Customizing a builder island...

 

When we bought this house I was so excited to have a kitchen island. We had never had one before.  Now if I was to build a home I would leave the island out and find my own. (probably from a flea market!)

  After many years of the builder cabinets and panel type wood on the back of the island,  I decided to add my own touch to it. I have a lot of wood cabinets in my kitchen and was trying to break up all the brown as well.
 

I do not have many before pictures since I lost so many pics when my computer crashed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No idea what I am doing and why we took this picture. You can see the panel side of the kitchen island here. Also our old countertops and appliances. This seems like soooo long ago!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo was an actual photo so it is not the straightest shot!  Here you can see the side with the cabinets and drawers.

 

Now for the actual process of what I did I only have one picture.  The rest are lost! 

 

So I have to write a lot without a lot of pictures!

 

We had put beadboard up in our laundry room and had some left over.  TJ cut it to fit the back side of the island  (2 pieces) and both of the sides.  At this point I had no idea if I was painting it or leaving it white. TJ was alittle nervous about this project since once we put it on there was no going back.

 

We attached the beadboard with liquid nails and then used small nails on the edges.

 

After that TJ was at work and I wanted to keep going.  I knew I wanted something more on it.  All the corbels I found were too large.  I then found these unfinished oak half newels at Home Depot.  They were perfect, just the bottoms needed to be trimmed so they would fit.  I attached these with liquid nails.

 

 

 

I have to tell you I was and still am so excited about these.  I love how they changed the look of the island.  And also that I did it myself!!  :) 

 

After attaching the newels I just had to add base trim to the bottom of the beadboard.

 

 

My friend had tons and tons of wood trim in her garage since they replaced all their trim.  I grabbed a few pieces and cut them to fit, and then nailed them on.

 

Then I had to decide on what color to paint.  I  was between off white and gray when I decided on blue!  Again TJ was nervous!

 

I researched blue paint colors for a few days and finally decided on.....

 

 

 

Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue.  This color is so pretty!!

 

 

 

 

 

So here is my only project picture.  The beadboard was already primed so I could paint that right away.  The trim and newels needed a coat of primer first. 

 

Here is the finished project............ 

 

 

I also sold all our old cabinet hardware on craigslist and bought silver.  The brown hardware we had on before blended way too much with the cabinets!

 

This by far is one of my favorite projects in our home.  It was inexpensive, relatively easy, and made such a big difference!!

 

Have a wonderful weekend!!!