Island time!

     Hello ladies!  Hope you all had a relaxing weekend.  I did but it could be called lazy too I guess.  I pretty much didn't get out of my pj's on Sunday.  I know that's terrible, but I enjoyed it.  I just hung on the couch, watched movies and wrote this post.  Pretty lame huh?  Anyway, I have lots to share.  I finally finished the secret project I've been working on.  I'll just start with the before and after photo.

Yep, there it is!  My mystery project.....almost complete  finished at last!  It was so hard not to share the process as I was doing it, but I wanted you to see the dramatic finish.  I have always wanted and needed an island in my kitchen.  I never seem to have enough counter space and who ever has enough storage?  Not me, I have absolutely too much kitchen crap.  (note to self, kitchen decrapification needed!)  This project wasn't even on my radar, but thanks to Lowes for being too lazy to reattach a knocked off drawer facing and marking this baby down to $50!  Yeah, I know I was there for bath reno stuff.   But stumbled upon it and I just had to take it home.  I still have a few things left to add.  I still need to get knobs for the doors, a kick plate for the bottom front, attach more trim around the bottom and add the decorative brackets to the counter overhang.  But other than that I'm smitten with this piece.  The total cost of this project was around $108.65.  I did have quite a few of the supplies on hand already, but how often could you even say you did a new kitchen island for anywhere near $100?  You can't and that's why I have never had one!  I have a full tutorial on this one and a LOT of photos.  I will also include a material and price breakdown.  So here goes.........
     First thing was to figure out how I was going to put a counter top on this thing.  The problem I was having was I wanted to keep this project as close to $100 as I could.  But as you all know most counter tops are super expensive even the little pieces.  I knew that I wanted a butcher block top, but I only needed a small piece and I didn't have access to an Ikea so the cheap part of this idea went out the window.  So I went to Lowes on a  surveillance mission (that's what I call the trip when I have no idea what I'm looking for and for your information that is usually the only time that people continually ask me if I need help!)  While aimlessly wondering and with butcher block still on the brain, I remembered a project that I did in the past and the piece of wood that I used for it reminded me of butcher block.  I ran to the aisle with the furniture quality wood, you know the one with the pre-made desk tops and shelving.  Well as I looked I realized that to get a piece big enough it was going to cost me around $40 and some precision cutting.   Boooo, hisss!  I did not want this route, I was thinking more along the lines of $20 sand it, stain it and attach it!  But the more I looked and measured (I always have a tape measure in my purse....FREAK!) I found a great piece that when doubled it could be the perfect size and was only $7.25.

    So I bought two and was on my way.  Here they are------------------------------------------>

 The reason that this wood was so cheap is due to the fact that it is paint grade and not stain grade.  This means you can stain it but it will look a bit more rustic and you will have to sand the crap out of it!  I also needed to securely attach the two pieces together to form on solid surface.  This took a little thinking but was easy to execute.  This is what I did.  I cut a piece of scrap wood big enough to cover the crack between the two pieces.  I made this piece long enough to go the entire length of the top that would be inside the cabinet...In other words I didn't want my support system to show.

     I made sure to drill pilot holes so I didn't have to worry about the top or support piece splitting when I added the screws.  And then I had this!

Please ignore the clutter in the pic!

     I then filled the crack with wood filler and sanded until I wished I had driven four hours to Ikea to buy the real butcher block!  No, it really wasn't that bad, it was just freezing butt cold 25 degrees and I had to sand outside.  Okay, so after I sanded it to baby butt smooth I stained the top with Minwax red mahogany and then made sure it dried thoroughly before I put four coats of minwax gloss polyurethane on it.  I sanded between the first two coats to be sure and get a smooth finish.  

 

     I then wanted to start working on the cabinet itself.  As you saw from the before pics I had a missing drawer front and since this was a sink base it was a faux drawer.  So I just fired up the nail gun and nailed it back on with finish nails making sure that they sunk deep into the wood so they wouldn't show.  I also got all my pieces together to cover the sink base.  I already had a piece of bead board that I measured and cut down to size using the circular saw.  I didn't have enough to cover the sides so I went to Lowes and bought oak side panels that already fit (can be found in the cabinet dept.)....no cutting, no sanding, no fuss.  Just paint and attach!  I painted everything with Valspar del coronado tequila.  After it was good and dry I was ready for assembly, which I have pictured below. 

     Once all the parts were assembled I added the corner molding.  Here is a photo of what it looks like.

     After all this was complete I wanted to tone down the "white" so I used an antiquing glaze by valspar, I think it's called asphaltum.  I dry brushed it on and then wiped it away with  a damp cloth.  It gives the piece that aged and as my hubby says "dirty look"  I'm not sure how to take that.  But I like it!
    

     Here are the details on materials and cost:
1-  30' sink base                                   $50
2- paint grade shelving pieces                $14.50
2- oak cabinet side panels                     $20
1- 8ft corner molding                            $4.95
2- scroll shelf brackets                          $12.95
                                                          2- cabinet knobs                                   $6.25
                                                                                      grand total                $108.65
     Granted I did have many of the material already, but this is a totally do-able project and I'm so glad I tackled it, even if it was in the middle of my bathroom demo.  I'd love to know what you think or if you have ever done an island.  And don't forget to check out these great link parties that this post is linked to.

 
 

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