Handmade kitchen island, Part 1

I wanted an kitchen island, but none that I found suited me- either price or style-wise, so I decided to make one.

Victory Home is a thrift that I frequent in Portsmouth. It's located on George Washington Highway and is run by Bethany Baptist Church. Funds are used to maintain the drug recovery mission they run. I volunteered there for a while. It's a great ministry.  If you stop by, tell Melanie (the manager and wife of Bethany's pastor) that you heard about them here.

I was searching for a night stand to start this project and came across this beige beauty for $5.  Sold!

First thing: added legs. I got them at Lowe's: 9 inch traditionals @ $4.00 each. 

There's a reason the legs on this side stick out a bit.
They will be corrected.

I sanded the top with a sanding block, then added three thin layers of stain.

 

 

After each layer dried, I gave another light sanding with steel wool, careful to remove any dust afterwards

Made sure to stain the sides....

 

I wanted the woodwork on the front to stand out, so I stained that as well. 

One reason she was $5: there was no back. I've logged thousands of hours of HGTV. This is no biggie at all.

I'll finish this in another post. Stay tuned.......