Kitchen Island

Our final step in completing our kitchen renovation was to finish our kitchen island. At first I want to use stone around the island but decided not to because of the large price tag that came with it. I decided to go with a two toned traditional style island that had a wainscoting and a bead board in the middle. I am SO mad at myself though because I was so excited to get started on the island that I completely spaced the before picture!  All the island was was some unfinished MDF board on the three sides and then my cabinets on the back of the island. Here is the best before picture I could find of the island. This was a little family birthday we threw Jaysa when she turned three. 

Got to love all Jaysa's Goofy faces!

Here is one more I found of the side of it

 To begin with the island I found three of these stair case posts at the Restore for $9 dollars a piece. The Restore is basically a Good Will for building materials. There is most likely one in your area!

A friend gave me the idea of turning the posts upside down to use them as pillars on my island. I loved the idea so I bought them.

Here are some posts that are really similar to the ones I bought at the Restore. These are actually a little thinner than mine but if I had bought 3 posts new at the store they would have cost me around $90 dollars instead of the $30 I spent at the Restore! 

After bringing them home we cut them to the right size so they would fit snug under my island. You want them really snug so that you can hammer them in with a rubber mallet and not need to use glue to adhere them. The posts were a little lighter than I wanted them so I sanded them down and restained them a darker color. 150 grit sand paper is what I have found to be the best when sanding off a finish. I  sanded 

and sanded

and sanded

It took me FOREVER but I was still happy to be saving $60 dollars.

If you are using stair case posts chances are there will be small holes where they were attached to the banister of the staircase. Fill those holes with wood filler and sand them down to make sure they are even and ready for staining.

After that we headed to Home Depot to get everything else we needed to complete the island.

We bought a 1/4 inch think wood board that was stainable and had it cut right there in the store.

Then we bought a wainscotting bead board that is assembled a lot like wood floring. The pieces click into each other. To be honest I wasn't the biggest fan of this stuff. I felt like it was a little bit cheap. It chipped easily and I had to touch up the ends and seal it really good with my final gloss coat. 

These were $12.27 per box. The price tag was perfect but you definately got what you paid for. In the end after painting and getting a protective coat on them I think they will hold up just fine.

We bought some trim to frame the beadboard. Our trim was .92 cents per ft. 

We also bought some roped wood trim that would help tie in the island with my cabinets. These were 8 ft. long at $12.22 a piece so we spent a little over $50 on 4 pieces of roped wood trim. 

                                              

When we got home with our supplies I started preping the wood for stain and paint. First I sanded my 1/4 inch board with a really fine 400 grit sand paper. I did this because my board felt like it had some splintery fuzzies on it. I know thats a bit of an oxymoron but thats exactly what it felt like. It felt like the board had the smallest thinest splinters on it that were not strong enough to poke you. I didn't want to take a chance on geting splinters so I sanded it down and the fuzzies came right off.

I wanted my 1/4 inch board satined so I used a wood conditioner I found at a garage sale for .25 cents to prep the wood. To be really honest If I had not have found this at a garage sale for so cheap I would have skipped this step. But since I have it I might as well use it!.

After letting that dry I applied my stain with a pair of latex gloves. (I paid $1.50 for a box of latex gloves at a garage sale, which makes staining so much easier!) I used an English oak stain that was a medium brown.  My 1/4 inch board was not the same type of wood as trim pieces so to get my colors to match a little better I ran out and got a dark walnut stain, which is just one shade darker and gave my board a few coats of that to help darken it up. 

I also stained my corner pieces

 my rope trim,

 

and my staircase post/kitchen pillars.

Then I went on to painting my bead board and trim. My bead board came out of the package white. I wanted it to match everything else  so I painted them the same cream color I used on the cabinets.

I also gave my trim a few coats of the same paint. These are the saw horses I bought from a garage sale a few weeks ago for $2.50 a piece. They have already been a major help with projects.

After my bead board and trim were primed and painted I glazed them to give it that distressed look I was going for on my cabinets. 

Here is what my bead board looked like after being glazed. 

After everything was stained or primed and painted it needed a final protctive coat. For the bead board and trim I used a Valspar Clear Protector. 

 

When I did my cabinets I did not want them to have a high gloss sheen to them so a Lowes employee told me about a clear protector which would give it more of a matte finish.

