So Long, Soft Pink!!! (A.K.A. New Kitchen Countertops)

As of August 2010, we have lived in this house for 5 years.  I really do love my house, even though we have outgrown it.  The house was built in the mid 90's, but both the builder and previous owner had impeccable late 80's taste.  I wish I had before-and-after pictures of everything we have redone...Our hall bath's wall-paper was truly a Miami Vice airbrush-esque look.  There was mint green, baby blue, peach, cream, etc. splatters on a white background.  We have painted, replaced metal mini-blinds, tiled over laminate floors, and more.  Ironically enough, the thing I loathed the most was the thing I learned to live with the most complacently...my kitchen countertops!

Enter my sister-in-law Mary.  She is starting a side business called Fantasy Faux.  She loves to faux-finish anything that isn't moving or breathing.  Her first love is furniture re-do, but she also can do countertops.  Guess who she chose to be a guinea pig and practice on?  Moi, Myself, Me!

Here are a couple of before shots...the countertops were supposed to be neutral...

but they were textured and they had pink swirly designs in them...

So, the first thing we decided to do was try to smooth things over by sanding the fool out of them (pun intended).

Hmm, that didn't exactly work.  Talk about resiliency.  These 'tops may be mighty ugly, but they were built to last.  So on to Plan B.  Mary concluded that we would be putting quite a bit of layers on top of them...that would smooth things out anyway.  First step, primer. 

...aaaaaand buh-bye pink!  I'm loving it already!  Now, about that stove.  It's going to really be in our way.  So we pulled it out, revealing another dark secret...how do you like my red kitchen?

Yeah, I like it too!  Much better than the old wallpaper that I lazily never finished painting over!  Hahaha.  Okay, next step, the base coat.  We chose a warm okre/mustard color.  Almost too mustardy.  I'm craving hot-dogs fo' sho'!!!

Okay, maybe it's not so bad.  I guess all these paint fumes are just getting to me!  Let's get back to work.  The next steps went from exciting to waaaaay scary.  I freaked out more than once.  Have I made a huge mistake?  Have I gone from guinea pig to lab rat?  But I know and trust Mary.  I have seen her work.  So I bit my tongue.  Well, until the last night.  Anyhoo, enough talk.  Let's paint:

And finally, we were through with the coloring part.  Here's my beautiful niece Lauren showing off the almost-finished-process and her fabulous new haircut:

Now, keeping in mind that #1 this is a painted surface and #2 I tend to lean toward the careless side of life, we decided to put a truckload of two quarts of poly-acrylic clear coat on top.  Not only will this seal the painted surface, it will also give the countertops the glassy surface associated with real granite.

That would be my brother, David, applying the first layer of poly-acrylic.  Just like a gym floor, right Dave?  Well, with no further ADO...I present the finished (almost) product:

I'm still waiting for the poly-acrylic to finish setting before I can accessorize again.  Ugh, patience is so hard!  How about a little before-and-after again?

So long for now...I'm off to watch paint dry!  Heeheehee...