How to Create Faux Marble Countertops in 8 Easy to Follow Steps

February 4, 2017 | By Melissa Berg | Tags: faux, marble

Have you been dreaming of Carrara marble countertops? Are you having a hard time though justifying the $125-$250 per square foot price tag?

Apply a layer of sophistication to your old outdated laminate countertops with these step-by-step directions.

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

Below is a picture of what the countertop looked like before. A blue laminate top with a big white stain in the left hand corner, luckily this helped me in convincing my fiancé to allow me to paint over it.

I completed this project for under $50.00. The square footage of the countertop is 7.83 ft² which would have cost $978.75 at $125.00 per square foot or $1,957.50 at $250.00 per square foot. How does that sound to your budget?!

Supplies Needed:

Stonington Gray Paint by Benjamin Moore
White Primer
Black Paint Rich Black
1″ Paint Brush
Feather
Sea Sponge
Blender Paint Brush (A MUST HAVE…SERIOUSLY!)
Super Glaze (Read Step 8 to determine how many you will need)
Tape
Hand Masker Dispenser (optional)
Hard Plastic Sheet (to spread the Super Glaze)

Step 1: Prep

Prep the area by cleaning your surface and taping off around the countertops. I used a Hand Masker Dispenser to apply the plastic and tape at the same time.

Be sure to use plastic on all areas below the countertops! You will need to have something to catch your run-off of the Super Glaze during Step 8.

Step 2: Primer

If the countertops you are using are not solid white you will want to paint primer over the whole countertop. My countertop was blue laminate so I painted 4 coats of primer.

Yes, you read that right. I did 4 coats! Three coats might have worked, but I really wanted these countertops to come out AMAZING!

Step 3: Marble Sample

Find pictures or slabs of marble that you like. I printed out a picture from the internet of Carrara marble slab that I really liked.

Then I went a little on the nerdy side and I made a miniature mock up of what the slab would look like in my laundry room (optional).

Cute right?!

Step 4: Paint Colors

Get your 3 paint colors ready.

Have a small container of white primer, Stonington Gray, and Stonington Gray + a small amount 1-2Tbs of black paint (this should be a slight darker shade of gray).

Step 5: Brush Paint

Now comes the fun part. Painting. Grab your 1″ paint brush with Stonington gray paint and slowly drag it, flip it, and push it along.

After each brush grab your blender brush and soften or blend the paint. This will make the gray less dramatic and blend into the white.

If you do something and really don’t like it then simply dip the sponge into the primer and dab it over what you want to fix and then use the blender brush to blend over.

Do this step over and over again until you feel like the countertop is starting to have different layers. You can’t go wrong doing this step over and over.

For this step you really don’t start to see any veins yet just want to make layers. Let the paint completely dry.

Step 6: Feather Paint

Now grab your feather and dab it into the Stonington gray paint and slowly drag it, flip it, and push it along. Like you did earlier with the 1″ paint brush.

After each brush with your feather grab your blender brush and soften the vein.

Again if you do something and don’t like it then just grab your sponge and dab it into the primer and spread it out with your blender brush.

Create as many veins as you’d like. Refer to your picture or slab of marble to give you an idea of what you want. Let the paint completely dry.

Step 7: Dark Gray

Now grab your feather and dab it into the dark gray paint you made (Stonington + 1-2Tbs of black paint). I slowly dragged it, flipped it, and pushed it along side of a gray Stonington vein to make that specific vein pop out.

This is personal taste, but I chose to do a very limited amount of dark gray veins. I wanted some veins to pop out, but didn’t want to overcrowd it with too many dark veins. Let the paint completely dry for at least 8 hours.

Step 8: Glaze

Are you already in love! This step will be sure to make you amazed! Grab your Super Glaze and carefully READ and FOLLOW ALL of the directions.

First you need to determine your square footage to know how many Super Glaze boxes you need to purchase. Use this square footage calculator to help determine your square footage. One box covers 6.4 sq. ft. Use a hard plastic or rubber to spread out the Super Glaze once you have poured it out over your countertop.

You only have about 10-20 minutes to spread it out. Use a piece of hard plastic to spread out the glaze, but don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect, because this stuff is amazing and will level itself!

Finish following all of the directions and let it dry according to the directions.

TIP: The Super Glaze will run off the edges as it levels itself, so be sure to have plastic all the way around your countertop to catch all of the drips.

TIP: BEWARE: Be careful as it drys, bubbles can rise. If you don’t catch the bubbles they will harden and you will have bubbles at the surface of your countertops! To get rid of the bubbles blow lightly on the bubble and it will pop. I set a timer to check on the countertops every 10 minutes to catch new air bubbles as they rose to the surface for about the first hour as the glaze was drying.

Show off your Faux Marble Countertops:

Now it’s time to decorate and show off your new Carrara marble countertops to friends and family! They won’t believe you when you tell them they are faux marble countertops!