My DIY Project - From Oak Dresser to Kitchen Island for Under $140.00

My new kitchen island!

UPDATE!!!! - After six months of use, this has been one of the best kitchen islands I've ever had! My shoulders are at a comfortable height and I can literally spend the day working on it without shoulder pain. WHY didn't I think of this, sooner?!!?! Not only a money-saver but a great success for under 5'5" cooks. (The standard for most kitchen islands.) To spread the news even further, I'm linking up to the Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways Wednesday Blog Hop. There'll be plenty of other posts from clever bloggers, too; so, I hope you'll check them out and discover more bloggers who can help you with your own DIY crafts.

I have wanted a kitchen island for a long time. With all my counters on the wall without windows, I missed the openness of preparing food while visiting or just having the sense of more space in front of me. Naturally, the ones I wanted were not only expensive but way too big for my little kitchen. Each had their own great features but none had them all -- until you reached the $600 and above range. Definitely time to just build my own and try to keep the costs down. First order of business, checking out flea markets for old dressers. After several months of casual looking, success came with this old oak dresser. The project had begun. With some elbow grease, time, and patience, my new island is finished and I did it for just under $140.00! Definitely a keeper and linked up with It's a Keeper Thursday.

To keep the air as clean as possible in the house, I did all the sanding and painting outside, using a big plastic drop cloth to protect it on rainy days. This was a very stable well-built dresser with no chunks of missing wood or wobbly hardware. After sanding, I sprayed it with a clear high-gloss acrylic paint three times, sanding between each coat. I didn't paint the top because I wanted a more abrasive surface for the glue to catch when attaching a 2x4 counter top panel.

This is a high-grade 5/8"x2'x4' panel ready for stains or paint and, even though it comes already sanded, I gave it another go over just to make sure, while rounding the edges just a tad to prevent slivering. Then, it was twice-sprayed with primer.

Two coats of primer and still raw looking

I used a roller for all applications

This is the Rustoleum counter top paint I used and I love it! There are mixed reviews about this paint online but I didn't find any of the problems some people found. Maybe because I did it outside and gave myself plenty of time between coats. I don't know the answer but it more than serves my purposes. And, should it get too chipped over the years, I can redo it and even change the color. It's still an incredible bargain for a $20 can of paint. I let it cure for almost six weeks before trying to go further because it's very high in viscosity and that translates into s-l-o-w curing in my book, regardless of what is promised on the can.

Hoping no bugs decide to check it out!

After checking out the floor of the dresser, I was afraid adding casters would do one of those opposite pressure things, so decided to reinforce it with some 2x4s before adding the casters.

As is typical with most dressers, the foot board is on the front, only, requiring 3" casters that are barely visible from the front. The locking casters are on the rear side.

Then it was time for the counter top. I applied Contact Cement to both the top of the dresser and the underside of the panel and let them dry apart for about 40 minutes. The ticklish part was placing it on top of the dresser because there is no forgiveness with Contact Cement and there's only one chance to get it right. The overhang leaves me plenty of room to hang up weird accessories, as well as having a little room to slip in a stool for a fast bite. Ta da! I have a new kitchen island!

Rear side waiting for pegboard.

Here's a breakdown of my costs. I rounded them up to the next dollar. Just a note about the dresser. I wouldn't have bought just any dresser. The basic requirement was that it had to be solid wood to be able to handle years of use and remain sturdy. (This puppy is heavy!) Waiting until just the right one came along was well worth it.

Used Oak Dresser  $40.00
5/8"x2'x4' Board Panel for counter  $35.00
Counter Paint Pint $20.00
Contact Cement Pint $6.00
Rollers for applying paint and cement $3.00
2x4s (on hand)
Kobalt 4-pack Casters 3" swivel-locking $21.00
Screws (16) 3.00
High-gloss clear acrylic paint and primer $5.00
Total cost for Island: $133.00

Don't you just love projects that are real bargains, too!

Delicious Solar Peppers and Kielbasa at Midtown Market

Because the North Hills Midtown Market is only open from eight a.m. until noon, it takes some thinking to come up with samples of solar cooking that I know will be done with enough time to share! Remember, I made Butter Pecan Ice Cream Bread, last week, but didn't want to become known for just breads and jellies. I wanted to show that solar cooking was versatile, even in the earlier hours. And, of course, samples had to be easy to give out, either sliced or spooned into cups; so, I did some late evening prep work Friday night and came up with a tri-colored pepper mix, with added onions, poblano pepper, and Polish Kielbasa. A touch of oil with half a packet of my Granny Grumbles Soup/Dip Mix, and I was good to go.

