AFTER: The Kitchen window

I kept saying I'd post this, but I never got around to it. The window is finally done, trim complete, wall painted and everything back to normal.

The island is getting there...

I swear, I will soon be done talking about this rehab. Our island is nearly done. The paint job is complete and the doors are all put together with hardware, etc. Tonight we will mount the butcherblock and then we just have to add the trim and we'll be all set. :)

Check it out so far.


It started out as this, if you recall

And last, but equally exciting

Today I found the ULTIMATE find.
As many of you know, I'm redoing our kitchen myself, on a shoestring.

It all started with replacing a window with a larger window

Followed by creating an island

and finally painting our cabinets (which I just realized I forgot to post about, so I guess I will post that tomorrow) and adding hardware.

I had priced a butcher block counter top for the island.

Home Depot: $2,500 minimum
The Butcher Block Company: About $300, but free shipping

Today I went to Ikea and checked out their wood counter tops.

It was going to be around $195.00 for a bigger piece than we needed. We'd have to cut it down, then stain it if we wanted to. Score... saving over $100! Nice.

Then I walked in the next room and saw it... a display of table tops... and right in the middle, a butcher block style table top. for... get this... $79. No joke.
I measured it and it was a little bigger than we needed, but would work in the kitchen (or we could cut it down if we wanted to). So tonight JR and I headed out to Ikea to pick that bad boy up! And it's AWESOME.

Right now it's just sitting on the island, b/c the island is nowhere near done (I thought I had $300 to budget for, so i stopped working on it!), but here's an idea of what it looks like... on my cell phone... in the dark LOL







And if you recall, the paint for the island was free, as was the primer. The base was free on the side of the road. The hardware was around $12, the top was $86 with tax, and the beadboard was about $19.00, So that makes the grand total of our island
somewhere around $120.00. Not too shabby for an entire island!

First and foremost

How excited am I to be featured on Tip Junkie yet again?! This is 2 times since starting this blog only a few months ago! Pretty rad! This time, it's for my tutorial on Coasters!
Check out her post that I'm featured on at TipJunkie.com

mobile posting!

Yay for the pixelpipe android blogger application!! Excited to now be mobile blogging

What a lovely vacation

WHEW! We are back from our mini vaca. We went to Houston for several days to take the kids to see The Imagination Movers in concert.
It was fun for all of us, and the trip was great since Grandma and Grandpa got to come too!
But today is back to the grind.... Todays project is to make some fairy wings for Lily's Tinkerbell Halloween costume.
If you have any ideas or tips, please let me know!

the no photo update

So I don't have a pic to show, but our downstairs is officially green and the window is finished except texturing and painting around the frame. I've started priming the kitchen cupboards, so we are well on our way!