Board and batten kitchen island

Well peeps, it had been FOREVA since I had done a DIY project and man, I missed it. :) While working on this one I was in my zone, and it felt good! I have been planning this project for the longest time, but was just trying to figure out one little detail before I got started.

This one is in the kitchen and involves…can you guess?? I’m sure you’ll be shocked.

The kitchen island:

This was how the island looked up until last week. I think I will go down in a world record book for most changes to a kitchen island, for real. FOR REAL.

It was that time again though. For the six months or so, I’ve wanted to do a little change up. I kept seeing islands in pictures that were covered in beadboard, like mine, but also with a little board and batten trim as well.

I had been leisurely looking for just the right material to use for a while now, but couldn't’ find anything thin enough. I didn’t want it too thick because our butcher block island top doesn’t hang over a ton. I wanted something with a low profile.

So on a Home Depot trip the other day, I found just what I had been looking for. It was a really thin two by four foot piece of mdf. And at only $6 a piece, it was a smokin’ deal. I only needed two, so I had them cut down at HD to 3 1/2 inch strips – plenty for what I needed.

I started the redo by taking the trim off the island:

  

You could keep the baseboards on, but I wanted a very simple look so I went without.

Then I just cut my 3 1/2 inch boards down to the lengths I needed and nailed them in with my nail gun:

There was one spot in particular I needed to figure out – that toe kick on the cabinet side:

It wasn’t going to work with my simple squares, so I came up with a way to make it work. I took the board all the way to the floor:

And along the front part (under the cabinet doors), I filled in the empty space with scrap wood:

I glued them in there so they won’t shift, then just nailed the mdf board along the bottom in front of them. Confused? Show you in a minute. :)

Then it was time to paint – this time I decided to try something different. When we had our kitchen put back together last fall, the guys used Sherwin Williams paint and I couldn’t believe how well it covered the bare beadboard wood.

In my cheapness thriftiness, I’ve never spent the extra on “fancy” paint. But I wanted to try it out. I got my own, and it happened to be on sale – even cheaper than Home Depot or Lowe’s!

BOOyah.

I wanted something lighter that would work with the colors in the rugs and window treatments in the kitchen. It’s called Jubilee and it’s a beautiful gray blue color:

I LOVE the color and oh my gah, I LOVED this paint! It went on like butter. I used a paint brush for the whole thing – not one roller. I’ve never ever done that to paint, well, pretty much anything.

I am hooked, fo sho.

Here’s the little toe kick area at the bottom now:

You can see the line where the mdf board doesn’t meet up perfectly on this side, but you’re standing you don’t see it at all:

Which is fine with me because really, who will look at it from the floor? NO ONE.

I absolutely love how it turned out:

I had planned on changing out the chairs eventually, but when I put them back I was pleasantly surprised at how the green and the blue gray looked together.

They are the exact colors in the window drapes:

And I adore the contrast between the butcher block and the island color:

You can actually see the detail of the island now – the beadboard and the board and batten. When it was black, the beadboard definitely got lost in the darkness.

I especially loved how smooth the paint was on the cabinets – this was easiest paint job ever:

 

And I love the new hardware! It’s Martha Stewart from Home Depot. No, it doesn’t match the other cabinet hardware. No, I don’t care. :)

I went ahead and knocked one off my list – sanded down the counter and put two more coats of Tung oil on it:

 

The board and batten was pretty simple, just big boxes all around:

And as always, caulk was my BFF. :) There are many DIY sins you can hide with that goodness.

And I actually decided to not reinstall the corbels I had on there before. I like the simpler look:

Did I mention I love it?? It was a quick and easy install, but the whole project took me a week. Surprised? No? :)

First I did the board and batten, then the toe kick spots, the quarter round, painting one coat, another and then installing the hardware.

I may put a poly or wax over it to protect it, but I’ll just wait to see how it holds up.

I love looking back to see how areas in our house have changed over the years! I’ll spare you all of the kitchen island transformations, but here’s how it looked for years:

And how it looks now:

I swear this is the last you’ll see it change…at least for a year or so. ;)

Obviously the island is my go-to for an easy change up in the kitchen. This latest change has really transformed the room – it is SO bright and has more of a presence for sure.

I’m trying to add more COLOR to this space and this was one step in the right direction!