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Around the House: Guest Bath Counter Makeover

Well, I’ve been promising bathroom updates and I have some good ones! It starts here, with a new(ish) counter top. I say new-ish, because while we’re on a very miniscule budget for this bathroom makeover and couldn’t afford to replace the counter top right now (maybe someday!), it currently looks nothing like it did at this time last week. Yippee!

If you’ve been reading for a while, then maybe you remember my kitchen counter makeover. If not, you can check it out for a full tutorial (and be sure to read through the comments too, where I answer a few more questions about the process and how it’s held up). I’ll skip the step by step instructions here and get to the good stuff.

We started with plain old boring (and stained) builder grade laminate counters. Like so:

The first thing I did was prep the counters. This involved scraping away all the old caulking around the sink, elevating it slightly (using an upside down trashcan below the pipes to raise it about 1/8 of an inch. Yeah we’re high tech. Disclaimer: I’m not a plumber.), and then lightly sanding the counters. I should maybe mention that our sink was already loose, otherwise we would have scraped the caulk first and then elevated. It just happened not to matter in our case.

After prep was done, I painted. I was going for a slightly darker base in this room, and a more marbled granite look. It took almost two hours of painting and several layers to get there. Patience is a virtue.

Once I had the counters looking how I wanted them, I mixed up my Envirotex Lite and poured it on. And this is where I went a little off track. If you remember from my kitchen counter tutorial, after I painted, I applied a coat of polyacrilic to seal everything before coating with the Envirotex. This time, that step completely slipped my mind and I went straight to the shiny finish. I learned my lesson. My counters went from exactly what I was envisioning, to a much darker shade of brown. Here is the paint right before we poured the Envirotex:

And the change in color after:

Here’s the real deal folks: I’m not sure I’m in love. It’s not that it’s terrible. It has a nice shiny finish and some pretty marbling in the paint, and it definitely looks better than it used to, but it’s just not what I had envisioned. And I don’t like it when things don’t go the way I want. Haha. But seriously, a little more brown-gold came through than I would have liked. I was hoping for a light counter with gold undertones, not a gold counter. Sometimes in a life of DIY you do make mistakes, or things don’t always go perfectly. This is one of those times. So what to do?

Well, for now, nothing. Brett says he really likes the look of the counters right now. I am not convinced, but I’m not rushing to final judgement just yet. My plan is to get everything else in the room done and then give it a few weeks to set in and see how I feel about the counter color. Maybe it will grow on me? Things could really come together once the new faucet, mirror and light go in. Not to mention accessories.

If I do decide to change it up, the process would be to sand again, touch up the paint and re-coat with Envirotex. Not super difficult, but not exactly something I want to rush into if I don’t have to. We will see. So that’s it for now. I’d love your opinion, good or bad. What do you think of the new counter color?? Is it a keeper, or does it need some tweaking?

Dawn

14 Comments

  • FAQs about painting countertops • AD Aesthetic

    […] so I definitely recommend clicking here for the original tutorial, and you can also click here to see the same technique done in my master bathroom. If you have already read the tutorial, hopefully I can answer some burning questions below, as […]

    Reply
  • Spray Painted Bathroom Counter • AD Aesthetic

    […] by far is the one where I painted my kitchen counters. I have since given the same treatment to my guest bathroom counter, and so far both have held up pretty great (read my four-year update and FAQs here), so I did not […]

    Reply
  • lillias

    Hi, I am redoing my kitchen and small bathroom counter top. Can you suggest how much of the enviro tek did you mix for the small bathroom. I bought 3 32 oz and one 8 oz. I have started on the small bathroom which is the size of your small bath and wanted clarification

    Reply
    • Dawn Sailors

      I believe I used the 32oz kit and had some left over. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  • Ryann

    Can this be done on a counter that has the sink a apart of the counter? Like its seem less no bowl to come out?

    Reply
    • Dawn Sailors

      I would not recommend using this product inside the sink bowl. It is self leveling and would likely pool towards the drain. Getting it in the drain could cause plumbing issues, since it hardens to a solid fairly quickly.

      Reply
      • Ryann

        Thank you very much for your response. I have seen people paint all that’s why I asked. Maybe they didn’t use the same product

        Reply
        • Phylis Forsyth

          My sink is like yours, but has a crack that doesn’t leak. I wonder about spray paint, then find spray poly and somehow brush on the Enviro stuff.

          Reply
  • Designing Dawn | Around the House - Master Bath Kickoff (I painted another counter) • Designing Dawn

    […] by far is the one where I painted my kitchen counters. I have since given the same treatment to my guest bathroom counter, and so far both have held up pretty great (read my four-year update and FAQs here), so I did not […]

    Reply
  • Designing Dawn | FAQs About Painting Kitchen Counters

    […] so I definitely recommend clicking here for the original tutorial, and you can also click here to see the same technique done in my guest bathroom. If you have already read the tutorial, hopefully I can answer some burning questions below, as […]

    Reply
  • Sophie Lagacé

    Hi Dawn! I don’t know if you’ve changed your bathroom countertop after all…? Generally speaking, I’m not crazy about granit countertops so although I think you did a great job on these, I can’t say they are my style. I prefer the kitchen countertops, which are more uniform and light in tone, and more in my taste. I am going to redo my own kitchen countertops using your tutorials. I will paint them in a uniform teal blue green color. Thanks so much for your tutorials, they’ve inspired me to redo my own kitchen. :)

    Reply
  • Kara

    I’m planning on trying this on my laminate bathroom countertops but will be going for a white carerra marbled look that I’ve seen on some other sites. I have two questions though, does applying the polyacrilic before the sealer keep it from changing in color? I definitely don’t want any gold or yellow tones, just a shiny faux white marble finish. Also, any tips on doing the vertical areas and edges? I’m nervous about that part!

    Reply
    • Dawn Sailors

      Hi Kara! I didn’t notice any change in color on my kitchen counters when I used the poly first. And those are a very light gray/white color. I’ve had it on there for about 4 years now and haven’t had any yellowing of the envirotex. As for the vertical areas, I will say they do get a little bubbly, just from the product running down as it dries. Darn gravity. I haven’t really done anything on mine to remedy this (it isn’t noticeable enough to really bother me), but had one commenter suggest wet-sanding as an option to touch it up. My only other tip is to be sure to cover your floors and cabinets well! It does drip off in places. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  • Stephanie C

    I am in the same boat as you; I like it, but don’t love it. It definitely looks better than before, in fact it looks great, just not sure if it’s “the one” for the counter color. But, I agree to finish the rest and then see how it turns out, it might make a world of difference to see everything finished then decide. I still love the upgraded hardware, it looks amazing!

    Reply

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