From Beat Up Kitchen Island to Beautiful Coffee Station

15 Materials
$50
2 Days
Easy
A young newlywed bought a used kitchen island from the Facebook marketplace with hopes of creating a coffee station for her apartment. When she arrived to pick up the island, the new bride noticed it was more beat up than she realized, but she brought it home anyway. We ran into some snags along the way, but we managed to turn a beat up, secondhand piece of furniture into a beautiful, new coffee station.
BEFORE: A tired and beat up kitchen island.
The island had some expected scratches and dings, but it also came with a few surprises, like chewed up legs, a loose drawer guide, and wobbly construction.
After inspecting the furniture and making a plan, my client and I went on a store run to gather the supplies we needed.


We spent the first day of the project prepping and painting the furniture. First, by wiping down the furniture to make sure it was clean and ready to take paint.
We also filled the deeper scratches, dings and chewed legs with wood filler.
After the wood filler dried, we used a fine grit sanding block to smooth it down.
And of course, we taped off the glass on the door to protect it from paint.
After we applied the first coat of paint together, I left my client with instructions to finish painting.
On day two of the project, we focused on stripping and staining the top of the furniture.
I applied the stripper according to the package directions and waited 30 minutes before scraping away the varnish.


After washing the residual varnish and stripper off, I applied the stain to the top and sides of the counter. After getting the stain color to the client's liking, I applied the first coat of poly.
We also wood glued the drawer glide back in place, and secured the sides of the furniture so that the furniture wouldn't wobble. (That just required pushing the sides of the furniture so that the pegs could slide back into the holes.)


Then, I gave my client instructions on finishing the sealing process on both the stain and the paint.
She got to work not only sealing the counter top, but reattaching the door and changing out the hardware.
The next day, she sent me pictures of her new coffee station!
I love that we were able to bring her vision for this piece of furniture, and her breakfast room, to life. Now, this young couple's apartment is one project closer to feeling like home.
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Sharon E. Hines
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