Wow, I agree with you -truly amazing. And the poly on top should make it pretty durable.

Wow. I would love her to redo my horrible 1920's "formica-esque" counter!

I'm the same way... not that hot for the faux... but wow! That is amazing! Thanks for posting.

reno, you suggested Better After a few months ago and now I'm hooked. Her intros are hilarious!
I'm definitely going to do that technique on my sad kitchen counters. I wonder if it would work on floors?....if I could avoid walking on them for a few days that is.

Honestly, I prefer plain Formica to that faux finished surface. I thought it looked pretty awful.

I am not a granite person anyways but... there is no way I would spend the amount of money some people do for it. If however, you like the granite look, this to me, looks more realistic than the newer Formica that are made to look like stone. I think she did a fabulous job.

Great to "see" you reno_fan!

So, I've been wondering for the last few months if I could do this to my yoo-gly formica counters. Really, they aren't that bad... the older and more fuzzy your eyesight becomes, the less it bothers you, ya know ;-)

But I've got primer, black, white and so many neutrals that will go with the kitchen walls, no prob, paint and 5 sea sponges, just itching to used! So...

The counters are currently: minute beige cross marks on white background formica, so it reads almost white, and all (design) things considered, a white/gray/tiny bit'o black-ish marble will be best here.

What additives would I use to simulate a honed marble finish? Flour? Talc? A matte poly, help me here. In this materials arena, I'm a newb! Would I need more poly coats? HELP!

Tell me what you think I should do in detail, please!

Wow! She really has a talent for figuring out how to get the look she wants with paint. If I wanted granite counters I'd copy her method on my Formica.

Very clever~~it looks great!

kswl - I'm not sure I understand your post - do you think her kitchen looks better with the kelly green counters?

She is very clever and creative. Reno - thanks for the link. Good to "see" you!

Great link - thank you! I love that she researched and told us about materials that aren't toxic, too. (My DH is going through cancer treatments so I'm rather hyper-aware of that stuff. The blogger mentions that she's a cancer survivor.)

She has alot of great touches: I love the chandys over the counter, the beadboard at the side of the counter, and her black and white fabric. Very nice!

Deee, I didn't love the green counters, but I thought they were better looking in that setting than the faux painting. She could have painted the oak trim on the counter and at the bottom of the cabs white (she did the latter as well as faux painting the counter).

I don't know how to say this without getting into trouble :) but here goes--- you would not expect to see a marble bathroom in a mobile home, for example, or a schonbeck chandelier in a small rustic cabin, for perfectly reasonable economic and design reasons. If you saw something that looked like a marble bathroom in a mobile home you would know at once that something was wrong, that it was fake. And to me that would make it
look cheap.

Formica is what it is, and there's nothing wrong with it. Formica painted to look like something else is like a 70 year old wearing a miniskirt trying to be something she's not.

I also subscribe to this blog and when I saw the counter and then read it was faux I couldn't believe it. Give credit where credit is due. I don't see anything about this kitchen that would indicate granite does not belong there. Did everyone notice her adorable drapes and that cornice box? She did a fabulous job with making due with what she could afford. It was perfect. I doubt I could pull that off because I'm not handy, but she sure did a wonderful job. I so admire people like her.

We recently did the same thing in a guest bath using a product called liquid granite. It comes in a kit with full instructions.

Our guest bath was looking pretty bad. Original counters, sinks, medicine cabinet,light fixtures, etc from the late 70s. This bathroom doesn't get a lot of use and I wanted to give it a face lift without spending a lot of money. We painted the cabinets, replaced the cabinet hardware, replaced the sinks, faucets, lighting, medicine cabinet, painted, took down the awful bathtub doors on the brass looking metal track. Still have some work to do but very happy with the results so far.

I think it came out great. Still need to replace the mirrors and accessorize better, but what an improvement.

Here's a realtor photo when we bought the house:

There was a thread all about this technique on another site... some of them are OK, others are absolutely atrocious!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Painted Laminate Countertops

Very nice update, itsawrap, are those flowers painted on the wall? Beautiful!

your counters look great itsawrap!

Thank you ghostlyvision.

The flowers on the wall are actually vinyl decals. It is a temporary solution until I can find what I would like to hang there. Found it at Home Goods for about $10.00.

Just ordered the mirrors and have bought new towels bars. Getting there.