NEW SOAPSTONE COUNTERS FOR THE KITCHEN...WELL SORTA...

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone...a nice LONG weekend...YAY!!!

So, while waiting for the hardwood floors to cure this week, we decided to tackle a project we have been wanting to do in the kitchen...replace our ugly old formica countertops.  The formica would not stay glued down and the trim edge kept falling off, even after gluing AND nailing it on a million times. UGH!!

We had initially thought a long time ago to just put new formica, that looked like granite, on them. However that stuff is a little pricey ($90 a sheet) and extremely hard to work with.  We were also afraid that it too would not glue down properly onto the old wood and that it would be a complete and utter waste of time and money.

Ultimately we figured we were just going to have to replace whole counter.  I wanted soapstone...

Gorgeous, right?

However, ANY kind of counter that would go with our home, whether it be granite, marble, soapstone, etc. were all very pricey too. Not to mention we would have to pay someone to remove our 600 lb. farmhouse sink (yes, it really weighs 600 lbs.), to install the counter and then put the sink back in place. That wasn't in the budget for sure. Not now or later...but we needed to find some kind of remedy...and fast. The reason being...well, it's a secret for now, but I will spill the beans in a few weeks...Anyway after looking to Google and Pinterest we came up with this...

FAUX SOAPSTONE COUNTERS...

Via

The lady had the same kind of nasty, ugly formica counters that my kitchen sports and did a little DIY magic on them to make them look like soapstone...GENIOUS!!  I ran the idea by the hubs and he was all for it. So I came home from work Monday to this...

Ewwww!!  Yes, all the formica was ripped off the counter. I guess that meant we were actually going to do this thing...WHEW...that's a pretty scary venture!!!  What if it didn't turn out...then what?

Anyway, I gave the wood (with all that old glue on it) a quick sanding to knock down some of the roughness but still left enough texture there to make it resemble natural stone. Then, I taped everything off and gave it two coats of chalkboard paint and let it dry...

Don't look at my messy, nasty floor...we are in the middle of some nasty jobs around here and I just haven't had the time to mop.  Hehe!!

Anyway, I didn't like the flat, stark black look so once it was dry I added a light coat of leftover SW Mindful Gray (from Bubs' room) and then wiped off the excess before it dried so that the black would show through. Doing that added some depth of color and you could see more of the texture also.  I also added some "veining" so it would look more like real stone...

Ahhh yes, it's looking good!!

I gave it all three good coats of polyurethane to seal it.

I think it turned out great.  What do you think?

Of course, this is a temporary fix but I think they look pretty good if I do say so myself!!  Pretty close to real soapstone...Hmmm, who would've thought? Hahaha.  I have a little caulking and paint touch ups left to do and then it will all be finished up...and not a moment too soon either...because the floors are cured and we will be moving back into the house over the long weekend.  YAY!!

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!! Ciao