How to Make Faux Marble Kitchen Counter Tops

If you cannot afford to buy marble or granite, you can achieve the look for a fraction of the cost of the real thing. You can create faux marble kitchen countertops using your existing laminate countertops and a faux painting technique. This technique can help cover imperfections and burns that may be present on your existing laminate countertops. Doing this can save you a lot of money and keep your kitchen looking attractive until you save up enough money to buy the real thing in the future.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Medium-grit sandpaper
• Tack cloth or lint-free damp cloth
• Primer or undercoat paint
• Flat or enamel paint
• Paintbrush
• Sponge
• Artist's oil paint (for veins)
• Artist's brushes (assorted sizes)
• Feathers (assorted types and sizes)
• Glaze
• Clear varnish

1. Clean the countertop using cleansing solutions and rinsing with water. Let dry.

2. Sand the surface to remove splinters and rough patches. Sanding also helps your paint adhere to the laminate countertop.

3. Remove the dust and lint using tack cloth or lint-free damp cloth. Ensuring that the surface is as smooth and lint-free as possible will give you a better end result.

4. Apply the undercoat in a color that works well with the overall design or color scheme used in your kitchen. Apply a second coat as necessary as a base coat for your decorative finishes.

5. Apply light mottling by using a sponge dipped in light gray oil paint. Apply them all over the counter in even shades and distribution.

6. Use assorted sizes of artist's brushes to add lines that become the veins. You can also use feathers, which is a preferred tool by artisans for creating faux marble veins. Draw the veins in random sizes in a single direction diagonally.

7. Use darker colors to strengthen some of the veins, giving them varying degrees of shade.

8. Use a sponge to add more depth to some areas. If you have a photograph of marble or a sample piece of marble, use that as your guide to add or lift up color for more variations of the shade for a more realistic effect. Let dry.

9. Add glaze on top. You can buy premade glazes in specific shades or colors, or you can make your own by mixing 3 parts oil paint, 5 parts white undercoat and 5 parts white spirit. Make sure your glaze has a somewhat creamy consistency to give an opaque finish. Allow glaze to dry.

10. Apply a coat of clear gloss varnish followed by a coat of satin varnish for an attractive finish and protection.

Tips & Warnings

• Test on a small piece of sample laminate to ensure that the paint will hold.
• Practice the mottling and veining technique on a small sample.