Simply Beautiful By Angela

creating simple beauty on a budget

Garage Sale Find Turned Kitchen Island

Hello and happy Wednesday!  I hope you all had a great holiday weekend.  Ours was busy–but tons of fun.  We took the boys out to the reservoir, which when you are born and raised in Colorado, is the “going to the beach.” The hubby is from California so he begs to differ haha.

Fireworks have never really impressed Tristan, and this year he was old enough to be able to express to us just how much he didn’t like the fireworks (which was fun because it was done with the whiniest of voices in between sobbing meltdowns).  Lucas on the other hand was completely fascinated by them.

A couple of weeks ago the hubby sent me a picture of a table that he spotted at a garage sale and asked if I wanted it.  (Sidenote–I really need to start taking better before pictures because this one is pretty terrible!)

I told him that although I was very ecstatic that he thought of me (and my obsession for furniture makeovers), I was going to pass because I have enough projects cluttering up the garage.  However, as fate would have it by the time he got my response he had already bought it for 10 bucks, had it loaded and ready to come home!

I’m so glad he did because when I saw that it had a towel bar on the side (I think it was used as a bar previously)  I had a light bulb moment and realized what an awesome kitchen island this would make.  The hubby thought I was crazy but I convinced him that it just needed a little makeover 🙂

I began by sanding down the top so that I could re-stain it.  I did most of it by hand even though I swore to myself that after sanding the basement staircase railing down that I would never, ever EVER hand sand a large piece again.  I obviously didn’t keep that promise.

I got so tired about half way through that I attempted using a power sander.  I honestly had no idea how to use it (hence the bottom shelf!).  The hubby thought it was pretty hilarious when he saw my attempt and I got the “why didn’t you wait for me?” lecture haha.  It looks like a two year old got a hold of it…

The good thing is that it took a lot off the finish off and made the rest of the hand sanding a little easier, but the bad thing is that I scuffed up the surface pretty bad–whomp, whomp 🙁

For the legs and drawers I used some deglosser that I had leftover from the Cabinet Transformations kit that I used on our kitchen cabinets.  This stuff works great at getting the shine off so that you don’t have to do any sanding.

However, since I knew that this was going in the middle of the kitchen and will probably get a lot of bumps, I also quickly used some sandpaper after deglossing to make sure that the new paint really sticks.

I applied three coats of my left over kitchen cabinet paint (Behr Polar Bear in semi-gloss) using a foam roller and a paintbrush for the tight areas.  Just a quick note here–using a roller makes the process of painting furniture soooo much quicker.

I realized before the final coat that I needed to fill the holes from where the old towel bar went.  

My power sanding incident was no biggie on the bottom shelf since I painted it.  But on the top the marks were super visible through the new stain (which is Provincial by Miniwax).

To hide them I decided to try doing a whitewash over the stain.  I used a thicker consistency than I normally do and I also went over it about 4 times using a rag to blend it in.

After 2 coats of polyurethane and some new hardware this beauty was ready to go in the kitchen!

 

I was worried that it was going to feel too cramped in our small kitchen and even googled “what distance should there be between an island and the cabinets” (which is 3 feet by the way).  Luckily it fits just perfectly!

I’ve been making my lunch here every night since it’s so convenient to be right next to the fridge.  It also serves as a great spot for putting groceries away in the pantry and fridge.

The top turned out great.  The scuffs ended up adding to the character and makes it almost look like butcher block.

And I’ve already put the drawers to good use–papers that I need to hang on to in one and bibs in the other.  Can you believe it, my little Lucas began eating solid food this weekend!

The tray on top holds some napkins and our oil bottles that are just too cute for words!

 

They are one of my favorite Goodwill finds of all time 🙂

 

It’s also been nice having the dishtowel right next to the sink because when I had it on the oven I would get water drips on the stainless steel and glass and it would drive me absolutely crazy!

I feel so fancy having a kitchen island.  It’s the little things in life.  See you all next week!

 Linking up to these awesome parties!

Comments

  1. Oh I love the island. Great finish choices, esp. love that top color. Yes, hand sanding… I recently did an old toy box and tore my hands up so badly. Luckily, a family member took pity and bought me a power sander at a great price. Cute photos of your children also 🙂

    • Thank you so much Danice! I definitely need to learn how to use a power sander, glad you understand my pain haha!

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