My Failed Marbling Attempt (Plus A Couple Of Finishing Details)

I’ve done a faux marble paint technique only once before on our living room coffee table. When I bought it, the top was an antiqued white color, as if it had been painted white and then coated with an oil-based finish that had yellowed over time. I hated it, so I decided to marble it. That process went very well, and I love how it turned out.

So when I got started yesterday, I pulled up that post and followed the process that I used before. This time, I didn’t love it. I started off a bit different, by adding small touches of gray paint to the white and blending them together with a big deck staining brush. I wish I had stopped here because I really liked it like this.

But then I added the gray veins. And as much as I tried to blend it, I hated it.

One problem I had is that the paint was drying way too fast, even though I added Floetrol to it. The only thing I can attribute that to is that we have a dehumidifier now that runs 24/7. But with the paint drying so fast, there was no way to keep it workable and get it to look like I wanted it to look. So I just kept adding white, but it just wasn’t making it better.

So then I just kept adding white with a sponge and pouncing it with the big deck stain brush. Initially, it went from bad to worse…

But I finally got it to where it just had a very subtle mottled look to it. And that’s where I decided to leave it. It looks very similar to how I painted our kitchen concrete countertops. It’s not what I had in mind, but it’s fine. I just didn’t want a stark solid white top, and once this is clear coated, it’ll be fine.

I actually like how subtle it is. Perhaps a marble look with veins and lots of movement would have been too eye-catching anyway, so in the end, this is probably better than my initial goal. But I could have gotten here a heck of a lot faster had this been my goal from the beginning. I could have gotten it done and probably clear coated in an hour had I just done this from the beginning, but of course, I had to take the difficult, scenic route to get here, and wasted a ton of time in the process.

Anyway, moving on. I know that most of you said I should just leave the doors and drawers solid blue and move on. And then maybe I could come back later and add a detail to them later. But the more I looked at it, the more I just wasn’t satisfied with it. And every time I think I’ll come back to something later, I never do. And I just couldn’t get it out of my mind that the trim needed an accent. So I got out my Krylon 18kt Gold paint markers…

And I added gold to one of the sections. And I. LOVE. IT. And best of all, it took less than five minutes.

It’s subtle. It doesn’t scream for attention. But now you can actually see the trim details. So I’m going to go against the majority here and go with the gold details. 🙂 And it’ll take me less than 15 minutes to do the other three sections.

I got another small detail for the closet yesterday. I’ve wanted a valet bar somewhere in the room, so I purchased this one on Amazon. I bought this one because it’s the only one that installed in such a way that the screws are hidden.

The color doesn’t match the closet rods as well as I had hoped, but most of it will be covered with hanging clothes anyway, so I’m not too bothered by it.

But it’s a really great, solid, sturdy valet bar, so I’m very pleased with it. And it will really come in handy when putting together an outfit.

And finally, I got the little label holders done for the baskets. I still need to attach them, but I just used 1/4″ wood for a backing, painted them the same blue as the island, and then screwed the gold label holders to those. I think they’ll look great!

So overall, yesterday was a pretty frustrating day with that countertop nonsense. But I’m done with it. I’m going to do a clear coat this morning and move on to other things. I’m trying not to let perfection be the enemy of good. And if I let myself start trying to make that countertop perfect, I’ll just waste more time and probably end up right back where I am now. So, on to other things! I have a ton of small finishing projects that need my attention.