Soup Mix, Dip, or Topping - Fresh From the Garden

Granny Grumbles' Soup/Dip or Topping Mix

I hadn't planned on making my mixes so early in the harvesting season, but my SIL is going on a 10-day prove-yourself camping trip and wondered if I couldn't come up with something a little more appetizing than the usual fare. 'Usual' meaning that it cooks fast, has very little weight, and oh, yeah, tastes good! Time for Granny Grumbles! Those little packets hold 1.5 tablespoons of my own dehydrated vegetable mix with assorted herbs and spices (and, some with little pasta stars) that will turn any 12 ounces of boiling water into a delicious, nourishing, soup. It also makes a fire-baked potato very special and/or some sour cream or cream cheese into a great dip!

[Update: This has also been submitted to Grow Your Own, a monthly blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. You'll find chefs from all over the world sharing their recipes and, once the collection is posted, I'll be updating with that link. Meanwhile, there's still time (until June 30th) for you to share one of your recipes, too.]

The garden is producing lots of goodies and the dehydrator has been performing a yeoman's job. I wanted the mix to be nourishing and very tasty, so there was a little bit of this and a little bit of that put into the grinder and fine-powdered. The herbs were fresh from the garden, too, and dried beautifully. I made vegetarian (the ones with the ""V" on them) and then both chicken and beef based packets, using some powdered bouillion. And, for my own personal use, there will continue to be packets made for flavoring and thickening of soups, sauces, and stuffings.

I used equal parts of dehydrated broccoli, potatoes, carrots, baby limas, peas, summer squash, onions, and tomatoes. For added sweetness, I doubled the corn. That brought the powdered veggies to half the height of this jar (or just over two cups). The herbs and spices were also powdered. To the veggies, I added 1 teaspoon each of celery leaves, mace, arrowroot, marjoram, oregano; one-half teaspoon each of mint, lavender, garlic powder, salt, and sugar; one-quarter teaspoon of black pepper and one-eighth teaspoon of chipotle pepper. The soups got one tablespoon of pasta stars. I filled the vegetarian packets, first, then divided the rest in half and added the bouillions.  The packets were made from snack sized ziploc bags, reduced to three by using the sealing part only of  my vacuum-seal machine.

Making the packets

If you use a standard 8-oz cup, the full packet (1.5 tablespoons) could be a little too thick. These are dehydrated vegetables and the powder will expand. Try as I might, it seems impossible to totally powder everything, so there will be little bits of texture in the final result that is fairly close to a thick pea soup. Try reducing the amount or using a 12-oz mug/thermos. Blend the mixture into the water and bring to a boil and set aside for approximately a half hour to rehydrate. My SIL can fill his thermos with boiling water, add the mix, and let it do its magic while he does his thing.

Have I fulfilled the requirements? Let's see...

Does the mix cook fast? Check
Is it lightweight? Check
Does it taste good? Check

[Hmmm. Think I'll leave a little note in his bag about it being almost Christmas and how he can multi-task by using the steeping time to plan his MIL gift list.]

Now, that I've gotten you started, will you share the mixes you've created with us?

Secret Sister - Creative-Me-Monday

This week I'm participating in the Creative Me Monday linky from The Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts and, since I have to add to my stock at the Midtown Farmer's Market, I created a Secret Sister(TM). Isn't she adorable? This is where I talk about solar cooking and take orders for my e-book covers and pysanki eggs. And, that left me with lots of extra material.

I got the idea for a Secret Sister(TM) from talking to myself. Yup. I talk to myself -- BUT, whenever I do that, it turns out that I remember the idea or the recipe, what-have-you! Like the old string around the finger. (I guess it's the combination of speaking and sound that makes the difference.) Using 7" cardboard cones, she stands on her own and comes with a legend on the bottom.

Not the world's greatest poetry, but the point is made. You can make two of them out of a fat quarter. Or, one of my favorite things to do for special orders, if you have a favorite cotton shirt or dress, use that as both a way to remember your idea or recipe and the one who wore the outfit. 

If you want to see more fantastic creative items, click on the link below and visit all the others who have linked up. And, you still have until next Saturday to add your own!

Creative Me Mondays

Midtown Market - Ice Cream Bread and Being SQUARE!

Early morning, ready for visitors!

I'm starting to get the feel for actually demonstrating solar cooking at the North Hills Midtown Market. Didn't work, last week, because we had serious cloud cover and impending storms. The sun played cat-and-mouse for the entire duration and would shine for maybe ten or fifteen minutes before disappearing behind the clouds (very low, very dark, clouds, by the way) Market time was over before the rains came and we didn't have to worry about getting wet. But, I did have a box of Raspberry Bars going, just in case. They didn't finish cooking until just before noon, so most of the potential tasters had gone home to avoid the showers. One smart thing I did on Friday night was to create a little mini-catalog showing some of my dinners from this blog, so folks could see what was possible with a solar oven. The Global Sun Oven(R)  is the one I'm using at the Market because it's so much lighter than the SolarChief(R) and is what I've been cooking in for the past five years. I want to show people that it's the process of solar cooking that's important and to choose whichever oven they want to begin to start reducing their fuel bills.

I'm a Firecracker Queen!

