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Article Publication Date: 3/13/2006

HOME-GROWN BUSINESS -- Amazing transfauxmation

Chesterland woman will show you how to get new countertops for around $100

By CARL E. FEATHER

Lifestyle Editor

They are one of the most frequently used and abused areas of the house, and also one of the most expensive to replace. But a Chesterland woman has found a way to make your countertops look like new for under $100 and a small investment in time.

Michaela Harbert, an interior designer and painter from Chesterland, is founder/president of Countertop Transfauxmations, a company that teaches consumers how to refinish their kitchen and bath countertops with a faux finish. Harbert sells the one-hour instructional video at her Web site, countertoptransfauxmations.com. Cost is $29.95.

On the professionally produced DVD, Harbert walks the homeowner through the four-step process of transforming a worn laminate countertop into one with a faux granite, marble or rag roll finish in a custom color of the user’s choice. Materials cost only $75 and the DVD provides an entire shopping list of what’s needed to complete the job properly, right down to the gloves and brushes.

The process was developed and perfected by Harbert over a period of eight years. She came upon it by accident, while working on a painting project for a client.

"I was painting a full house for a lady who was selling her home, and her kitchen was original and had never been touched," says Harbert, a Wales native. "The countertop was a high-gloss red and the floor was green linoleum."

The client asked Harbert to "do something" with the countertop and Harbert dived in – she had nothing to lose, practically anything she did to the 45-year-old countertop would have been an improvement.

Aware of a product that would probably bond to the countertop surface, she refinished the surfaces to match the floor. The kitchen looked fabulous, the house sold and Harbert had a new niche.

She tweaked the process working on countertops in her own home and those of family members. Once she was confident of its durability, she decided to go public with it and offered her faux transformations as a commercial service.

"I was inundated with work," she says. "I couldn’t keep up with it. I worked like that for two years."

And then, four years ago, the twins came along, joining her 2-year-old.

With three youngsters to take care of, she no longer had the time to go out and do the work for others. That’s when she decided to sell the technique on a training DVD.

"I knew I had something really great with this," she says. "It’s a huge money savings, it holds up and it’s easy to do."

You can do it

The process is done using materials easily obtained at home improvement centers and hardware stores. It uses all water-based paints and materials, so no special precautions other than providing good ventilation are required. There’s no sanding involved, either. The four steps are: clean and prep, apply bond coat, apply faux finish and seal.

The secret to her process is in the selection of bonding and sealing products used.

"You can’t go out and use regular latex paint," she says. "That will come off. I teach them how to properly prepare the surface."

Harbert says there are special tricks and tips to ensure a good outcome, and her DVD goes into great detail to make sure the consumer will do it right the first time. And you don’t have to be an artist to get a great looking faux finish.

"The granite is incredibly simple to do," she says. "It’s basically sponge painting."

She’s applied the technique to countertops that have burn marks, worn areas, and nicks and scratches, all with great success. Consumers who don’t want to preserve the character of their old countertop can fill in those nicks and cuts before applying the finish.

It typically takes two weekends to complete a countertop refinishing project, and you don’t have to shut down the kitchen while performing the work.

The consumer is free to use any color or combination of colors desired; even metallic finishes are possible.

Harbert’s husband, Joseph, is a software engineer who has no knack for home repairs. Harbert has done the painting and remodeling at their home and learned a great deal along the way. She hopes to produce additional DVDs that will share what she’s learned in the same easy, detailed, step-by-step manner used on her countertops DVD.

She rolled out her DVD at the Cleveland Home and Flower Show, where about 1,500 persons stopped at their booth to learn about the product. They sold about 100 DVDs and feel many more people will follow up with a purchase from the Web site as they realize the cost savings that’s possible with the method.

"The reaction was breathtaking, I couldn’t believe the response to it," she says.

online: countertoptransfauxmations.com

(4948) (15) ()

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