$50 Granite Countertops

Our house is old. It's almost 100 years old. Through the years, it's been updated somewhat. So the kitchen was not the original kitchen, but it's been a long time since it's been updated and what was here when we moved in was OLD ... and not very pretty. It was dark and cheap (faux wood laminate countertops, "fake" brick backsplash, dark paint).

Since moving we have painted the woodwork, painted the walls, painted the cabinets, painted the brick backsplash, and added vinyl tile flooring. All total, we have spent around $250 to spruce up the kitchen (including flooring). All it's really needed to make it totally doable until we can afford a full reno was painting the metal cabinet next to the dishwasher, new appliances and new countertops. But, we have no money to do those things right now (with the exception of the painted cabinet).

In the meantime, however, my mom found a faux granite kit at Walmart on clearance for $50. Have you seen these? This one was a Giani brand. I had seen pictures of a countertop someone else did, so I decided we should give it a try. Really, it couldn't end up looking any worse than the faux woodgrain laminate countertops we had.

We cleared off the counters on Friday evening and rolled on the base coat. It took less than an hour. Easy!

After letting that dry overnight, we then dabbed on the color minerals in the pattern we wanted to give it that granite look. (It took me back to my sponge-painting days of the '90s. Remember those days?) Again, it was SUPER EASY! It took less than an hour.

We let that dry for four hours and then rolled on the top coat. Let it dry four more hours and put on the last coat of top coat. Again, less than an hour total.

We had to let it dry for 3 days before we could put items back on the countertop and use it as normal.

And here it is in it's finished form.

Again, Before ...

and After ...

Not bad for $50. In fact, I really love them! I am actually going to buy a brown kit and do it to my bathroom next.

** I typed this about two weeks ago. I wanted to give an update as to durability of the countertops. I LOVE THEM! They are completely durable! I do not put anything hot on it (as recommended), so I have had NO problems! Cleaning them is a BREEZE! They also keep their shine even better than our real grantice countertops did in our house in Oklahoma. They don't streak or stain. This is a GREAT product!! It doesn' t make me want to run out and get updated countertops. I am perfectly happy with these!! **