Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

I've been giving you little sneak peeks at 'the surprise' for a while now, even in my last post!

I think it is high time I show you for REAL what Matt has been working on for me...

In case you haven't already guessed, it is an island for the kitchen!!!

I do realize that the wall needs a serious SOMETHING on it- and a new coat of paint to boot.  It will come.  Eventually.

I've been pining for one for a couple years now.  Er...well, since we moved in.  Not because I didn't love the look of the kitchen before, I did, but because it just wasn't practical.  The table was rickety and wobbly and I'd be practically bent right over just to work at it.  And the counter space left much to be desired.

Friday night pizza nights were the worst.  I had to roll out two large pizza rounds in this space:

It went something like this:

Roll vertically.  CLUNK.

Roll horizontally.  CLUNK

Roll left. CLUNK CLUNK

Roll right. CLUNK CLUNK

You get the picture, right?

This is what I envisioned.

It took a while.  I almost gave up hope that it would get done.  I was *THIS CLOSE* to just going out and buying one (these feelings of desperation usually came on Fridays, needless to say)- but couldn't bear to spend the precious dollars necessary...

So that is what Matt had been working on tirelessly, every night (and all day on Saturday), for a week straight.

He used pine lumber that he had sawed from a tree that had fallen by the lower creek bed to make the cabinet.

Being the clever man that he is, Matt figured out a way to make the raised panels using a table saw instead of the specific tool one normally needs to make raised panels.  And then he made seven of them.

Since the cabinet base was essentially FREE, seeing how it was lumber he sawed up  himself from wood we found on the property, I thought maybe I could use some of the money I intended to spend on an island for a granite top.  They are handy, so I hear.

And then I priced them!  For the size needed it would cost $610!!!  I thought- well, maybe butcher block would be cheaper...so I priced them.  They were THE SAME PRICE!!!

Needless to say, we went the free route again and used some cherry wood that had (you guessed it) been sawed into lumber from trees here.

Matt cut the lumber into lots of itty bitty strips, planed them, glued them, and then sanded some more until there was a nice and heavy butcher-block-esque tabletop waiting to go on the cabinet.

I put a few layers of Clapham's Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish, on the surface to protect it.  It is a food-grade mineral oil and wax combo that will seal and protect it.

Water beads up nicely on top- and the finish is lovely so I am pleased with it.  I must admit, though- I am still babying the surface.  You know when you get something really nice you are really super careful with it at first?  That's me.  And I am not sure when/if that will rub off.  ;-)

Isn't it beautiful?!?

The only thing we wound up paying for when it was all said and done was the two wooden brackets on the overhang side, two strips of moulding and some door hinges.

And now I have wide open spaces to cook on!  At a height that is perfect for me!  And a constant visual reminder about how blessed I am to have such a handy husband.

He's got mad skills.