In today’s post we are going to share our DIY painted marble countertops tutorial for painting your laminate countertops to look like marble. We did a grey faux marble finish on our countertops and sealed them with water based varathane and love how they turned out!

Update its been over 8 months and we still love and would highly recommend painting your laminate countertops!

Pin it for later: DIY Painted Marble Countertops

DIY Painted Marble Countertops Tutorial –

Can you paint laminate countertops? Yes! You totally can. They look amazing and last! This is a super easy DIY project and great for budget friendly renovations or even rentals if your landlord is willing to let you try it!

I totally get it. Painting your countertops can be really overwhelming and feel like you might be making the biggest mistake ever!

When I first looked into painting our countertops, I was stressed! Would this work? Would we have to rip out our countertops and replace them?

Don’t make these mistakes

We attempted painting our countertops with a faux white marble finish in the fall of last year. Although we loved them we sealed them with paste wax the first time around.

This required that the paste wax be reapplied every 3-6 months and I forgot (oops) so we were seeing a lot of wear and tear on them.

We needed to sand them down and repaint them and this time we sealed them with oil based varathane! Oh my goodness what a mess. the oil based varathane stained the white countertops an awful yellow glossy color. So we sanded them down AGAIN!

This last tine we sealed them with a water based varathane and far prefer it to paste wax for durability. And bonus it dries clear, no gross yellow countertops for us!

These countertops are STRONG now and shiny ( a great addition) and they have stayed in perfect condition for over 8 months now.

For this project you will need:

• 1 litre of Kendall Charcol by Benjamin Moore lightened by 50% eggshell
• A litre of Sherwin Williams bonding primer
• Sand paper
• A litre of Repose Grey by Sherwin Williams for veining and stippling
• 1 can of water based varathane
• 3+ small foam rollers
• 1 small regular roller
• 4x Small Roller tray
• Painters Tape
• 1 craft feather ( I found mine at Michaels)
• 1 sea sponge or regular sponge ( also from Michaels)
• A spray bottle
• A dry clean paint brush

How to paint your countertops:

Step 1:

I found lots of great tutorials on Pinterest for painted marble countertops, and used a few as guide while doing this DIY. However I did end up tweaking a few steps and none of those tutorials fit exactly how I wanted my veins to look. I did not want a busy marble but just a faint marble for the countertops.

To prep your counters make sure they are VERY clean, then scrub with an SOS pad and wash really well. Then go over with 100 grit sand paper, just a light sand nothing too crazy to give your primer something extra to grip too. Then wash again. Make sure there is no gunk or grease on your countertops or the primer will not stick properly and you may have a mess on your hands.

What paint should you use to paint your laminate countertops?

Step 2:

I went with the Sherwin Williams bonding primer for our counter tops this time and it worked really well.

After coating our countertops with a thin layer of primer and letting it dry completely ( this primer dries really fast, another bonus) I painted 2 coats of the Kendall Charcoal that was lightened by 50%. This was just regular egg shell paint from the paint store.

You don’t need anything fancy for this step as long as you have used a bonding primer to prime them. Any egg shell or flat paint will do.

Step 3:

Once my paint was dry it was time to do the fun part, veining! I was very intimidated by this process when watching a video I found on youtube but it really could not be more fool proof, the trick is work in small areas so if you make a line you don’t like you just spray with water and wipe away with your sponge.

Before you begin pick how you want your veins to look when you are done. You can do some research by googling marble slab images or even pick up a small piece of marble from your closest countertop supplier to use as a guide. I just went wherever the wind blew me haha but I love how creative you can be with this project however you do not have to be a artistically creative person to get your desired look! BE BRAVE, I believe in you, you can do this.

How to paint laminate countertops to look like marble

Mix your paint 1 cup paint and about 1/4 cup water but add more if your paint is moving easily on your countertops.

1. Paint your line by dipping your feather in the craft paint and then dragging it across your countertop and twisting it as you go so you do not have a perfectly straight line. Remember to do small chunks, you can easily blend your line together.
2. Use your paint brush and stipple the paint on top of the line. If you want a more diffused line spray a small amount of water on top then stipple. Make sure to brush the paint that seeps away from your original line back into your original line ( you will see this process in the video below).
3. Take your sea sponge and wipe away any excess water
4. If you want a darker line or a more variegated shade add a bit more craft paint in some areas of your vein and not others. This will give your vein dimension.

Then you are going to take that same color of paint you used for your veins and thin it out half and half, half paint, half water. Now take your regukar small roller brush and start applying to your countertops. This is going to be very messy so you will want to lay down a towel or drop cloth to catch the paint that drips everywhere.

After you apply the veining

After you have applied it all over your counter, you will want to take a clean dry rag and start patting the paint off. Don’t rub it off, but just start stippling the paint or patting it to create texture on your countertop.

This step really made all the difference to me and totally transformed these countertops into something we absolutely love!

Here is a video of this process for visual learners like myself!

Best product for sealing painted countertops

Step 4:

Now its time to seal your countertops. I used water based varathane to seal our countertops this time around and it was a game changer! We tried this process a year ago, and sealed them with paste wax. I do prefer the water based varathane SO MUCH more! They are durable and shiny and we highly recommend sealing them with water based varathane!

We applied 4 coats all together letting them dry for 3 hours in between coats. Best part is, no sanding in between coats required with this product! Make sure you use a brush and not a roller or you will get bubbles. Just use a thin amount for each layer.

I would recommend leaving your countertops free for 7 days like the back of the varathane suggests!

Use a sharp knife or blade to cut under your painters tape before removing.

Your last step is to caulk your countertops where your backsplash meets the counter. Also apply around your sink, garburator button, water spouts etc.

And thats it!

Painting your countertops white

If you want to paint your countertops white instead of grey I recommend using Pure White by Sherwin Williams. This is a great white for recreating the soft white of actual marble.

Then you would just switch out your paint for creating veining to 1-2 acrylic grey colors of your choice!

Check out our other DIY posts

• How to paint your ceramic tile
• Budget friendly Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover
• Boho Modern Farmhouse Home Tour 2021

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Kitchen Accessories we love:

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