Here are the steps:

I cleaned the counter top well and then wiped it with pure white vinegar to give it a bit of extra "tooth".

I taped off the wall, molding and sink with blue painters tape.

I primed the surface with "Prime Etch" from Faux Effects. I let it dry overnight.

Using a gloved hand, I smoothed on "Aqua Stone" from Faux Effects.

Leaving the surface rather "bumpy", I let it sit for a few moments and then used a plastic scraper to smooth the surface. The action of smoothing left natural pits and "skips" that made the surface appear to be real stone.

 

I let it dry. The next morning, I noticed that I could still see the grout lines. So I filled them again with Aqua Stone, again smoothing as before and let it dry.

Once again, the grout lines showed through making me realize that it would have been better if I had filled the grout lines FIRST, letting them dry then applying a single coat of Aqua Stone over the entire surface.

After filling them once again, this time when it dried, the surface was finally flat. (Small price to pay for a big lesson learned). And this is why WE do the test projects so you don't have to go through dilemmas such as this.

Once the surface was completely dry, I used my handy electric hand sander to smooth the surface. The product was very easy to sand which pleased the tar out of me! Natural looking pits and skips remained in the surface.

After sanding, I vacuumed up the debris, gently wiped the surface and then mixed up a light colored neutral brown glazed and dabbed it over the surface with a brush, immediately blotting the section with a dry terry towel.

 

Wanting additional "depth", I reapplied the color to just certain areas for more variation. Again, blotting as I went.
I let the color dry then applied three coats of water based, non-yellowing  high gloss polyurethane. Though your counter will be OK to use within 24 hours, DO NOT sit anything heavy on it for a period of about 2 weeks. Polyurethane not only has to dry, but also to "cure" hard or indentations will be left in the finish. So be patient and let it cure so that it will not only be beautiful, but also highly durable for years to come.

My bath counter now looks like REAL Sandstone and I couldn't be happier with the final results of the project.

The ugly tiles are gone, I didn't have to chip them out, clean up the mess, lay down new tiles and grout them, I simply applied a product and finished it the way I wanted to in order to give my bath the look I was after.

One year later and that counter is still just as spectacular as the day I did it. It has held up to so much abuse and looks just wonderful!

Now that I have done it myself, there's a particular counter top in our home in Idaho that I had planned to completely replace. I no longer will. I'll do a beautiful stone finish instead thanks to the wonderful products at Faux Effects and to Janice Faulkner for her assistance with this make-over.

Update June 2010

It's been 3 years since I did these counter tops and to this day they are just gorgeous! They have held up to standing water, heavy items on the counter and dings with perfection!