We’ve done so much work for this client that when she approached me about doing something with her kitchen island, I was only too happy to oblige.

A while back, we had painted the island a dark blue, which was a nice contrast to her white cabinets and tied in with her blue decor.

The issue was that the blue paint was peeling off. The people at the paint store had assured her that this paint would work, but, sadly it appears they were wrong.

She had seen kitchen islands on line that were stained wood and really loved the idea. She wondered if her island could somehow be transformed into a natural wood stained piece, even though it had at least two layers of paint.

The easiest solution was to “clad” the island in wood and make new custom doors and drawer fronts.

We chose to use maple as it has a more subtle, less busy grain than say, oak. She didn’t want it to look ‘country’ so the type of wood was a major consideration.

Instead of stain, we use a coloured Tung Oil (Dark Walnut) and applied 3 coats of clear coat.

The result is absolutely stunning. Have a look: