A method of coating an article to form a simulated stone coating, which comprises, forming a fluid composition comprising (a) crosslinkable liquid resin matrix, wherein the resin is a styrene-containing isophthalate neopentyl glycol resin having distributed therein (b) crosslinked particulate resin granules containing an inorganic filler, visually differentiable from the matrix resin and having the same density as the matrix resin; wherein the resin granules are made from a styrene-containing isophthalate neopentyl glycol and (c) a crosslinking accelerator comprising by weight of the resin matrix (i) 0.1 to 5 % of sodium octoate, -benzoate -naphtenate, -laurate or other sodium fatty acid carboxylate and (ii) 0.1 to 5 % of N,N'-dimethyl acetoacetamide, N,N'-diethyl acetoacetamide, dimethyl p-toluidine, dimethylaniline, diethylaniline, N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) -p-toluidine, N,N-bis (2-hydroxypropyl) toluidine, glycol dimercaptoacetate, glycol dimercaptopropionate, isooctyl 3-mercaptopropionate, pentaerythritol tetra-(3-mercaptopropionate) or trimethylolpropane tri-(3-mercaptopropionate, adding an initiator and applying the resultant composition at ambient temperatures to a substrate. forming a fluid composition comprising (a) crosslinkable liquid resin matrix, wherein the resin is a styrene-containing isophthalate neopentyl glycol resin having distributed therein (b) crosslinked particulate resin granules containing an inorganic filler, visually differentiable from the matrix resin and having the same density as the matrix resin; wherein the resin granules are made from a styrene-containing isophthalate neopentyl glycol and (c) a crosslinking accelerator comprising by weight of the resin matrix (i) 0.1 to 5 % of sodium octoate, -benzoate -naphtenate, -laurate or other sodium fatty acid carboxylate and (ii) 0.1 to 5 % of N,N'-dimethyl acetoacetamide, N,N'-diethyl acetoacetamide, dimethyl p-toluidine, dimethylaniline, diethylaniline, N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) -p-toluidine, N,N-bis (2-hydroxypropyl) toluidine, glycol dimercaptoacetate, glycol dimercaptopropionate, isooctyl 3-mercaptopropionate, pentaerythritol tetra-(3-mercaptopropionate) or trimethylolpropane tri-(3-mercaptopropionate, (a) crosslinkable liquid resin matrix, wherein the resin is a styrene-containing isophthalate neopentyl glycol resin having distributed therein (b) crosslinked particulate resin granules containing an inorganic filler, visually differentiable from the matrix resin and having the same density as the matrix resin; wherein the resin granules are made from a styrene-containing isophthalate neopentyl glycol and (c) a crosslinking accelerator comprising by weight of the resin matrix (i) 0.1 to 5 % of sodium octoate, -benzoate -naphtenate, -laurate or other sodium fatty acid carboxylate and (ii) 0.1 to 5 % of N,N'-dimethyl acetoacetamide, N,N'-diethyl acetoacetamide, dimethyl p-toluidine, dimethylaniline, diethylaniline, N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) -p-toluidine, N,N-bis (2-hydroxypropyl) toluidine, glycol dimercaptoacetate, glycol dimercaptopropionate, isooctyl 3-mercaptopropionate, pentaerythritol tetra-(3-mercaptopropionate) or trimethylolpropane tri-(3-mercaptopropionate, (i) 0.1 to 5 % of sodium octoate, -benzoate -naphtenate, -laurate or other sodium fatty acid carboxylate and (ii) 0.1 to 5 % of N,N'-dimethyl acetoacetamide, N,N'-diethyl acetoacetamide, dimethyl p-toluidine, dimethylaniline, diethylaniline, N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) -p-toluidine, N,N-bis (2-hydroxypropyl) toluidine, glycol dimercaptoacetate, glycol dimercaptopropionate, isooctyl 3-mercaptopropionate, pentaerythritol tetra-(3-mercaptopropionate) or trimethylolpropane tri-(3-mercaptopropionate, adding an initiator and applying the resultant composition at ambient temperatures to a substrate.