Giani Marble Easy Epoxy Countertop Paint Kit (Carrara White)

The media could not be loaded. LONGGGGG review, so if you’re curious what a crafty DIYer did, keep reading.Okay, so my husband and I bought our home just over a week ago. Before moving in, we renovated majority of our house. We painted every single wall in our living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen save where the backsplash I will install after the counters are 3/4 of the way cured (hence that hideous muddy pink color under the cabinets I haven’t painted over that was wreaking havoc EVERYWHERE). I still shudder at the previous owners design choices… I even sanded our cabinets and repainted them this gorgeous blue color. In love. Anyway, we want to eventually replace the counters with butcher block, but it is not a pressing matter at the moment. We much rather spend the money on other renovations. Okay, so that’s the backstory.I was a nervous wreck when I finally got around to redoing our counters five days later than I originally planned. No fault in Amazon’s delivery. Everything was packaged perfectly. I’m a new mom: my baby is adjusting to temporarily living with my in-laws and my husband and I have been out of the in-laws house renovating our new house. I read nearly every single review before deciding on going with this kit. I wanted a completely white kitchen. That was not happening. I have two dogs, a cat, a 3 month old child and a husband who makes a mess when it’s his turn to cook. White was NOT going to happen, but damn it, I was going to have SOMETHING white in my kitchen even if it was only my backsplash and counter tops. Go on, keep reading.Here’s a few things I did a little differently when painting the veins: I used a ton of water to get a very muted vein pattern. I wasn’t really happy with my millionth attempt and just could not figure out what I was doing wrong until in my frustration, I accidentally dipping my softening brush in my wash cup and painted over a vein with watered down white base primer. It was PERFECTION. I promptly painted over all of my top dark softened veins with watered down white paint and the veins turned out exactly how I imagined them. I let them dry overnight. When I painted the base primer, I left it overnight. I didn’t want to take any chances on the paint not being dry for the epoxy. I suggest the same if you have the time.While pouring the epoxy, yes there will be bubbles that eventually harden and you can do nothing about unless you feel like sanding it down and starting over. Not an overwhelming amount and not enough to be a problem, but there will be bubbles and you just have to be okay with that. I used a cheap rubber spatula to get allllllll of the activator out of the can and asked Siri to start a 3 minute and 3 second timer to mix. Don’t stir HARD because you’re just going to create more bubbles, just a little aggressively. Like you’re-mixing-brownies-and-your-partner-asks-for-the-millionth-time-what-color-is-this-wall-going-to-be-despite-the-wall-being-swatched-in-the-exact-color-it’s-going-to-be-painted-but-you-can’t-be-upset-because-they-are-the-love-of-your-life-and-you’re-just-a-little-annoyed kind of aggressively.I had NO animals in the house and somehow, someway, there is ONE SINGLE CAT HAIR that I did not notice until the next day when I couldn’t do anything about it. Whatever, it adds character.Really listen to the instructions when they say remove the painters tape after an hour or two. I was in the middle of painting my doors black when it occurred to me I completely forgot to remove the painters tape and tarp around my kitchen sink. There was slight dimpling around the counter where it meets the sink. I’m planning to just cover that up with some caulk. No one will ever know except me. Perfectionist me. I will always know it’s there and it will forever bother me. But honestly, I’m okay with that. Also, DON’T USE A TORCH TO TRY TO GET BUBBLES OUT. I had to scrape a bit of the burned resin off the counter and re-pour that area my husband thought he was helping me and nearly set the damn house on fire. Unless you know what you’re doing (MY HUSBAND DID NOT), DO. NOT. USE. A. BLOW TORCH.If you have a corner like we do, do the farthest distance first. I had epoxy all over my shirt that I had to promptly sacrifice to the rag bin because there was no saving it once the epoxy hardened.When you tarp, double tarp if not triple tarp. Somehow epoxy ate through a few spots and I had a whole two piles of resin on my floor. Once it hardened, I just used a razor scraper and most of it came up. The bits that didn’t are just going to be covered with chef mats. The floor will be replaced eventually.Every time you pour and you get drips, wipe the drips with your gloved finger to prevent the drips from hardening. I have one single drip that I didn’t spot, but it’s not a huge deal. I was about to cut it off with a razor blade.The counters are SO SHINY. I hope they stay that way. So far, they look fabulous.I can see some texture on the backsplash but of the counters, but again, not a huge deal. It’s not like I’m going to be touching it often and it’s mostly out of reach.TLDR:1. Double, triple tarp. Epoxy ate through my tarp.2. Don’t use a blowtorch unless you want your counters to catch fire.3. There will be bubbles. It happens.4. If you have pets, even if they are not present, you will get a hair.5. SO SHINY.Overall, I’m happy with it. It’s a great temporary cure for something that will be replaced in a few years. Epoxy will yellow over time, so if you’re doing white like I did, expect it to happen eventually. I will update once I wait the full seven day curing period to let you know if there are any spots that showed up or if any divots occur with the coffee machine and baby bottle sanitizer doohickey and bottle warmer.

Ok this is a long one:1. Highly recommend this kit. I purchased the black marble + a separate gold acrylic paint since I didn't want white veining.2. FOLLOW the directions. The company has very handy Youtube videos and the included instructions are easy to follow. Do not cut any time or steps out.3. Do your prep work. That is what made this whole thing pretty easy4. My countertops are Quartz? Not sure, they came with the house and I decided to paint them since I did not like the sad, busy brown. And hey, if this didn't work then I would fork over the cash for new counters. But, it worked!5. The kit comes with everything you need except painters tape. I also had separate small paint brushes for the veining that I used but the kit comes with a spray paint can? for the veining. I can't comment on the ease of that since I didn't use it.6. Tape, tape and tape again. I used the included plastic sheeting and extended it out at the bottom so when it came time to epoxy, let it run down and off7. When you do the epoxy, I taped backwards to create a damn so the epoxy didn't run between my appliances/wall where the gaps were8. Take the tape off post epoxt at 2 hours. You may still get some run down but it can be touched up with a paint brush before the drips fall (I went through every 10 min or so and wiped the drips for about 2 hours after this)9. If you get epoxy on your floors or appliances etc LEAVE it alone. Treat it like paint and let the droplet dry then scrape it off with a razor blade. Do not try to wipe it while its wet.10. I replaced my countertop appliances at 48 hours and the epoxy has held up well. Be ok with some defects. DO not roll the epoxy, push it. If you hear noises while you are doing this step, it is too thin.11. My only complaint is that before it is fully cured it can scratch easily as I noticed some hairline marks from what I don't know but they are very hard to seeOverall, I definitely recommend this.