Painted Marble Countertops: Nine Months In (and how to repair chips)
I never dreamed that painting over our granite countertops with a marble paint kit would be the most popular project I did all year. It was also super controversial and if I hear one more person say that painting over ugly brown granite is like putting carpet over hardwoods I might scream.
Before
After
But here we are nine months later and I have zero regrets. In fact, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I did mention last week that I would love to upgrade our countertops to quartz someday, but painting our countertops pushed this project to the back burner and for that I'm so grateful! To be clear our original granite countertops were totally fine, just very very ugly. And if you disagree and like speckled brown granite then we can agree to disagree :) Here is a photo I took a few weeks ago when the kitchen was decked out for Christmas. The countertops essentially look identical to the day I finished them. There have been a few minor chips and I'll get into that more in a minute.
Here's a close up.
It's so hard to portray exactly how they look in photos and even videos. But the best way I can describe them is that they feel like a hard plastic. In the scope of the overall room they definitely read as marble, but if you're getting up close and personal with them I certainly don't think they are fooling anyone.
They do still feel cool to the touch like natural stone, but that could be due to the fact that we have granite underneath them. Would they feel cool to the touch if we had painted over formica? I'm not sure. As for the chipping, the edges have proven to be the most vulnerable areas. During the application the epoxy got poured on so thick and was able to set up on the top of the countertops nicely, but at the edge it rolled over and off and left behind a much thinner layer. Here'a a photo of a chip that happened last week.
In nine months we've probably had about 5-6 chips and they have all happened right at that vulnerable edge. The good news is that they are super easy to repair, here's what I do.
I used my white pot of leftover countertop paint and just dabbed that on right over the chip.
It took about three coats and I just let it dry for a few minutes before I dabbed on the second and third coat.
Once everything looks seamless again I just brush on a tiny bit of this Polycrylic sealer. Whatever you do, don't mix and pour more epoxy, it's so messy and not necessary for small touch-ups. Also, I learned the hard way that pouring new epoxy epoxy that has already hardened doesn't work and just lays on top of the old epoxy, it winds up looking like spilled water. The Polycrylic sealer is a thin protective coat and blends in seamlessly with the epoxy finish.
Here is the chip all repaired! I still love the result and would highly recommend it for anyone that has perfectly functional countertops, but hates the way they look. Such an easy and affordable upgrade! Let me know if you have tried painting your countertops, I would love to see so be sure to tag me on Facebook or Instagram!
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