One of the first things we did, was we masked out were the kitchen island would be going with tape on our kitchen floor. To make sure the size that we planned on making for the island, fit well in the kitchen. Once we found the corbels, we had to come up with a color we liked and that would go nicely with the weathered wood of the corbels. We chose the dark blue that Lowe’s offers in their furniture paint line. We painted a sample of the wood that we would be using. And made sure that we liked the corbel and the blue together. This whole Kitchen Island build took place over a few months. We wanted to make sure that we liked the Kitchen Island, since we knew it was going to be a statement piece in the kitchen!
Here you can see the masking tape on the floor better! LOL I framed up the island using 2x4s. I made the island this way for two reasons. The first was I knew the concrete counter top would be heavy,and I wanted to make sure the island could support it. Secondly I wanted electrical outlets in the island and I didn’t want electrical boxes inside the cabinet, I wanted the boxes and wiring hidden inside the framing.
Once I had the Island framed up “which was on a Sunday, and I had to go back to work the next day and wouldn’t be able to work on it again till the following weekend” I temporarily attached the corbels to the frame work and put some plywood on the island so we could use it. If there was anything we didn’t like we could adjust them at this point.
This is what it looked like all formed up waiting for the concrete to dry!
It is amazing how SMOOTH you can get the CONCRETE with a little sanding! Now we just have to let the concrete finish curing for the full 28 days, that is how long it takes concrete to cure, before we should seal it!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post! GO