I got back from Florida on Sunday. Boy it is good to be home! I have to fly back down there next Wednesday, but in the meantime, I am enjoying life here at the cottage. I went to auction on Monday with my friend and found this old sideboard. I forgot to take a before picture in its original state. Its one of those old dining room sideboards with a dark finish and is sometimes called Jacobean in style. I’ve wanted an island in my kitchen for a while and one day when I googled kitchen islands, I found a neat idea from the DIY network. It suggested finding one of these sideboards and transforming it into an island. Well – there was the sideboard – big and heavy and only $60.00. I’ve already slapped on a coat of primer because when my husband and I got it in the house, we were afraid it was too massive for the kitchen. The primer lightened it up enough to see it more realistically. The plan is to paint it, find new hardware, put beadboard on the back and figure out some sort of top for it. We were at Lowes today, but the quote on a special order counter was rather high for us, so we will explore other options. This island will give me more storage – a necessity in our little cottage – and a nice long working surface. It is also a bit higher than the rest of our counters. We like that. I’m tall and my husband is over 6’4″ and its nice to have a higher working surface.

Front of former sideboard/island-in-progress

Back of island with deteriorating veneer backboard

During our visit to Lowes, we also bought the beadboard and some molding. The nice man at Lowes cut the beadboard to our measurements and we brought it home and nailed it on the back (after I pried off the yucky veneer backing). Everything has been primed and I will start painting it tomorrow. Its been a fun project and it will really add to our kitchen.

I will post more photos as we go along. Have a great day.