For the wood rope trim pieces I used a polyurathane I bought at the Restore for $5 dollars.

Because Home Depot could not cut the divets where the cabinets receed and met the kick board. C.J. had to cut our board to make it fit perfectly. He used a perminate marker to draw a line on the back and cut it out with a little hand held saw. He then filed down all the left over shaving on the sides.

After all our wood was stained and painted we were ready to nail everything on. C.J. nailed our 1/4 inch board to the island first.

 Then the corner piece for the two front edges of the island where nailed on to finish off the corners where our boards met.

I waited to polyurathane the 1/4 inch boards until they were nailed on so I went back and polyeurathaned them and waited for them to dry. Then we centered the bead board and marked where it needed to be so we could ensure it would stay centered when we started nailing.

Then C.J. cut the trim for all three sides and framed out the bead board.

 

Then we started adding our roped wood trim to the outside edges on each side of the island. After that we put our pillars on. C.J. made sure to be very excact when cutting these pillars. They can be slide under the bottom of the granite at a slight angle and then hammered with a rubber mallet into place by gently hitting the bottom of the post. If you wanted to attach them with some sort of glue that would be possible. You would just have to wipe away the streak of glue that will form from hammering it over with a rubber mallet.

For the final touch I added a wood scroll to the front of the island. After being primed, painted, glazed and glossed with the same protective coat I using on the bead board  and trim I put a thin layer of wood glue on the back of my wood scroll.

We placed the wood scroll in the center of the front of the island and then inconspicuously put a few nails in it to make sure it would not slide down after being glued. We spent a total of about $150 on the island and a total of about $700 dollars on the entire renovation! (Not including the chandelier because we actually had it before we moved in)

 We went from this MDF board kitchen island

To this traditional style two tones kitchen island

 

We spent a total of $150 on our kitchen island. 

Kitchen Backsplash

After completing our kitchen cabinets we started on our backsplash.

I was actually surprised at how inexpensive it was to tile the black splash. We spent about $100 dollars on the tile for the back splash and the majority of that went to our decorative tiles.

 We bought all our tile at a tile outlet down in Las Vegas called Floor and Decor. We paid $4.38 per tile. At Lowes these tiles are $26.60 per tile!!!!!! I know I couldn't believe it either but here is the link@ Lowes.com I saved $22.22 per tile. I bought $20 of these tiles which means overall I saved $444.44 dollars!! The lesson I learned from this is that I will NEVER buy tile from Lowes or Home Depot again and you shouldn't either! Find a tile outlet store and compare their prices. Make sure you are not paying outrageously marked up prices for the convience of buying from your local hardware store!

 So to start on our back splash we needed to plan out our layout. You will especially want to do this if you are using decorative tiles. This was the hardest part of completing the back splash. You don't want to cut into your decorative tiles so you have to position them just right working around the outlets on your wall. To be sure that you have the right layout lay out your entire black splash on your counter tops to be positive that your decorative tiles are not covering any outlets. We had a really difficult time trying to get our tiles to sit in the correct places. Take your time and be creative to make sure you are getting the look you want. When you are positive of your back splash layout you are ready to begin. We sanded our wall down a bit and then applied a generous amount of thin set to a small working area of the wall with a trowel. Do Not apply thin set to the entire back splash and then go back and start tiling . Your thin set may dry before you can get your tiles on it! This is a great video That will go over everything you need to know about tiling your back splash. 

Here is our after picture of our tiled back splash.

Our total cost for the back splash was around $150 dollars. $100 of that went to tile and the other $50 went to thin set, spacers, a sealer and other supplies. Of our $100 that went to tile $75 of that was spent on our decorative tiles. The cost of a tile back splash can be reduce tremendously if a much simpler design had been used such as taking out any decorative tiles or using some sort of subway tile. I love my kitchen and would not change a thing about it but I want all you readers to see that I was able to renovate my kitchen for really cheap. However, had I chosen something with more simplicity is could have been done for even cheaper!

Ok, Everyone it is voting time again! Go vote for your favorite projects at the One Artsy Mama Craft Contest!

There are so many good projects! it will be hard to choose. ****REMEMBER to click the vote button that is ABOVE the picture you like!*****

Fabric bows

Here are some more fabric bow tutorials! If you want to win these bows head over to A Creative Cookie to enter my giveaway to have a chance to win 5 bows! 

