Mountain Cottage Reno - Kitchen Update

Renovating a kitchen takes a lot of time, especially if there are a lot of little projects in the design . That's definitely the case with our project. 

The kitchen at our Mountain Cottage has come a long way since it first look like this...

and the above photo was taken after work began! 

How We Made A Curved Apron For A Countertop

This post is for the those who would love to know how we made the curved apron for the wood countertop for the Worlds Smallest Half Bath.

C,mon, aren't you a little curious?

I can't wait to show you because Mr. DIY is a genius. It's so nice to have a husband who can build the things I think up.  
Here we go...

A Custom Wood Countertop For The World's Smallest Half Bath

A few days ago, the Worlds Smallest Half Bath was finally revealed. 

If you missed it, you can find it HERE.

Today I want to share how we made the custom wood (butcherblock) countertop for our tiny bathroom. 

I am amazed at how much planning and detail went into such a small space.

Every detail was a project in itself and the countertop was no exception!

Here's how we made ours...

Because the ceiling was angled and we wanted to put in a pocket door to the bathroom to save space, we were working with  a wall that was only 13 1/2 inches on the left side once the door casing was installed. That didn't leave us much depth for the countertop and to install a sink.

But, we turned a negative into a design feature by curving the countertop.

We purchased some wood countertops for the kitchen and knew we would have enough left over for the bathroom countertop, since it was only 32" wide.

The first thing we did was make a template out of cardboard and set it into the space to see if we liked it and if it would fit.

Once we determined we liked the shape and that it fit, we made another template out of some rolls of wallpaper that had been left at the house. Since we already had the sink, Mr. DIY laid the sink on the wallpaper and drew the outline. He then added 1 1/8" to cover the lip of the sink with a little overhang.

Even though we measured and calculated multiple times, it was still scary to cut the shape of the countertop and the hole for the sink.

Mr. DIY used a jigsaw to do the cutting and then sanded the edges.

Once everything was cut, the countertop was dry fit in the space.

There were a few little holes that needed to be filled, so I used some MinWax wood filler.

I found some MinWax Provincial stain in the workshop at the mountain cottage and it was the perfect color.

I took a photo after  the first coat of stain was applied.  It took several coats of stain (top and bottom) until I thought it looked perfect. I sanded between coats of stain.

I applied several coats of MinWax Wipe On Poly, sanding with fine sandpaper between coats.

Once the countertop had several days to dry, Mr. DIY mounted the sink to the countertop.

Mr. DIY screwed a wood cleat to the wall to support the countertop.

We were so excited to get the countertop in, the faucet installed and the plumbing complete!

As good as the countertop looked, we still had to make the wood apron to cover a little of the front part of the sink.

That little design detail is another project in itself, which I will show you in another post. Hope you will stop by to see it!

Pam

Here's the link again to the World's Smallest Halfbath Reveal

Cost for supplies for the countertop:

$0.00 Wood countertop- used leftover from another project
             (we purchased butcherblock countertops from                             Lumber Liquidators. 

$0.00 wood for the cleat- used scrap wood from another project 

$ 4.97  Wood Filler

$11.97  Wipe On Poly

$16.94 Total spent for the countertop*

*Mr. DIY spent a couple of dollars to buy a new blade for his jigsaw for this project, as well, but will be able to use it for another projects.