Kitchen Island DIY - How we created our dream kitchen island for under $80 (Part 1)

 It has been awhile since our last blog post about our kitchen remodel, mainly because we have been doing a lot of cooking and enjoying our new kitchen and main room! We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from everyone, so thank you for taking the time to check out our project and letting us know your thoughts!

I've had many people ask about our kitchen island and it is one of our favorite new additions to the house. On top of tripling the counter space in our kitchen, adding much needed additional storage and giving us a place to enjoy eating and entertaining in our kitchen, we designed and built a customized kitchen island ourselves...for under $80! We did decide to add granite to our island, which definitely upped the entire cost of the project, but creating an affordable and custom kitchen island can be done and we will show how we created the centerpiece for our kitchen!

Before we started designing our kitchen, we started doing a lot of research on styles, colors, layouts, etc. and started pinning, clipping and saving pictures of what we liked.

Kitchen Island Pinspiraion

My dream has always been of a large kitchen island, but after pricing out kitchen islands on the internet I thought they were completely out of reach. The kitchen islands you could purchase from home and furniture stores were way too small for what we were envisioning and we knew we would probably need to look at doing some custom work. Talking to some stores and custom cabinetry places, they were pricing out islands that would cost us well over what we were budgeting for the entire kitchen remodel project so we were a little deflated.

Then I started doing more research and convinced myself that we could totally build a kitchen island ourselves! The only problem...we were not skilled woodworkers and had no idea what we were doing. But I was convinced we could tackle the project and then the real work started...convincing the hubby that my idea was brilliant and that we (okay, more him) could pull it off! I may not have much patience, but I am very persistent and so I started casually bringing up diy kitchen islands every night and showed him hundreds of tutorials of how easy it could be (he wasn't as convinced as I was). I even came up with an ideal design that I knew we could pull off and even drew up a couple layouts for him and laid copies around the house, leaving up tutorials on our shared computer (subliminal messaging at its best) and even emailing him great ideas that I had found.

Slowly I wore him down enough to where he told me that if I could find a piece to get us started, he would consider building an island and we could start planning a kitchen remodel. Little did he know that I already had a plan and had already started searching for pieces that we could use to get started :). Then one Saturday, I convinced him to check out the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. They have all sorts of donated items from doors and windows to furniture, lighting and more. Several contractors and home remodelers take materials that they remove from houses that they are working on and donate it to ReStore so they can resell and give the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity.Such a great cause, so it was easy to convince Brian to stop in and take a look.

They get new items daily, so you never know what you are going to find. It's kind of like an adult treasure hunt and sometimes you can score great deals. After looking around for awhile, I steered us over to the kitchen and bathroom section and was excited to find not one, but two pieces of cabinetry that were in great shape!

Two door piece

Longer and taller piece

We looked at these two pieces for quite awhile and both were in great shape. They both appeared to have come from kitchens and all of the drawers and doors opened and closed nicely...Brian was pretty impressed with the quality of each pieces. Then we started looking for prices. The first piece had a strip of tape on top that said $40 which we thought wasn't bad at all. The second piece didn't have any markings and so we had to go up and ask one of the workers what they would charge and since it didn't have a sticker, they said we could have it for $40 too if we were interested. I couldn't believe it! This piece was twice the size and in a little better condition and looking at Brian I could tell he thought it was a great deal. So we decided to go for it and bought the bigger piece.

There was just one problem...it definitely would not fit into my Escape. Whoops! Have I ever mentioned that I am a lot like my mother? This is one of the traits we both share...we have gut feelings and can be impulsive in our purchases before completely thinking about the logistics about getting our purchases back to our house. So I called her and our conversation pretty much went like this:

"Hi Mom, what are you doing?..."

"Oh, we just got done golfing and are heading back to the house...whyyy?" (Mom)

"Well...we found this really great piece at ReStore and really want to show it to you...oh and we can't fit it into my car."

"Well I guess we can stop by on our way home to see it..." (Mom)

"Great! Because we already bought it and the store is closing so we are sitting in the parking lot right now with it and not really sure how we're going to get it home!"

- Silence - In the background I can almost hear my dad rolling his eyes "We're on our way!"

Brian just shakes his head at me and rolls his eyes because he hates taking advantage of my dad and his pickup truck, but knows that between my mom and I, we don't really take no for an answer. I think that is why we get along so well...he gets me (well puts up with me, but same thing). :)

My parents arrived soon and we were able to get our new purchase home and I think we even impressed my dad with our find (even if he wouldn't admit it). Here are some more pictures of how it looked when we brought it home:

Front view

Side view

A view from the top

 The piece had been a bottom corner piece in a kitchen and once we measured the piece, we decided to cut out the right corner of the piece so we were left with just the three drawers and doors. We knew we were going to add some sort of bookshelf to one side so this would free up more space and we could finish off the cut side later. The next thing we did was take off all of the doors and drawers and prime and paint the shell of the piece along with the doors and drawers. We used Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo in the same white that we painted the rest of our kitchen with.

