If you follow me on Facebook, I gave you a sneak peek to the DIY Kitchen Island I created from a $5 dresser I found at a yard sale.  This was one of those projects that I was so excited to get completed and see a vision come from beginning to end.

Just like my when I refurbished the china hutch in my dining room–my husband was very skeptical.  He thoroughly thought that he was going to end up with it in his workshop, instead of it being a focal point in our kitchen.

Boy was he wrong!

I was a bit antsy to start and forgot to snap a picture before I took off the hideous legs that were once on this thing!  I’m certain that that is why I was able to score it for only $5.  They were metal, and roughly 1 inches square and it framed the entire bottom of the piece, and then had the six legs (each corner and then 2 in the middle).  Which were also only one inch square and crazily bent.  When I found this piece, it was not sturdy–at all!  But I inspected the drawers and I could tell that it was still pretty sound.  There was nothing wrong with the drawers and they were even dovetailed!

Did I mention that the top was granite?!

The other {small} issue with the piece was that the laminate on the back of it was beginning to chip off. But, underneath the laminate was a pretty thick backing board that was still in great condition–so I decided to just remove the old wood laminate.

Most of it came right off, with me using a big flat head screwdriver to help peel it off.  When I got all I could, I did end up having to use a razor blade–but for the most part this was quick and painless.

Once all of it was removed I sanded it all down and started painting.

I purchased a gallon of black paint from Wal-Mart for around $17 (although I totally should have just purchased a quart or used one of the free offers for a quart of paint from Sherwin Williams!) and I started painting the drawers and sides.

I quickly realized that I would have plenty of paint leftover for other projects!

Since this kitchen island was going to be a focal point in my kitchen, I decided to do a chalkboard back so that the kids could use it while I was in the kitchen.  We had some leftover red paint from when we painted my kitchen walls, so I made my own DIY Chalkboard Paint.

I love how it turned out!

I also decided to remove 4 drawers from the kitchen island so that I would have a bigger, less confined space to hold some bigger bowls and some baskets.

I have yet to decide what I want to do for handles on the drawers. I’m thinking about doing something quirky, like maybe old silverware bent into a handle? Any suggestions?

So, after spending under $50, the bulk of which was the four brand spanking new legs at almost $7 a piece (that includes the hardware to attach them)–I think it turned out perfect!

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