Customizing Your Not-So-Custom Kitchen Island

I bet hundreds of you are sporting this same kitchen island in your home. If not this exact one, then one almost like it. You like having an island, but you dream of having one of those pretty islands that can stand on its own and pass for a piece of furniture.

Originally I was hooked on the beadboard island like Thrifty Decor Chick's. It is just so perfect in Sarah's kitchen. She pulls it off so well. But the more I thought about it, I am just not a beadboard kitchen type girl. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE beadboard in the bathroom. But beadboard in the kitchen, in my kitchen, just didn't seem right.

So I came up with "my own" design! Ok, so maybe you have seen this before. I took all these different variations from classic kitchens and designed my own little kitchen island that could pass as a custom piece of art for a simple price.

From this little sketch on a scrap piece of paper (Yes, I drew that, not my 3 year old daughter... ) my husband actually understood my design idea and gathered all the materials needed. Again, I love my husband. (However, can I say that while he was making cuts he said "your little island design is a lot harder than beadboard!".... whoops!)

You will need:

• Base of your choice. I chose 5 1/2" base. Big and chunky, just how I like it!
• 1x4 Material
  

1. Build out the base. My husband ended up doing 2-3 layers so the baseboard would be set further out than the other moldings.

2. Nail your base on. I chose really thick 5" moldings. I wanted a craftsman look. I love the chunky molding look. In the picture above you can see how building the island base out doesn't need to be perfect or pretty.

This picture is on the cabinet door side of the island on the bottom corner.
We needed to fill that gap with base.

3. Construct your corners. We found that we needed to corner the base a little before the front of the island (where the cabinets are) to keep it sturdy and for extra support. Remember, I have twin boys in the home, one kick on that flimsy edge would destroy it!

4. Start adding your 1x4s.

5. We screwed in these decorative supports before adding the pieces at the top.

Top Corner so you can see how the pieces come together.

Bottom corner

Isn't she already a beauty?

We can't forget the finish prep work before painting!
Spackle

Sand
Yup, my job is always to prep it and paint it.... make it look pretty :)

Prime

and wait ....
for another opportunity to finish it when I can get the kids outa the house......