The shell with the right side cut off and with a round of paint

Painting the cabinet drawers

 After about a week of letting the paint dry, we started looking at what we could do to finish up the side of the piece and deciding how big we really wanted the island. For more on that, check back in next week when we post the next part of our DIY Kitchen Island.

Hope you are enjoying these beautiful days of summer and good luck to all of the teachers, kiddos and parents who are going back to school!

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

Look at this dapper little dude riding shotgun with mom

Kitchen & Main Room Renovation - Before & After Pics

I can't believe it, but we are actually done with our renovation. And we couldn't have cut it any closer if we tried. We were just putting the final things away in our house at 11:55pm on Thursday night and Brian's parents arrived a few minutes later. It's kind of weird to not wake up to a construction zone, but it is definitely nice to be able to relax in our new space.

Here are some before and after pictures so you can see everything that we did:

Kitchen - Before & After

Main Room - Before & After (someone snuck in for the after pic)

Bar - Before & After

What a difference 2 months makes :).  Everything feels so clean, crisp and so much brighter than it was before and we are so happy with how everything turned out. We can't wait to have everyone over to check it out.

One of our favorite parts of our new kitchen is the custom kitchen island we designed...it is huge! Here are some pictures of the entire piece:

Our new island

Looking into the kitchen - with the chairs we made :)

Another view of the front

We have so much storage now

Oh, we added a wine fridge :)

Our island is perfect for hosting parties, fixing dinner and eating in our kitchen. We will have a DIY post on how we created it later, but for now we wanted to share some pictures. It was so nice spending time with Brian's parents and showing them all of the work that we have done these past few months. We only wish they lived closer so we could visit more often!

Here are some other pictures from our brand new space...enjoy!

New view of the kitchen

Another view of the Main Room

New couch covers with some diy pillows

Another view of our fireplace

We will definitely be relaxing for awhile in our new digs, but we will be having a party soon to show it off. Hope to see you all then!

My two happy boys - so glad the work is done

So handsome

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

New Faucet and Bar Backsplash

So I should be spending the day cleaning since our house looks like a war zone right now and Brian's parents are coming in town tonight (so excited!) but somehow I have hurt my foot/ankle and can barely stand. And trust me...vacuuming while crawling is not an easy task. Neither is trying to move and carry anything. I am pretty helpless and have no idea how or what I could have done. Luckily, Brian is going to take some time to help get things cleaned up and move everything from our kitchen out from the guestroom (which we have been using as our pantry/storage area during our remodel) to our new kitchen!

Once we get things cleaned up and put back together, I will update with more pictures and do some before and after shots. But, since I'm icing my foot/ankle I thought I would be a little productive and share some of our new additions.

First...we added a backsplash to our bar!

Starting to look finished! 

Here's another shot...having a hard time not getting into the shot

We had all of these little mirrors left over that we had bought to use as wedding decorations a couple of years ago, so we decided to reuse them as the backsplash in the bar. It was super easy because the pack of mirrors came with silicone stickers that we just stuck to the drywall...and it took about 5 minutes to put up. We will be adding some trim pieces to finish it off, but I love how it came out and it was free and easy! We also had to add new pieces of drywall to the sides of the bar because the original drywall didn't meet the new granite. That wasn't fun, but Brian is a pro at piecing in drywall now so it didn't take too long.

We also got a new faucet that I am so excited about...big kudos to Brian because he picked the design (with some guidance of course). We had a plumber come in to install and hook everything back up and while he was installing found that our disposal had a leak, so we had to get a new one. Which wasn't expected, but we don't mind too much because our old one took a bit of a beating during the remodel. Now we are leak free and have a cool new faucet!

It's huge...and I love it! 

With our new undermount sink and the faucet we can actually wash pots and pans without making a huge mess!

We also added in the kitchen drawers with the new pulls. This should have been one of the easiest parts, but turned out to be a big headache. Let's just say we used a lot of wood putty, took several late night trips to the hardware store for new screws/drill bits (it took 3 times to finally get them right) and almost rethought the new pulls, but now that they are done, I love them and I think it was well worth the struggle. Take a look:

New pulls on the drawers...oh and our stove is back!

 We also finished putting up the trim on the island and are finishing up the paint and caulk. I am really happy with our design, and can't wait to really be able to use it. Here are a few pics of how it looks right now:

Crooked picture, but the trim looks good!

 

A view of our custom built bookshelf

Don't mind the mess on the island, we are still working :) Oh, and then we bought and hung a mirror for the wall in between the sun room and the kitchen. We had another idea in mind for this before, but last minute change of plans.

New mirror

Then my awesome, super talented and handy husband mounted our TV over the fireplace and then to hide some of the cords, I made a little planter box to finish it off. Check it out (and yes, those are the Cousins on Rachel Ray - I love them!)

Not too shabby :) 

We will update more once we start cleaning, but for now my brother is coming over to bring me an ankle brace (he is the best) so I can get back to work.

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

New Backsplash and a Clean Floor

It may only be Tuesday, but this week has already been a busy one. Yesterday we had an electrician come over to add outlets to our kitchen island and fix some work done in the basement...I am sure it will not be the last time we use him :) Now we are working on finishing everything with the island so it will be ready when Brian's parents come in town this Thursday! We'll have more pictures of the island once we are finished.

