How to Dress Up Your Bathroom Countertop

so, if you've been following my other DIY instructables, you'd already know I've just completed building a kitchen island and then doing a 'faux granite' finish on the counter
Now it's time to start on my bathroom counters..I'm starting off with the smaller of the 2 counters
The plan is to add a 4 inch backsplash first and then do the 'faux granite' finish on my 2 bathroom countertops also
I'm also going to lay ceramic tile on the floor later but that's a whole new project...

I've attached a 'before' pic of what my bathroom counter used to look like before I began my project of dressing up my countertop

there's really nothing wrong with it ..I just want to make it look better

since my bathroom counters do not have the 4 inch backsplash now I will have to go ahead and finish that before I can get started on re-doing the counter tops

off to Home Depot
supplies I need:

length of 1" x 4" board as long as the counter and as long as the depth of the counter $2.09 ea
wood glue
kitchen/bath caulking
plus all your supplies for doing the 'faux granite' finish (paint/real sponge etc see kitchen island for supplies to do the faux counter top)

Next using the wall edge of counter measure the width and length of your counter
the length of my counter is 30" and the width is 19"

first thing I need to do is cut the two joining edges at a 45* angle so when I join them it fills in the corner gap
Next I just cut the length 30" (I don't have to worry which edge I mitre since the wood is the same on both sides)

first I need to remove this plastic border that was originally finishing off the counter to the wall

Now I see that my wall is not totally straight so I will need to address that issue also

with my cuts completed for the backspash I just have to put a line of glue or silicone if you prefer on the backside

press them in place then fill in the corner with paintable caulking

next to address this uneven wall
rather than just loading up the gap with caulking Im going to push some small pieces of wood in to fill the gap almost to the top
that way I wont have to use so much caulking and it will fill better

my rule of thumb:

if its less than 1/4" you can get away with just caulking it but if it's a bigger gap another method is better

of course...I have a 1/2" gap due to the wall being crooked

so since the counter is under a mirror that spans the length of the counter I can fill in the area to make it straight where the wall isnt straight with regular drywall mud and paint it

Im off to Home Depot to get some trim 1" x 4" (19" depth of counter and 30" length of counter) to finish off the backsplash to the wall edge

again, I can either glue/silicone and then add a few finishing nails to secure the trim piece but I ended up just using glue

now for the faux granite look for the counter top

first I taped around the whole sink so I wouldnt have a mess to clean up later..using green painters tape (if possible do not use the dollarama tape since you will have a tough time removing it later..I used Home Depot tape)

I begin by rolling (or using a brush) out one application of tinted primer..Im using grey

Next I dab..starting with my darkest colours...all my different colours of paint

At this point I'm always somewhat apprehensive since it's super ugly

I'm using a real sponge since they look more natural

you can see from the pics that I am doing different colours and letting them dry in between

once you're happy with the end result

next step is to put your clear coat finish on it to seal it

i'm using polyacrylic clear finish for my top coat

Using a roller and/or a brush seal the counter with the top coat

I put one layer allow it to dry then sand it lightly before my next coat

In total I put four coats of clear on the countertop

after the clear coat is totally dry remove your green painters tape

I've included a 'before' and 'after' pic so you can see the difference..I'm quite pleased with the 'new look'

and am enjoying my new DIY faux granite look

*stay tuned for my next DIY project*