Altering a Dollar Tree Shelf and Painting Granite

Hi, all!  I know it has been a while again, since I was here last.  Tons of family stuff this time of year and working hard on my HBS entry... hasn't left a lot of blogging time!

This post is to let you know how I made the little table by the front door and how I painted the kitchen stuff.  There are no pictures of the actual island build process since I was really just winging it....

Start off with a plain dollar tree table. Some stores carry the unfinished ones, and some carry the less than desirable red finish ones.

 You will take your mini saw or other cutting blade, and cut in the already scored drawer line.  Go all the way through, on both sides of the middle section.  Be sure to hold your blade at a 90 degree angle to minimize the need for corrections.

 When you are done cutting, this is what you will have:

 Discard the middle section and then glue the two ends back together.

 There was a bit of a gap, so I filled with wood filler and then sanded smooth.

 Now, decorate your table as you like.  For mine, I added a bottom shelf, scored the top, and then added a coffee stick frame around the edge-eliminating the bevel.  The knobs were pulled out with pliers and replaced with glass beads.

 Over at 1inchminisbyKris, there are a zillion different tutorials for how to make things out of card stock, mat board and wood glue.  She has a kitchen plan that you can build, but I wanted a specific counter, so I drafted this one up.  None of the doors or drawers work, and I left off hardware.  My RL house just has these little indentations in the tops to pull drawers out and open cupboards.  It offers a clean look.  The whole structure, minus the counter and bar, is made up of 4 layers of 60# card stock. The counters are two layers of mat board.  The second layer was cut slightly smaller and then they were sanded together to get that rounded edge.

 Painting these counters was fun, but messy.  The cabinets and shelf are Vanilla by Americana, while the counter is a hodge podge of colors.

 To achieve this look, I first coated the counters and backsplash with a solid coat of a mixed taupe color.  Let it dry and wet sanded it with automotive sand paper-extremely fine. Then it was a process of fling some paint, dry, wet sand....I did this until I reached a pattern in the "granite" that I liked and then did one final wet sand.  The last steps were three coats of triple thick, with sanding in between.

 The counter tops are so smooth.

 Finally, the sink that I added in here, was just the perfect size piece of bubble plastic from a miniature that was purchased for this build.  Always be on the lookout!  I cut it out, sprayed the underside aluminum and then added a drain with pain on the inside.  Ta-da!

There is only one week left for the HBS Creatin' Contest 2013, and I am working hard to finish in time!!!  I have until Saturday afternoon, with some tweaking and pictures on Sunday, submit on Monday!  Eeek!!!