Hi! I’m back again after taking some time off from blogging. What a busy time. We did take a few weeks off for a fun summer vacation which consisted of hiking, canoeing and enjoying a week at the outer banks. That all went way too fast, as usual. Anyway, coming home I got this urge to spruce things up a tad around here. Though I’m still working on it, I will share my cabinet addition which we all now wonder what we did without! Earlier this year I made a crude little table to hold our home computer which I shared in Little Spaces. Now, suddenly I thought everything looked cluttered and crowded in that little space.
Usually everything is centered with the wall but I had it moved to the left to take some measurements. First I drew a little print or layout of how I wanted to have it looking. I wanted it to ell out, providing more space. I also thought it would be a neat way to separate the kitchen from the dining area. I grabbed a hammer and crow bar and removed some of the trim and also the cabinet with the drawers. I had some trouble removing the cabinet. It seemed set on staying there. I got a new burst of energy when I thought of John coming home and finding me there with only some trim removed and in desperation trying to pry the cabinet from the floor. I had this goal of having everything finished by the time he came home from work. Partly, I like to surprise him and, I admit, partly having a little fear of being stopped before I’d be finished. Anyway, I did finally get it moved…
I also removed the bead board that was behind the cabinet because I wanted the new counter to be lower than the original. I needed to install new bead board that was longer. I had worked on the new cabinet and counter top in the shop the day before so that I could do this final step all in a day. I brought the cabinet frame in….
This all is very crudely put together. I’m not one of those precise wood working people. The wood I got for mere cents in my grandpa’s auction so this whole project was done for probably not much more than twenty dollars! The countertop is also made from wood that I got at grandpa’s sale…
This picture was taken in the basement while I was painting the countertop. I didn’t glue any of the boards together. it’s also very simply constructed; I pinned boards on the underside to hold the top boards together and trimmed the edges with two inch pieces to make it look thicker. The long boards are only 3/4” thick and I wanted a more countertoppish look so that’s why I added the trim. I had to cut the kick board off of the cabinet with drawers so I’d get the correct height…
The final step was adding the bead board. I used a pine bead board that is only $14.97 a pack at Holmes Lumber, a local hardware store & lumber yard. I’m not sure how much one pack covers but it was just right to enclose the new cabinet and add to the space behind the counter. It comes in a tongue & groove so it’s very easy to use. I didn’t get any pictures while putting that on but here’s the finished project…
It worked out great using the original cabinet with drawers on the end with the raised panel showing. I made the new section not as wide so we’d have more leg room. It also worked out great using the two doors that I had removed from the upper cabinet on the right for the under the cabinet doors. I measured them before I made the cabinet frame so they would fit the opening…
Now we can store the computer tower in the cabinet along with all the wires and speaker clutter that goes with it! The countertop will always be special to me because it was grandpa (who is in the 90s) that cut down the tree and got the wood cut and planed to make it as it is. A few of the boards are wormy chestnut which I was told is rare and expensive…
The wood would probably show up more if it wasn’t painted but I felt it wouldn’t look right with the other colors in the kitchen if it wasn’t painted black. I distressed it a lot before giving it a good coat of varnish. Needless to say, I was pretty well finished by the time John came home from work. Thankfully he wasn’t upset that I cut off and tore out a little of our kitchen cabinets…whew!
The next post will probably be about my little café corner so stay tuned…
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