Kitchen Island Makeover

When a very close friend of mine remarried (Hey Donna!), she moved down to Alabama. Well, Donna already had a completely furnished house in Raleigh and her husband, John had a completely furnished house in Alabama. So when the two merged, some furniture didn't make the cut. Luckily for John and I, having just bought our first house, were able to snag a few pieces to help our little house look like a home.


One of the pieces was this beautiful kitchen island.
Isn't is awesome?!?!

Donna had painted it red to suit the decor in her kitchen which looked GREAT, but in our kitchen it looks a little strange. I've been mulling this project over in my head for about 6 months now. I've thought about it so much that now I had no clue what color to paint the darn thing. Do you ever do that? Over think things? I'm guilty of this. Donna called me "The Thinker" growing up. So after some thoughtful consideration and some guidance from John, We've come up with a plan that we think will work.


I'm going to sand down the top of the piece to reveal the natural wood grain. I want to be able to use it as a countertop, so I want to replenish the wood with a food-safe varnish or oil.
As for the bottom part of it, I want to paint it white to make our kitchen look larger. I'll replace the drawer knobs with oil rubbed bronze ones to make the look come together.

Here's the first coat of paint I put on last weekend.

We're getting there.

Another coat:

Looking better...

The drawers: And yes, I had to paint them while Lil' Pickle took her nap. It was interresting.

So this is where I left off for another week.

This weekend I sanded all the red off the top. It took me 4 hours. My arms and neck still hurt. Thank GOD for an electric sander. I can't imagine what it would have been like to do it all by hand. Anyways, after much frustration I sealed it with Mineral Oil.

Finished:

Oh my gosh I love these knobs!

Love.

And because we all LOVE a before and after:

Here's the cost run-down.

Island = Free (and recycled :)

Paint = Free (we already had it on hand)

Sandpaper = $3.00

New knobs = $12.00

Mineral Oil. $1.87

Total: $16.87

Not bad. Not bad at all.

What do you think? Did we do a good job? I'd love to hear what you think!