Kitchen Island Remake

My last post was all about my cupboard/pantry remodel.  If possible, I am even MORE impressed with myself over this little beauty. It was an old kitchen island on wheels that my dad was using to hold his toolbox in his garage.  I convinced him to give his toolbox a new home on his workbench instead... isn't that what they're made for?  Thank you, Dad!

This is what I started with.  It had a yellowish varnish on the whole thing which was both a good and bad thing.  Good, because I was able to just sand it down to the bare wood.  Bad, because it took me FOR.EH.VER.  Seriously.  I only had a little palm sander and it took me HOURS for this little thing.  Thank goodness it was worth it.  

Make sure you don't miss any of the old varnish on the top since you will be using a stain and the varnish will prevent your wood from soaking up the color.  The legs don't need to be sanded to nearly the same perfection as the top.  I just roughed mine up enough that I got the top layer of varnish off so that my paint would stick to the surface.  

For my stain color, I chose the second darkest option available at my local hardware store.  If you've never used a stain before, make sure you read the instructions.  You don't leave the stain just sitting on the top of your wood, it's more of a wax on wax off sort of deal.  You apply, then wipe off with a rag, always going WITH the grain.  Here's what mine looked like when I finished this step.

 (Notice the pretty butterfly sheets that have been the drip rags for every painting project I can remember while growing up.)

Next step, paint the legs the color of your choice.  I chose an antique white (the same color as my cupboard before I added the distressing.)  Mine only needed two coats, thank goodness.  

Then I put a top coat clear varnish on top of my stain to seal everything in and protect my surface.  I suggest doing two coats of this, using a really fine grain sand paper in between coats to remove little bumps and bubbles from the surface.  Wait until it's completely dry and then BARELY skim the surface, don't push hard at all.  Also, I'd wait until painting the legs before doing the varnish because you don't want to accidentally get some on your sanded surface before painting.

The last step was to choose a new drawer handle to match my other furnishings.  After drilling some new holes for the handle, because of course the original handle was a random size that I couldn't match, I had a finished product! 

Not enough kitchen storage? Make some!

Husband and I just moved into the most charming little apartment you've ever seen.  And when I say little, I really mean teensy tiny.  We live in a 100 year old house that was converted into 3 apartments.. pretty cool huh?  It has all the original decorative molding around all the windows and doors and is just so quaint I can hardly stand it.  With all this charm however, came a lack of storage space, which led me to these next two projects.

I have a total of one decent sized cupboard and then another three that are tiny and too tall for me to reach without a stool.  Quite a dilemma.  So, I decided to get creative and build myself my own "pantry" out of an old armoire-ish cupboard so that I could use my good cupboard for as many dishes as I could possibly squeeze in there.

I started with this little beauty.  My grandma and grandpa bought this used at a garage sale when they first got married. It then got passed down to my aunt and uncle, who in turn wanted to get rid of it so I went along and snatched it up.  All I saw was potential :)

First step, start sanding like a mad woman. Since this one was already chipped and in poor condition, it didn't take me long to get a smooth surface and remove any varnish that was left. 

Next I painted it with a good quality antique-white paint.  It took three coats to cover up that dark wood, but it was well worth it (after I swore a few times when two coats wasn't enough.) 

 Next, I grabbed a dark wood stain that I used for another project (coming soon) and grabbed a sponge brush.  I filled all the cracks and crevices with stain and then with some old torn up t-shirts, I simply started rubbing it all off again, leaving a little bit deep in the cracks.  For the main surfaces (without cracks) I used my rag that was already covered in the stain that I wiped off and just rubbed that all over the surface.  Do this to your entire cabinet.

You can see in this picture that I've done the top half of the door

Then I let it dry for a few hours.  Now, since I used a stain, It doesn't dry very well when you put it on top of paint instead of dry wood that will just soak up the color.  I had to put a clear varnish coating over the top to seal everything in place.  This was the trickiest step.  The varnish moves the stain around if you're not careful, so try not to drag it around too much.  I tried to just dab the varnish in the cracks as much as possible, but remember not to leave any bubbles because what you see is what you get and the bubbles will dry in place if you leave them.

Last, I just bought some new hardware for the handles and VOILA!  My own pantry!

(Sorry about the coloring below.  I forgot to take a full picture until late at night so I couldn't use natural light)

Ta DUM!

Back in the Swing of Things

As you may notice, I started my blog several months back and have a total of ONE entry.  I wasn't thinking things through.  I started it while my husband and I were living in the south for my husband's summer job, which consisted of moving every two weeks and living in 8 different hotels varying from Marriotts and Hiltons down to Best Value Inns and Super 8's.  HORRIBLE summer.  Also, not the best time to start a blog about my cooking adventures and DIY projects, considering the fact that I didn't have a kitchen or any room to be creative.  Now that I'm back, however, I fully plan on using this blog to its full potential.  Hurray!

First Post

No one can possibly understand how happy I am to write this first post. It has literally taken me 2 weeks to choose a name for this stupid blog. I came up with a million different ideas and found something wrong with every single one. And then, something amazing happened. After tentatively asking my husband for help.. for the 47th time (setting aside the fact that all of his previous suggestions were things like "polka-dots and unicorns" or "flowers and fairytales") he told me to just name it Jessie's Joys and move on with my life. Simple and straight to the point. Love him :) So, this blog is going to be exactly what the title suggests.. It will have everything from recipes I love, random thoughts and ideas, photos, and anything else that brings me joy. Hurray!