{Kitchen Island Re-Do}–before & after

My kitchen island is a project that I have wanted to get done for a while and I can finally cross that off my to-do list.

My island before was pretty basic, although it did have beadboard wrapped around it.  But it was nothin special, just kinda builder boring.

I wanted to customize the island by adding some molding and some posts.  Lucky for me I got some posts for free so that saved me a few bucks, and they were the perfect size :)

before…

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I started by adding some baseboard molding around the entire island.  I had to pop off the corner trim put on by the builder. 

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The back side of the island used to have the toe kick, but I wanted it to look custom and more like a piece of furniture.  So to get the baseboard trim to wrap around, I had to use the table saw to cut off about an inch so it wouldn’t hit the cabinet doors.

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Next, I took some pre-cut poplar strips from lowes in 3 1/2 in widths and framed out the sides and back.  Santi also had to move over the outlet so it wouldn’t get in the way of the molding, while he was at it, we swapped it out for a black outlet and black cover. 

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Where the corbels were, I just used the jigsaw and cut those to fit

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Then I put the posts on.  I just used some liquid nail on the top and bottom of each post so they arent going anywhere.  I also nailed them to the wood floor and to the wood that is under the granite.  I thought about adding some trim around the base of the posts, im still undecided on that…

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After all that was done, we sanded down the doors and used my paint sprayer to paint those.  The rest of the island was painted just using a good brush and SW All Purpose Enamel in Tri-Corn black in a satin finish.  The paint went on awesome, and you can hardly see any brush marks.  I didn’t prime the island itself, just light sanded it and cleaned it well.  The doors were primed with an adhesion primer from Sherwin Williams, just because they will get a lot of use.  And if you read my last paragraph you will know why I decided not to clear coat it at this time…

And after…

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See all the dust already!!  Its only been done a week!

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So, that was my 1st project of 2012!  Its one of many that I need to get done – the list is long!  And, I have never liked the darker cream of my cabinets, they look lighter in pics than they really are.  So soon I will be painting my cabinets a lighter cream, cant wait for that!  You can see in the pic below how much lighter they will be with this sample cabinet I painted. 

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SO – I love the way the island turned out, the molding looks awesome and changes it from builder boring to custom – BUT, I don’t know if I am loving the black!!  IT kinda looks heavy to me and I really want a lighter feel to my house.  SO – should I paint it the lighter cream of the rest of my cabinets when those get done?  I cant decide!!  I think I will live with it for a while and see – I do seem to change my mind about a lot of things from week to week!!

*and sorry for the crappy pics – it was a gloomy day here, but this is the only day that my house has been half way clean!!*