See my crown? I'm the featured Firecracker Queen of the Week on Jules Cohn's A Little Bite of Life blog! You can find the interview here. I hope you'll visit, leave some comment love, and take some time to discover a really unique blog with heavy focus on how to make your own blogs better! Have a great day! And, thank you, Jules.

P.S. I feel soooooo bad. [sniff, sniff] Some of you are telling me that Blogger says the page doesn't exist. When I clicked on the link, the same thing happened to me. I re-entered and tested the link. It worked. I hope you don't have any more trouble. It does work if you copy and paste it into your address bar. Or, you can go directly to the blog, A Little Bite of Life, and it will take you the current post. From there, you just have to scroll down to the May 24th entry! Sorry. Blogger been giving me fits these past few weeks, too.

Announcing the Winners of my 100 Followers Giveaway!

Congratulations! We have five WINNERS to my 100 Followers Giveaway! A special thank you to all of you who have visited and decided to stay to discover more about solar cooking for mainstream cooks. Entries were given a number and all numbers placed in a deep basket. Late last night, my sister was asked to pick five numbers from the basket, held high above her head.  These five winners were sent an email notice, as well, so that I could send them their copy of A Month of SUNdays - Solar Cooking at Home. It's not only a cookbook for solar chefs, every recipe works equally as well in conventional ovens.

The winners have been placed in chronological order. Congratulations!



Entry #6 - Ruby from Ruby's Musings

Entry #8 - Dilli, a follower from Georgia

Entry #11 - txazlady from The Solar Cooker - An Adventure in Solar Cooking

Entry #14 - Christine from Write-Brained 

Entry #16 - Nicole from Destination Unknown 

I hope all of you will continue the journey of mainstream solar cooking with me. I love your comments and so look forward to your visits. Have a great day, now!

100 Visible Followers - Means It's Give-away Time!

What a wonderful surprise! Here I was, going about my business, and then looked over at my followers thingy and -- OMG -- I've reached 100. And, the counter has again returned to zero, but, this time, you're going to see my invention, a solar oven for the mainstream cook, the SolarChief(R) Isn't it pretty! Many more details will follow -- this is just a sneak peek for you wonderful people who have been patient and following me lo these many months.

Never thought I'd get to 100 followers; honest. Just wanted to add recipes, tips and techniques to folks that were solar cooking, using my cookbook "A Month of SUNdays -- Solar Cooking at Home" and continue to share that great experience. Solar cooking is still very much a niche in America but we're growing strong trying to use less fossil fuel energy and put some money back in our pockets.
Book II is almost ready for publication and my SolarChief(R) solar oven will be debuting on May 28th at the Midtown Market on the Commons in the North Hills Shopping Center, Raleigh NC! That's my new 'home' for sales through November 19. A beautiful shopping mall and I'll be there every other weekend from 8am until Noon. Phew! What a month. 

100. That's a magic number; right? And that means I should find a way to celebrate with you. A little give-away, perhaps? I'd love for it to be diamonds, Blahnik shoes, Gucci bags, but that just isn't in my budget and I've already given away 35 cars (just a joke, to see if you were paying attention! 8-)  But, what I can do is give five of you a free copy of my cookbook -- a great beginner's way of discovering solar cooking for yourself!
If you would like to participate, leave me some comment love on this post and let me know why you would like to be a winner besides discovering the joys of solar cooking. Or, if you already are solar cooking, what do you like best about it? Comments will be numbered and on May 24th, at 11:55p.m., the five (5) winning comment numbers will be drawn and on May 25th, the winners will be announced in the Winners post, as well as notified by email. Good luck, to all of you! And, thank you for being followers!

First Harvest May 2011

Nothing is prettier than your first bountiful harvest! .

L-R: Swiss Chard, Lettuces, Spring Onions, Broccoli Heads & Leaves

I didn't take a picture of it, but this is one of those double-wide baskets with a big curved handle that has totally disappeared under this bounty. The broccoli headed up beautifully, this year, because we had quite a few cool days BUT -- and, this may be the real reason -- I planted everything a month, earlier, to see if I couldn't beat the heat that made everything try to go to seed. The lettuces had already started to bolt because of the 80-degree days we've had in the past few weeks, but the leaves were still prime. Spring onions are just starting to bulb, but I usually leave them in ground through the year and just take harvest for the meal.

Versatile Blogger Award - OMG!

Blogger almost lost this post! Had to go Facebook to recopy the balance of this, but I've lost all my comments. Goldarn-it!... Anyway, it's back and hope that's the end of the Blogger Boo-Boos.

***Blush!*** I've been given the above award from Chile Chews, a blogger I've been following since almost day one of my own blogging journey. This is the goto lady for wonderful posts on her adventures and insistence of living a self-sustaining lifestyle and how to accomplish it. I'm still delighted that she follows me, because I'm an omnivore and most of my recipes would have to be rebuilt to suit her vegan tastes, but she hangs in there. I think what I like about her best is that she isn't in your face about her beliefs -- she just does.