Project: Kitchen Nook

I have to start this out by just saying how amazing Micah is. Seriously. He built this entire kitchen bench in 3 days, working around helping take care of Olive so I could have a girls date with my friend Ashley, & also prepping for a work conference in Reno. Best husband right here. 

So when we built our house we opted to not have the built-in nook in our kitchen done by our contractor because it was going to cost around $500.  Well then the procrastination/other purchases took over & the bench became a sort of "we'll get to it later" thing. I offered to host a baby shower for my good friend Lindsey on December 7th and realized... I want a kitchen table & bench for that! Haha I'm such a nice demanding wifey. ;)

Here's the finished product:

Pretty perfect.  :)

Here's how we did it. 

After some quick measurements Micah went to work. 

And stole some wood from the new construction homes next door (they didn't mind). 

So here's the before picture:

Don't mind my baby shower decor that I started putting up already. ;)

He framed in the basics with some 2x4's. 

Placed in the support

Added particle board to the sides

I then helped Micah screw the sides into the wall, directly onto the studs. 

Once those were in place, we pulled a sheet into our construction zone aka kitchen and I went to town painting the bench. 

And myself. 

Once those were set to dry, I painted the trim pieces. I wanted to paint these separately so that I could use the roller on the particle board without having to fight the edges on the trim. 

I laid them all out flat and just used the roller on all of them. Super simple, took maybe 5 minutes for 2 coats. 

I turned them on their sides and carefully rollered them again. 

Once the sides of the bench had dried we secured the actual bench bones to the floor. Sorry hardwood, we kinda murdered you under there. It was tough work, trying to perfectly align the bench and keep it level. I pretty much sat on the floor and either pushed or pulled as hard as I could on the wood while Micah screwed them down. 

Micah then nailed the trimming into place, using "finish nails" or Brad nails so that the head would be less visible. 

Time for the finishing touches! 

Micah cut the MDF (top actual seat portion) to the right lengths painted them. 

We put the pieces onto the bench, lined them up, & screwed them in place. 

Micah went around the whole bench at this point & added calking to all of the nail & screw heads, as well as the edges of the trimming that needed it. 

Lastly we decorated! Pillows are from Target, deer platter & candles from Target, I made the runner, table from Downeast, and chairs from Ikea. 

I'm so so so happy with how this turned out!! It's so nice to have an actual table to use! Thank you Pinterest for yet another home project completed. 

xoxo Mandi