Growing up I ate many a lunch at my aunt’s kitchen table, a table that sparkled not only for its cleanliness but because the white laminate was embedded with silver glitter. My grandparents had the same white glittered laminate in their kitchen and their bathroom had the Holy Grail: glittered laminate in PINK! *swoon*
My love affair with glitter laminate (Formica is a band-name, but there were others so I’m being fair) runs deep in my blood. I’ve longed for a gleaming, sparkling table for my little eat-in kitchen but they have eluded me. I thought I’d get my DIY on and simply cover another laminate table with glitter laminate, and so I began my search. Know what I found out? They don’t make the stuff anymore. Say what?
Yup. Not only do they not make it anymore, there’s not even a close approximation on the market. Worse? The technology used to make it no longer exists. So unless I find some magical piece of never used glitter laminate hiding in an abandoned warehouse somewhere, I am SOL.
And so a new quest began: if I couldn’t find my magic sparkle laminate, I’d have to figure out how to make it. The closest I could get was finding a few tutorials on making fake granite counter tops and some pretty cool glitter paint additive. The end result was nothing like what I was going for, but they shared enough basic elements (laminate, paint, glitter) that I decided to forge ahead.
As luck would have it, I found an awesome table at a local thrift shop for only $30. It has a chrome base in great condition and is super heavy-duty; I can’t find markings but the quality tells me it’s probably legit Herman Miller or the like. Score! Judging by the plethora of deposit stickers on the bottom, it had spent years as a work table in a bank. The top is 40″ round which is the perfect size for my little space. But it was faux-wood laminate… gross! But hey, I was painting it anyway.
The first step was sanding all of the existing laminate to prep for paint. Thankfully, it was in great shape with no chips or anything so my prep was minimal. I then painted two coats of primer and two coats of white enamel. I used the enamel because I had it left over from painting my kitchen cabinets but it was probably best for durability anyway. Win-win.
While the second coat of paint was still wet, I started dumping on the silver glitter. I knew I’d need a fairly uniform amount and would need to over apply because not all of it would stick to the wet paint. I found just heaping it in one hand and sprinkling it on like cheese on a giant pizza worked the best. And while flinging glitter, one must pretend to be a fairy princess for at least a few minutes. So. Much. SPARKLE!
I let the paint cure for a full day at this point to make absolutely sure there were no gummy parts for the next step: scraping off a ton of glitter. Yup. As expected, about half of the glitter didn’t stick to the wet paint. I just used my hands to wipe it off like so many sparkling crumbs. I’d say this was easy but the thing with glitter is that it goes everywhere, sticks on everything, and never really goes away. I have a friend who refers to it as “the herpes of craft supplies” and it is not an unfounded assessment.
Remember, this is my kitchen table and it needed to stand up to loads of daily use. I decided to use a brush on Spar Varnish. Honestly, if I was to do it again, I would probably use a pour-on varnish like EnviroTex. I lost count at some point but I think I had to apply ten coats of the spar, which is apparently not uncommon. The result is a smooth, glossy, resilient tabletop that can withstand all the food and homework that gets heaped on it on a daily basis.
And it looks awesome! Since I started with only vague notions about how the project would go together, I figured the worst would be it would look terrible and I’d be out a few bucks and a few hours. But it turned out great and is the perfect addition to my bright 50s style kitchen!
What about you? Have you had luck updating laminate counters or tables? What tips would you share?
Ultratwist Vintage 