go dark, even with knocking out the china cabinet and making the LR/DR/K one big open space. So I'm going with the gray and white theme, with a little maroon and maybe one other color as a (hopefully) subtle pop. I'm trying to evoke a kind of summer California beach cottage look? But not over the top. I think it will really open up the space and give it that ethereal, airy feel that you've achieved. I'm really sensitive about sunlight too--I use a sunlight 15 minutes a day in the winter, or else I'll curl up in bed and not emerge until spring! :-)

I love your laminate flooring! I just spent a bunch of time on the Armstrong website. How do you rate your experience with them? Did you install it yourself? How did you like the Swiftlock system? Would you recommend the Swiftlock? Your floor is gorgeous, so it must have been OK!

Don't stress over your paint--it looks great! One thing I've been learning on this forum is that you just don't know until you've gone ahead and done it, whether it be floors, paint, or cabs/Cubs/islands. You just have to go with your gut and do the best you can. But really, I don't think it looks washed out at all. Of course, I'm telling you all this knowing full well that I'm going to spend the next two years obsessing over my floor and cabinets, haha!

What a fun project with the baker's rack! It looks great! Would be perfect in my kitchen! ;-)

Thank you so much for sharing these photos! It really shows what one can do in a MH with a little creativity and elbow grease! You've inspired me.

Yes! What a lovely kitchen! Abbisgram, your work certainly is well rewarded!

And add another voice in favor of light colors. Most of my MH is painted grey, but it looks blue. I do that on purpose, to get the pale relaxing blue I want. My husband's office is a true grey, no blue to it, The hall bath and my office are light aqua. It was gorgeous with the grey carpet, and is more gorgeous with the laminate. I used Mannington Wisconsin Natural Walnut. It ranges from a light natural woodtone to a medium walnut brown, and has a hint of red in some of it, which matches my cinnamon maple kitchen cabinets beautifully. You can see it in the pics I posted before.

I'd post a picture of my kitchen but it is temporarily in a mess. My new coffeemaker steams an incredible amount, meaning I had to relocate it so it would not completely ruin the finish on the cabinet. Now only half the steam goes directly on the cabinet. I definitely need some sort of waterproof guard for that cabinet. But along with moving the coffeemaker goes moving the coffee, tea, mugs, and suchlike. And the glasses and storage containers of the new mugs cabinet have to be moved into the old mugs cabinet.

Thank you, Debbie! I wasn't sure how I'd like the white cabinets with brown countertops but I'm pleased with it.

I bought my flooring at Lowe's and installed it with the help of 2 of my brothers. At the time I had wood-look trim so I was trying to get close to that. Otherwise, I might have gone with a lighter color. Another thing I liked about it is the finish is not so shiny. I also liked the type that has a beveled edge but I wondered if it would be easier to damage when moving/sliding things around? I would recommend the Swiftlock, the pieces fit together very well, and we didn't have much waste with damaged pieces out of the box. It's holding up well, there's one small chipped place where I dropped a drill from a ladder. But, it's black underneath. I only notice it when I'm cleaning, thinking I missed a speck. The drill survived. Another place my son dragged an electric stove with a footpad missing off one leg and cut a place about an inch long. This did expose the lighter section but I colored it with a wood marker. I can see where it is when I'm relaxing in my recliner, otherwise I don't. I have this in my bedroom, and living/dining room and a small hallway. This was in 2010.

Cathyyg, thanks for the compliment. I did see your flooring and meant to ask about it. It is beautiful.

Your color schemes sounds so nice. I painted my bathroom a grey one time, after I added curtains it had a purple cast to it. I have blue in my small bath, looks aqua. I love it with the wood tone vanity.

I hope you find a solution for your coffee pot. My mom's old dishwasher steamed her countertop, it was underneath the edge and not noticable. They weren't plywood but some kind of particle/chip board with laminate top and edges.

I am hoping that the solution to the steaming will be just a couple coats of polyurethane on the affected side and underside of the cabinet.

I still wish white cabinets had been an option when I got my home built. It was oak as standard, with an upgrade to either the maple or a dark cherry as the options. I really considered the cherry, but it was so dark, and I knew I needed the warmth of a wood tone in the all grey, white, and icy blue LR-DR-kitchen.