Most of us have a countertop somewhere in the house we would like to update with a face lift. Replacing them is expensive, but they can actually be refinished fairly simply!

The steps are pretty easy and we will go through them one at a time:

1. Clean the countertop thoroughly and wash down with white vinegar, used full strength. I would recommend rubber gloves for this.

2. Paint the entire countertop, including the backsplash, if any, with "BIN" a primer made by Zinsser. They make the best primers on the market, in my never-to-be-humble opinion. Bin will hold onto anything. This is the most important step. The primer must be put on smoothly with a nylon bristle brush or a foam brush. Follow the directions on the can carefully. Bin does have quite an odor, so be sure to ventilate your room well. The brush and any spills can be cleaned up by first putting ammonia water on them, then washing with soap and tap water. Mix about 1/2 cup or so ammonia in about 4 cups of water (give or take a little) and have it handy when you start. Bin dries very quickly and will remain forever on anything you don't clean up immediately!

3. Paint the entire countertop and all with the color you want to see most of when finished. If you intend to leave it one plain color, then that's OK, but it will look more upscale if you do some type of faux finish on it.

You should be able to buy the colors you are going to use in quarts unless you have a whopping lot of countertop space to cover. Use a satin or eggshell finish. This type of finish will have better attributes and will allow you to work several colors over and/or into each other, depending on what you are planning to do with them.

I'm not going to go into lots of faux finishes at this time. We will cover them in future articles. You can get some good books on doing finishes at hobby shops, building suppliers, bookstores and the library. If you need to learn how to do a faux finish, just find one that makes sense to you and follow the instructions carefully.

One of the easiest finishes that you can do in a small space is to use a sea sponge that is fairly soft and 2 to 4 colors that compliment each other. Just gently dab on each color lightly and without using too much paint, letting the wet paints blend into each other a little as you work. Try to keep the surface fairly smooth by not using lots of paint.

When you are satisfied with the result, QUIT. The worst thing you can do is to keep working into and over the original paint. You will end up with mud! If you don't like the first efforts when it has dried, just sand lightly and paint over it with your base color and start over.

4. Let the paint have time to cure (dry thoroughly). A good 48 hours is a the best idea to make sure it has time to dry through all the layers. If you painted a solid color, 24 hours may be enough.

5. Now you can apply the finish. You may use a good quality water-based product such as Polyacrylic by Minwax. This is my personal favorite. You can do the first 2 coats within about 15 to 20 minutes. The second coat should dry 24 hours before applying the third coat. Then let that coat dry at least 24 hours.

6. Lightly sand with a very fine sandpaper (at least 600 grit). I like to use the black waterproof kind and wet sand. This is where you keep the sandpaper slightly wet all the time you are sanding. Just keep a bowl of water handy and dip your sandpaper in it often. The surface will turn white as you wet sand, but this is normal. It will dry back to clear.

7. Wipe the entire surface with a clean damp sponge and allow the finish to dry clear.

8. Apply one or two more smooth coat(s) with a foam brush, making sure you do not leave brush marks.

9, Let dry fully again.

This type of finish should be protected form heat (don't set a hot pan or bowl directly on it), from making knife cuts directly on it (just use a cutting board), or from leaving standing water on it for long periods. Just wipe water up with a dry towel.

Enjoy your new look!

Happy Painting,
Paula Devore
Painting Editor