Hello all!! Sorry it has been SO long sense my last post, but we have been very very busy! This post is going to focus on a process and review of the Giani Granite (go to www.gianigranite.com or Giani Facebook for more product information) product I used to resurface my counter tops. Lets dive right in shall we?
First lets start with the ORIGINAL original Kitchen.... yes I'm talking way back "bought the house" kitchen that was dingy, water damaged and discolored.
Pretty bad huh? Yes I know, but I saw what potential it had SO we bought the house and I made it my sole mission to complete this Kitchen Tune Up project FIRST! Here was the progress before Giani (and the new Kitchen Island :-D). Kinda cluttered due to having and overwhelming blessing of too many wedding gifts, but we were working through it to make sure everything had a place that wasn't on the counter tops!
Oh, and side note/pause break. WE HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW ADDITION TO THE FAMILY!!!! This is Zeus, our new (then 10 week, now 12 week old) Husky! Apollo and we fell in love with him at first sight and although not formally planning another addition so soon, we felt like it was the right move. Apollo is so happy and loves his new brother so much!
As you can see... they play... ALOT. (;-D)
So cuddly and best friends already!
Here is a side by side of both of them at 10ish weeks!
Okay, now back to the real purpose of this blog post. Giani Granite. I heard about Giani from the a blog/facebook I follow My Repurposed Life. She's got some great ideas and very friendly, I highly recommend following her if you are a DYIer. I had my speculations about the product considering it is just paint and all, but i read through all the reviews and checked out youtube videos of how to use the product and the good seemed to outweigh the bad. I figured sense My Repurposed Life recommend it as well it had to be worth a shot. I hate my white counters so badly and the white in the kitchen was just overwhelming I had to do something.
I picked the Diamond White kit from Giani.com and I paid about 79.99 including shipping for the kit. The Kit came with all below. All the mineral paints and sealer, two roller attachments, one roller, and a sponge. 
This is the rest of the materials I had to buy to complete the project. Some of it was optional, but I went ahead and did everything recommend by Giani.
First things first was to clear the counter tops of all that graced them and clean the thoroughly with a household cleaner, they recommend SOS so I used SOS. Found out I really like SOS and how well they clean, so I will be using these in the future! They recommend SOS because it had grit and gets all the grease and dirt out and off your counter tops so your base minerals will adhere completely.
Nice (and much needed :-X) scrub down!
Look how shiny and WHITE they are...
Here is a nice view of the new kitchen "island" as well. Its a butting station that has extra storage and everything! My grandmother just had it in her attic!! SO blessed and lucky!
Next step was to fill any grooves or dents in the counter tops with "wood patch" and let it dry and adhere the surface back together.
Once it was done drying you sand it down smooth with the counters with 600 grit sandpaper. I could only find 400 grit and it worked just fine and didn't "scratch" the finish! Although if you can find 600 grit, use that it will probably be even safer! 
Next step was to remove any old caulk. This was the only place my kitchen even had it so I removed it.
Next: tape everything off. They recommend Frog Brand Painters tape (although I think any brand painters tape would do just fine) but I bought the Frog Brand and it was green, which was weird but whatever! Haha!
Finally you are ready to start painting! You first roll on the base black mineral paint. It actually on its own is really pretty. I rolled is exactly how the videos showed and tried not to over roll or under roll!
After you get the bottom coat all on you wait 8 hours or longer for drying before moving on. They whole project takes about 3 days total to complete.
The next step (and I'm so mad at myself for not getting pictures of like half way done sponging, but I was working to diligently and didn't think about it!) is to sponge on each color. The kit has them label: Step2 A, Step2 B, and Step2 C so you know which to sponge when. Its really up to your preference because they give you the same amount of all the paint. I wanted a more Grey White feel so I did not sponge a lot of Step2 B for me which was a brown/taupe color. I did do a little just to give it some dimension.
Here is a close up so you can see some Veining that I did. I used the black base coat (what I had left over) to create what they call Veins in the design. This, in my opinion, makes the whole thing look more real and natural.
Last, but not least is the top coat. It is a shiny white glaze/sealer that you roll on two coats of, 4 hours apart to create a glassy finish, just like granite.
Here is a before and after side by side for you.
After removing the tape, but before re caulking. (re caulking is the last step to everything)
All in all here are my ratings:Cleanliness: Not the cleanest project in the world, but that doesn't bother me. Just beware when you sponge, it will get on you. There is not way around it so were clothes that are old and work clothes that you don't mind getting paint on.
Simplicity: All in all this for my was not hard at all, but you can make it as hard or easy as you like. I probably made it harder on myself with doing the veining, but for me (having gone to art school) veining was not hard at all, for others it might be. I would rate this project extremely simple, I personally think anyone can do it and make it look great!
Visual Appeal: If you like granite or stone, you will love the way your counters look after using this product. I LOVE mine, so much character now then before, plus I would have to imagine it would add some house value as most people would think it was granite just by looking.
Labor Intensiveness: This project is not super labor intensive but it is a little, and it is very time consuming. It took me about 2-3 hours to sponge the top layer on and get the veining right. PLus about 30 minutes per bottom and top coats. If you add in prep work and drying time you are looking at like 65-70 hours roughly for the whole project. Thats at least three days. Plus you have to keep your counters clear of any heavy items such as mixer/microwaves/coffeepots for 2 weeks (my husband hates this part).
Durability: I think this is going to be very durable. It seems think and the hard top coat is very think and hard. I do not foresee (unless someone takes a knife to my counters) it shipping anytime soon. PLus if it does just bring out the extra paint and touch it up.
Overall: I would highly recommend this product to anyone wanting a cheaper way to redo counters. I enjoyed the process and LOVE the result. Everyone thinks I got granite countertops put in! Cost to benefit ratio is off the charts good. Low cost and HUGE benefit. I love my kitchen now where before I hated going in there or showing people the house because of it.
Well I hope you enjoyed it. We are still in the 2 week curing time so once that is over and we put everything back together I will post pictures of everything complete. We are also planning (at some pint) to tile in the backsplash with subway white glass tiles, but that might be further down the road. Next project... finish painting the dining room! :) Knocking out this "fixer-upper" one room at a time! :)
Love and God Bless to all!
