Rose ~ Chic ~ Friends: My blog is all about you; friends and sharing lifes journey...My love for all things Chic; repurposed, crafted, painted in many venues... and My LOVE for all things Roses! which show up in my home and created projects.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Faux Granite Kitchen Island

Sweet Friends!
How are you? 
 
SO,
 hubs has been doing a LOT of traveling
 for business this past summer
and
that has left me with a LOT of time on my hands.
I have been scouring the web, blogs and Pinterest for ways to
spruce up my kitchen.  There is so much info out there
and being a artist/painter
I have been inspired to do what I can in an effort
to bring my kitchen into the new century.
 
We have talked about installing
granite and updating our cabinets for a while now. 
Finances and a daughter in college seem to be
getting in the way.  And with hubsters gone
 and exhausted when he's home,
 well,
 this type of a project
 is too big for us to handle right now. 
I am now resigned inspired to do what
I
 can to spruce up and update our 20 year old kitchen.
 
What does this girl do?
She pulls out her paints and sponge goes
to town!!!
 
I decided to just do the island for now. 
We did decide a huge MUST right now will be
to replace our sink and faucet.  When that is done then
I will probably do the rest of the counters.

For the granite look I was going after, I used the following
colors; Black, Metallic Bronz, Vintage Gold and Ivory.
Then 2 coats of Polycrylic Gloss by Minwax was applied.

I first cleaned the counters then scoured with scrub free. 
Making sure any left over residue was off. 
Since my base is already ivory I did
not prime or base coat the counter.
(If you are going to do this as a permanent fix for your
counters I would strongly do a primer base.)
Since I am only doing this, in hopes that it will
suffice for a couple of years I skipped priming.
The KEY to any paint project is a good sealant.
NOTE:
You do not need to be a painter to do this. 
If you have an idea of the type
of granite you want along with your color palet...
there really is no right or wrong way.
Work with the colors until you are happy!

Starting with black I sponged this color randomly all over.
Then applied the metallica bronz, gold and then finished
up with ivory until the entire island was just how you see it.
I did go back and forth with some of the colors until it
looked how I had envisioned it.
The colors are have a more muted gold than my picture is showing,
The pictures are actually picking up more gray than it really is.

I then waited to 2 days so that hubby could see it. 
I decided if he hadn't liked it,
it would still be fairly easy to remove the paint.
But he was happy!
I applied the 2 coats of polycrlic letting 24 hours
go by before I added each coat.
I do have some brush strokes showing and
I may use a sponge and apply another thicker coat
so that my critical eye wont be bothered by the strokes.
There are sprays cans of this sealer
which I may use instead of brushing it on.

I did take a few pictures for you to see my un-painted counters,

We are still debating whether to paint the cabinets
a creamy off white or gel stain to a darker stain.
UGH...my pictures actually show these cabinets looking a bit
darker than what they truly are.
Due to their age, they are fading and the stain
really is starting to yellow or orange.
I feel we need more contrast...but
convicing hubs to paint any or part of the
cabinets has been my biggest project. 



 
Stay tuned...
I am currently working in my small
red dark
Powder Room...
here is a sneak peak of what I have
done so far.
 
(hubs did relent and let me paint the Powder Room Cabinets, yay)

I will be working on the counters hopefully in the next day
or so.  Then I still have a few projects in here to do.
 
Thanks so much for stopping by today!

 
Parties I am Linking too!
 
 
 
 

3 comments:

Marilyn said...

The counter top looks so realistic! Looks wonderful!! Last summer I started working on my kitchen cupboards and would recommend putting on a coat of Zinsser Bulls Eye Shellac FIRST. I did one set of cupboards without it and because they are oak, the tanins came through the paint and they are more yellowed. I wanted white, and am much happier on the ones I did a coat of shellac to seal in the tanins. I then did two coats of primer and two coats of enamel paint. Love the white! Lots of work!! I will be doing the lowers in a few weeks when the temperatures are cooler. Have fun in your painting escapades!♥♫

retrorevival.biz said...

Wow! You are very brave! And it's looking awesome!

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Very pretty update, Lorena! I think that is a great way to make a change without breaking the bank. I know very well about husband's traveling for business AND paying for college! : )

Thanks for linking up to The Creative Home & Garden hop!