I was able to get the cladding on the sides and put on the wood kickplates at least. The counters are now finished and just getting their "treatment". Which is a fancy word for brush on...wait 24hours...brush on...wait 24 more hours...do this 7 times (4 coats on the top, 3 on the bottom).
I started the cladding with some old panel doors cut to size and mitred the corners so they would be neat and tidy (this job I assigned to the hubby since I just had no desire to do it).
I cut the kickplates to the correct height (width of door subtracted from countertop height) out of the same wood boards as the countertop. I left these a little rougher because I just liked that look.
I installed them by simply screwing into the base frame of the island.
Once the doors for the sides had been measured, measured, measured and then finally cut....I was ready to " put a little English on them".
They had been painted white, but under that were several years of paint colours.....curiously every door I seem to come across has some shade of teal in there. I think it could be like finding the age of a door by peeling back the paint layers. When you get to teal, I think you are somewhere back in the 40s...it must have been the colour of the day but I can't imagine those teal doors in a room.
After sanding and scraping all the loose bits off....and sanding down enough in the areas that I wanted to show as wood in the final finish....I quickly slapped on a coat of white paint. And I truly mean quickly slapped it on. By this time in the project I was so relieved to be moving forward I just literally finished this step in about 10 mins. Good thing that the look I am going for is very vintage rustic.
I used up the last of my Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Pure White....you may remember Annie from my table project from an older post....this time Annie wasn't such a pain in the arse to work with (thank goodness) and 1 coat stuck and was all I needed to spruce up the doors.
I didn't want a perfect finish anyway so I just made sure enough paint went on to freshen it up.
Next I brought out the wax..hello again to Annie! I applied one generous coat, let dry 10 mins and then buffed to a nice sheen. I must say I do love the finish that Annie produces but she can be a royal pain sometimes!
Voila! doors finished...this whole process took roughly 1/2 hour and satisfied my impatient need to actually accomplish something.
I installed the doors on the sides of the island and was thrilled with how they turned out. It is exactly the look I wanted for this piece.
Doing this confirmed my belief in using old doors for these purposes. The wood is solid and well put together. There is already detail and character in the mill work. And you get to save some really neat doors from a landfill while adding amazing charm and history to your home.
The counters are done their 4 top coats and 2 bottom coats. I more bottom coat, sink and faucet install and we are done! Can't wait to show the final, final, final reveal!!
