DIY - workbench to kitchen island transformation

My first big DIY project in our mountain home:

Transforming a basement workbench into a kitchen island.

Our belongings arrived allowing me to have an island in our open, yet limited-counter-space kitchen.

The movers deposited the piece in the kitchen area so we could 'see' how it fit. If it would really work as we were envisioning.

The fit -- perfect!

It added such a wonderful work space -- not to mention a great additional storage unit for all our small appliances and odd/end gadgets.

Unfortunately, it was still.    A.     WORKBENCH!

The 'workbench' in all it's glory - spills, splats, and all.

The top had spilled glue and paint on it; the frame was unfinished wood with splinters just waiting to happen.

I knew...          it had to be...            painted!

After a little deliberation, research, and pondering I settled on colors.  The base would be red, the countertop granite color.

Off to Ace Hardware to purchase my supplies

First off -- sanding.  

After a little sanding, it's already lookin' better.

All the 'workbench smudge' had to be removed and the rough wood needed smoothed out.


Fortunate for me, Techno-genius had an orbital sander.  Sanding the entire piece became child's play.  Seriously... It was F-U-N!  FUN!

Such a life saver for this project.

Once that was accomplished, I wiped the whole thing down and prepped for painting.

A coat of primer was needed since I was applying countertop paint onto wood and because the frame was bare wood. (Had no desire to paint 16 coats of red paint on that thing.)

Grey tinted primer was used to aid in coverage for the granite colored top and red frame.

Priming was easy.  Not necessarily pretty, but the job was done.

Next up -- the countertop.  Who knew painting a countertop would be so uncomplicated?  Here's hoping it's as durable as it was simple to apply.

(Feeling fairly certain the rest of the kitchen countertops will need to be painted as well.) :-)





Finally the frame received it's first coat of red cabinet paint.  Looks pretty amazing even thought it's obvious it will need AT LEAST another coat.

Not quite the finished product, but pretty close.  Minus the blue taped drawer handles and add a second coat of red.

Unfortunately trim/cabinet paint needed 24 hours prior to painting a second coat.  Slight delay in my progress.

It was still pretty amazing.

What was once a workbench is now an island.  All in one afternoon.... plus about an hour to slap on that second coat of red paint following my 24 hours of waiting.

Oh yeah, Doug has to re-attach the 'foot' that dislodged while Jacob and I moved it out to the garage. ;-)

Do you have a fun DIY project you've done recently or plan to do soon?  I'd love to hear about it.