Redoing the counters-part 1

I always wanted to do epoxy countertops. I quickly learned that it wasn’t as easy as it looks. I watched a zillion StoneCoat Epoxy and Leggari videos. TONS and tons of them. Stonecoat never answers any questions.. leggari does.. Stonecoat was cheaper and available on Amazon so I went with Stonecoat. Hours and hours of learning yet it didn’t prepare me for the epic fail I was about to experience.

First let me give you the good. There is no smell.

I used mica powder to color my epoxy. I think I might have mixed too much in. Lesson learned…a little goes a long way!

They said to let the epoxy drip over the sides. It didn’t drip evenly.  The edges didn’t look good.

They said to use spray paint. Splatter it and paint would spread out.  I did it just like the guy in the video did but it didn’t spread nor did it look good. Spots always looked like dirt to me.

They said use a paint stirrer and drip the left over epoxy in lines over the counter.   It didn’t blend well and it looked weird.

People kept saying they loved it. It looks so good.  I know they were just being kind to me. I have eyes, I can see the mess I made and I absolutely hated these counters…including the colors. Not as much as the originals though but enough to do them over.

The guy who repaired my new dishwasher added a wedge under the counter and wound up cracking the  counter. It happened a few weeks later but it was clear it was from what he did. Then someone  CUT or DRAGGED something sharp on the counter and sliced it. Ugggh. Perfect excuse to do a do-over. 

The crack on the original seam where the guy added the wedge.  What the hell.
Someone was cutting something on the counter.  Or dragged something sharp over the counter.  Either way…What the hell…

So I started over as if I was doing them from scratch. First thing is prepping the surface. I used bondo to repair the cracks. And since jerko put a wedge under the counter I had to even it out with the bondo in addition to repairing the crack.

One thing I can’t do well is sand smooth. But since I am going for a stone effect I sanded it as smooth as possible. (Photo is before sanding)

After sanding I primed with bonding primer. I absolutely love this primer. It has never failed me so far. You can paint a glossy surface and it will stick. You can paint a dark surface and it will cover it. Worth every penny!!

They also have a stain blocking bonding primer sealer for slick surfaces but I couldn’t find it.
Almost ready for paint! I like the white and I could pull it off with my mauve walls but no no no. Not with my tornado brother cooking in the kitchen. I need some texture…and color otherwise my countertops will always look like hell.

For the color scheme I studied some granite and marble color schemes to help guide me.

In looking at the photos and comparing with my countertops I see what went wrong. Not enough blending and too many contrasting colors. Well noted. I think this was my inspiration color scheme..

Part 2 will reveal what colors I used. Going to bed now.

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One thought on “Redoing the counters-part 1

  1. Are we voting on the colors? I like Mauve Finery. That would be smashing in your kitchen. You did a good job but I think you needed more epoxy to make the colors flow and blend better.

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