You will need your choice of fabric, a lighter, and a glue gun to make each of these bows.

Bow #1

To make this bow you'll want to start off with one small circle

Using that small circle as a guide cut out a second circle that is a little bit bigger than your first.

You will need a few layers to complete this bow.

I typically do about 6 to 7 layers.

After you have all of your layers cut out will will burn the edges of the fabric to make them look like a flower petal.

To do this I fold my fabric upward holding my finger in the middle of the fabric. I then take my lighter and hold it under the edge of my fabric. Continue doing this all the way around your circle of fabric. Be very careful not to hold it too close. We are just trying to melt the fabric not light it on fire! Also be really carful not to burn yourself. I have done both of these several time and it's not fun!

Here is what your petals should look like when you are done!

After your petals are made you will glue them together in order of size. As you do this make sure to watch the overall shape of your flower. It is really easy for your flower to start taking on an oval shape. If you want an oval shape great. If not you will have to compensate for the imperfectness of your petals.  If one side of you petal stick out a little further correct that with the next petal you glue on by glue it's side that sticks out a little more opposite of your first petal.

After you have finished your flower you will need something to put in the center of your bow.  I buy most of my bow centers for my bows at garage sales. They come in all kinds or forms from old buttons, jewelry, rhinestones and pearls. The little pearls I used in this bow came from a bag a pearls that came off a broken necklace. I bought the bag for a few cents! I also added to another style of fabric bow to this one to make the bow. For that tutorial Click here. You will also need to add a ribbon lined alligator to the back of your bow! Click here for that tutorial!

Bow # 2

This second bow is made much like the first. To start this bow I like to cut myself a strip of fabric

 There is no need for it to be perfect. Mine is obviously not!

Then you will fold it over a few times and cut a circle out of your center.

This allows you to make a bunch of circles all at the same time and with will all relatively be the same size. Once you have reached this point you will start forming your petal with the lighter.

Remember to hold your circles like I should you in the first bow.

Holding your circle like this will help the fabric to melt and curl up in the right direction. If you just hold your fabric flat it will sometimes begin to curl downwards.

After your petals are made you will glue them together by over lapping each petals edge. You are making each circle a separate flower petal. I used four petals for this layer. 

After you have your first layer you will then start working on your second. Follow all the previous steps until you have several fabric petals as shown in the picture above. 

Glue this layer of petals to the back of the first. Use the same method we used to make the first layer.

From here you will continue to make several more layers. 

I made a total of four layers for this bow. After you have assembled your layers add a cute center and a ribbon lined alligator clip to the back and your done!

Bow #3

For this bow you will begin the same may we started our first bow. Cut out on small circle and use it as your guide to cut out a second circle a little big larger. Continue to do this till you have 6 or 7 layers.

Then you will take each circle and cut slits into the center of the circle.

Here are all my circles after cutting the slits.

Next you will take your lighter again and melt the edges the same way we did with our other two bows. This petal takes the longest to form. Be patient and remember to be careful not to burn yourself! 

Your petals don't need to be perfect for this bow!

After you have made all of your petals you will take the smallest petal and put a dot of glue in the center. Then you will pinch the four sides of your center together as shown below

This is a picture from another tutorial and separate bow so don't let it confuse you. You do not want your petals in the glue. You will be simply bringing all of your petal to where they touch each other in the center. 

This is a picture after I have done a few layers but this will help you get an idea of what it should look like.

This is a picture of a layer that has been added on but not yet pinched so that all the petals meet in the center. When adding additional layers put a dot of glue in the center of your layer. Then place it on the back of the petal you already pinched together and formed. Then continue by pinching that layer together to help bring the petals of your additional layer together to the center.

These flowers are really cute on their own but I decided to add an old button in the center and some feathers to dress it up! If you are adding feathers you will want to glue a piece of fabric onto the back of the bow over the feathers to make sure they stay on. You will also need to add a ribbon lined alligator clip! Lining your alligator clip with ribbon helps to make sure that your hair does not get stuck in the joints of the clip.

And there you have it. Tutorials on three different fabric bows! Now on to the good part! THE GIVEAWAY!  I will be giving away the three bows I just showed you how to make and two others over at A Creative Cookie! Go enter to win! Make sure your following my blog if you want to win!