Traveling Blog: Kate's counter tops with Giani

I'm taking the blog on the road, folks! Well not really, just my camera and my useful hands but you get the idea. We are heading to my dear friend Kate's house; she is so amazing people! When she wants something done she does it herself, no waiting around for a professional to bail her out. This project was no different.

Kate has been remodeling her kitchen, one project at a time, for a few months now and today's focus is the counter tops. They desperately needed a face lift and she found this product and has been drooling over it for some time now. She took the plunge and found a local place that sells this product and they even had her right color (Sicilian Sand). *Disclaimer, neither Kate or I are being paid by Giani to use this product or promote it; we simply found it was awesome on our own.

Here are a few shots of what her counters looked like before.

As you can see they were in need of a makeover. They are outdated and the gold flecks clashed with the rest of her upgrades.

First step in this process is to apply the primer, which is black, and cover the surface you are working with. Kate said after it dried it was smooth like butter. The priming stage takes a full 24 hours to dry before you can start the other steps.

                            

                            

Kate taped off the places the primer would get on the molding or walls but she didn't worry about the backsplash (same countertop material) because she has another plan for it that involves this (imagine in white though).

The next step was for us to practice on the paper they gave us. This was just to make sure that we had enough confidence to tackle the actual counter top. We cut the sponge in half; one half for the brown paint and one half for the white. Then you must wet the sponge and ring it out so that it is just damp.

                            

                            

You apply it in an up/down motion. You don't want to wipe it or smear it. It's like stamping cardstock.

The practice run went well and we were stoked to start the actual project.

First we grabbed several paper plates, then we poured the first brown (darker hue) onto the plate and dipped the sponge in. This project is a one person project so I just took pictures and held the "blotting" plate so that it was close. Once you dip the sponge and then blot it you can apply to the primed surface.

There is no wrong or right way to apply this as long as you are "stamping" it on. You can put as much or as little of each color you want to get the result you desire. You repeat the same steps with the next color, light brown.

It doesn't matter if the browns mingle a bit; you can use the same plate.

Kate has her sink out because she is replacing this

with this...

(only $75.00 total, including faucet on Craigslist)

Now back to the project; then you apply the white paint. This step we used a fresh sponge, a new paper plate for both the paint and the blotting.

They are starting to look A-mazing! Once you apply all the color you want, even after you apply the steps you can take a step back and dab more of any paint color on spots you think need it, then you must let it dry 4 hours before applying the first coat of sealer on it. Then another 4 hours (I believe for the second coat of sealer). Then 72 hours before you can put the appliances on the counters again and 14 days before you can wipe with soap (you can use warm water just not soap or chemicals).

I wasn't available for the sealing steps but applying the paint to make the counters look like granite only took us 1 hour folks and again it was only a one person job. We even had to take small breaks to dance (because we were so happy it was looking incredible) and to chase our little helper who thought something was on the other side of the fence (there wasn't).

This project turned out so incredibly great and we were super elated.

Before:

After:

I can't wait to see this once the backsplash is installed and the sink is in!!! I had a blasty blast being the "blotter girl" and the camera crew! Thanks Kate!

***Updated 5/10/10; here are some more after shots. It's totally gorg!! Kate decided to save the couple hundred to install tin and just paint her backsplash-love it!**