Today I am going to share with you the tutorial on how Mr. Rosemary Lane created a new look for our rather boring kitchen island for just under $300. Now the island is fairly large and you can see that it has a 45 degree angle at the far end. The counter top space measures 94 inches at its longest point. Since it is so long we made the decision to paint the island white in an effort to break up all of the honey toned wood of the kitchen cabinets. Materials used in this project were... 16 3 1/2 inch wide X 4ft. oak boards (one was used to create each box) 1 4ft X 4ft MDF board with 1/2 inch thickness 1 2ft. X 4ft. MDF board with 1/2 thickness 4 inch wide baseboard molding enough to go around the entire island miter saw air compressor nail gun wood glue white caulk and paint First we had to remove the old quarter round from around the entire island. (Michael helped with this job.) Then it was decided to make the sides of the boxes 3 1/3 inches in width. This actually determine how many boxes we would need to cover the back and sides of the island, which when all was said and done it totaled eight boxes. Both MDF and the oak boards were used to create each box. The bottom board is MDF cut in 7 1/2 inch wide strips. This is so when the 4 inch wide baseboard was attached there would be 3 1/2 inches exposed to match the width of the oak boarding. After carefully measuring and cutting all of the boards needed, assembly began. The board mapping was done very simply in an end to end fashion. No angles were cut except for where the counter took its own 45 degree angle. To the back of each board was first applied a healthy amount of wood glue. Then the board was attached to the back of the existing counter using less than one inch nails. Once Mr. RL was done attaching all of the boards, I sanded down the old finish along with the oak boards and gave the entire island a coat of fresh white paint. As you can see we have an outlet at the end of the island which was going to interfere with the flow of the board and batten. We thought about moving the outlet box but that seemed like an awful lot of extra work. Instead I found outlet covers at Lowes which had a bit of thickness to it which almost perfectly matched the 1/2 inch thickness of the boards. Mr. Rosemary Lane cut around the outlet cover and then I caulked to blend it together before painting. The front of the island is all drawers with one cabinet. So I took everything out to the garage to give it a good sanding down Then with a sponge roller I painted on the white. New bin style drawer pulls from Home Depot replaced the old handles. I needed eight and each pull ran $4.99. The final step in this process was to add the 4 inch baseboard to the bottom of the island. Here 45 degree angles were cut to match up the ends of the baseboard to create a neat and finished look. Again the BEFORE... ...and the AFTER The BEFORE The AFTER In retrospect we could have done the entire island using only the MDF which would have saved us close to 1/3 of the total project cost. However at the time Mr. RL wasn't sure about using all MDF so he went ahead and purchased the oak. But overall I am thrilled with the pretty board and batten in the bright white. It's funny because in the late afternoon when the natural sunlight hits the island it seems to take on a beautiful glow! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! XO Sharing this post at link parties hosted by these fabulous blogs... Coastal Charm A Stroll Thru Life Elizabeth & Co. Savvy Southern Style Confessions of a Plate Addict My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia The Dedicate House