I have to give a huge shout out to our amazing contractor, Lori Howarter with H&L Properties. She has done an amazing job finding the best people to help us finish our remodel and keeping them on schedule. Seriously, it is so nice to have a professional that you can call when you have no idea what you are doing :) She has given us lots of advice and we are forever grateful!

Now I can't wait to show off our other new addition in our kitchen. Remember the intensiTiles we hung before Christmas last year?

intensiTiles - interchangeable art tiles - how cool are these?

The supremely talented Teresa Carnes and Lori Snow, the creators of intensiTiles, have done an amazing job on our backsplash. We are so lucky to have had them work on this for us and trust me, they put a lot of hard work and hours into making it look perfect! Here's a picture of how great it looks!

Just getting started

Getting the spacing right takes a ton of skill & patience...I am so glad we didn't do this ourselves :)

With the grout...so pretty it sparkles!

Another view...I love it!

We have some finishing to do with the paint, but I love it!

Teresa is coming over this morning to seal everything and then we will get to work putting our kitchen back together so we can start using it again!

We also have the plumber coming over soon to put in our new faucet and hook up the water so we can start using our new sink! You'd be surprised how many times you use your kitchen sink a day...especially when you aren't able to use it! I can't wait to show off our new faucet...it is one of our favorite purchases so far :)

Then, we have our flooring guys coming back out to stretch our carpet and finish off the flooring so we can start moving everything back in! Best news...since they have to stretch the carpet in the main room, we had to take everything out of the room and clean the carpet! It's been months since we've even been able to see the carpet in this room, and even longer since it's actually been clean :) Check it out:

It's sad, but this may be the cleanest room in the house so far :)

We have lots of finishing to do over the next few days, but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We will have more pictures of our progress over the next few days. And it can't come soon enough for this little fella...

So ready to have our house back...

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

White Dream Granite and Entry Way Flooring

I am in LOVE...the kind of love that leaves you dancing and screaming with excitement as soon as you're alone. I am completely in love with our new White Dream Granite counter tops (and my husband, of course!). And I seriously just did a little happy dance as soon as I shut the front door and said good bye to Lori (our supremely awesome contractor/friend) and the two men that completely transformed our kitchen - Alex & Ivan (brothers! awesome!) with Granite Designers. I cannot say enough wonderful things about them! They are so amazing, talented, sweet, hard working, adorable :)...and that's just the beginning. The two of them even carried in the huge slab of granite for the island by themselves...I can't even imagine how heavy that was (major muscles)!

Yes I made them take a picture in front of their amazing work :) - Alex & Ivan are awesome!

From start to finish, they were 100% professional and did an amazing job. Alex came out a couple weeks ago to take measurements, give advice about securing our kitchen island and answered any questions that we had. He had our granite slabs shipped in and had us look at everything to make sure we were happy and pick the area we wanted for the island. Then Alex and Ivan came back today and installed everything, sealed the granite, secured the sink and made sure everything was perfect before they left. They even went over everything that we would need to do in the future including maintenance, cleaning, etc.  If anyone is even thinking about remodeling a kitchen or bathroom...talk to Lori Howarter with H&L Properties and Alex with Granite Designers!

Here are more pictures of our new granite countertops...

View of our new sink area

I love this new sink too!

White Dream Granite...super close up (I wish you could see all the sparkles)

More granite at the bar

Full view of the kitchen...It's hard to show how big the island is...

Oh, and just in time the guys with Signature Flooring finished the floor in the entryway. Check it out...

Down the hallway...ignore that hot 70's wallpaper to your right

Our new entryway

We will be getting the carpets stretched to meet with the new floor and then we can add the trim pieces, but I am so excited to be able to walk barefoot around the house again. And I love the color...it's called Sand Dollar, which is a gray, almost barn-wood color. It compliments the granite, walls and everything else really nicely. I love it!

We'll be adding the kitchen cabinet doors, drawers, trim on the island and more this week, so I will post more pics once everything is in. But at least the big pieces are in. I can't stop looking at the granite :)

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Friday afternoon....you know I am :)


XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

New Kitchen Island & Flooring Day 2

Last night was a busy night. We moved appliances back into the kitchen and got to work setting the kitchen island. Today is going to be a little hectic because the flooring guys will be back to finish the kitchen and install the floors in the entryway. Then our new granite will be here! I can't wait see it in our kitchen, so I know there will be more photos to come.

But for now, here is a look at our new kitchen island! We built and designed this ourselves with re-purposed items, so I am so excited to share it. We will do another post about how we built it once it's actually finished, but for now here is a sneak peek:

Here's one of the sides...look who stopped by to help :)

View from the other side - we built the new bookshelf with the wood from the old bookshelf divider...look at our little Vanna showing off our new seating in the kitchen :)

View from the main room - we will add the back once the electrician finishes wiring the outlets and trim will finish it off

It fills the space so well and triples our countertop space...I can't wait to see the granite on it!!

Someone isn't excited about the renovation...he is getting kicked out of the house to stay at Grandma's again :)

More to come...hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila