Does anyone know if you can cover up an old formica counter top and what would be easy and look more modern. Npt sure what to use and how to do it so it would look good. Thanks for any help
My husband does kitchens and baths for a living. THe old formica should peel off with some heat, it's only held on by glue. You can then relaminate the top with new formica in a more modern design. You have to have a bit of talent to do it, but it's not that difficult.
There are a few things you can do. One is to paint it. Yes, you can. Sand it enough to break the shine, then prime with Kilz. You can paint it with acrylic paint in any faux style you want, or use metallic paint, then top with 5 or six coats of satin polyurethane. I have done that in my house and it has lasted for eight years. It will not take a lot of wear, like cutting and that sort of thing. You also have to be careful not to leave anything wet, like a sponge, sitting on it for long periods of time. The poly will bubble, but will go back down if you leave it alone and let it dry out. This method probably wouldn't work too well if you have kids. Another really beautiful thing to do is to cover them in copper sheeting. It's not that expensive, it's easy to work with and you can cut it with tin snips. Don't worry about getting it perfect. Copper is soft and the more distressed it gets, the better it looks. Glue down the top with contact cement. Use decorative nail head tacks to hold down the edges. I covered an old ugly overhead range fan this way once and it came out really gorgeous. I used a ball pin hammer to distress the copper and then covered the seams with strips of leather and added the nail heads. Beautiful. You can do the same thing with aluminum sheeting for an ultra modern look. You can always tile, as well.
Years ago I had an ugly blue counter top in a rental house. I couldn't afford to replace it so I carefully covered it completely with contact paper (a wood look pattern). Naturally I didn't cut anything on the counter but it held up for several years and I when it got looking bad, I covered it again. I might add that this wasn't a huge area but it sure was cheap and easy!!
