We showcased Patti and Darin’s delightful retro kitchen makeover yesterday. Today: A closer look at two ingenious features — a cute little snack or breakfast bar and a midcentury modern style boomerang clock. They made both of these for under $100 (not including the stools) — using leftover materials and just a few additional purchases.
DIY kitchen snack bar:
Patti wrote:
I’m very bad at always wanting something unique, one of a kind. Necessity breeds invention, you know, and I can never find EXACTLY what I’m looking for, so I usually have to make it up. For the snack bar, I wanted something simple that looked like it was probably in my kitchen originally (this is a modest ranch), and I wanted a place… to snack!
The snack bar substrate is 3/4″ particle board. I bought a 4×8 sheet at Home Depot and had them cut it for me to my rough dimensions because it’s hard for me to handle a full sheet by myself.
Anywho, I’m a McGyver-er from way back, so I cabbaged around the garage for scraps. I didn’t have screws short enough to attach the table leg to the bar, so I found a piece of 1×4 to use as a spacer. I attached the table to the wall with leftover shelving corners cut to 24″ and secured into the wall studs.
Table legs can be found lots of places including Amazon:
The bar was going to be 36″ square but it overpowered the space so I cut it down to 30″. And, it’s counter-height, so I had to cut 2″ off the bar stool legs cause they were too high.
DIY boomerang clock — Belart style
Then the wall above was too blah, and I found this clock I loved on eBay but it sold for $810. Yikes! And I thought, hey, I’ll just make my own!
This listing gave me the idea on the shape of my clock. I had laminate left over from the kitchen and particle board left over from a piece of MDF from making my platform bed. I drew out the shape, and Darin cut it out for me because his hand is steadier than mine 😉
The clock is a scrap piece of Masonite board, I drew, he cut. I painted it to match the cabinets, clock mechanism from Amazon for $10.
The 3-6-9-12 spots are biscuits (I have a biscuit joiner!) and I wrapped them with aluminum foil (ha!) and the 1-2-4-5-7-8-10-11 dots are the wooden tip of a paint brush dipped in silver paint and dotted on. Voila!
Voila indeed! Nicely done, Patti, thank you for sharing your design! And, I learned that “cabbage” can be used a verb — I am going to start doing that, too! Yay for all the MacGuyvers among us!
Great kitchen..love your dynamic atomic clock, even more than the $800 one.
I love the clock! I would like to see the inside of the trailer! I have a Torn apart 1964, 14 ft Franklin that Im working on. Hope to have it finished by the end of next summer.
Lynda, if you are on Facebook, you can send me a friend request and see my album on the before and after 😉
I grew up with those stools in our cabin (they’re still there), and they look awesome in your kitchen! Great DIY skills!
You grew up with those stools AND a cabin??!! Gaa…not fair! But yay you!
Very nice, love the clock.
Making nice things using cool laminate is a nice contrast to making things from pallets that is all the rage nowadays (guilty of it myself, in a way). Laminate definitely needs to stage a comeback, there’s so much that you can do with it, and its a very durable material.
Fantastic! I am a “I can’t afford it so I’ll find a way to make it.” DIYer, too! I love the projects, and the entire kitchen. I am setting up a new craft area and I want a big table top for miniature scenes. I just hadn’t found the right laminate for it. Now I think I have. 🙂 Thanks for sharing all of the ingenious project ideas and the kitchen.
Ronda
Oh stay tuned — Patti made a crafting table in her basement JUST like you’re describing! Photos to come!
You guys are just awesome! I am hoping you will share more photos of your cool home. I also grew up with those stools at our basement bar. My Mom still has them 🙂
Thanks so much! Would your mom care if we hung out in the basement with the stools?!
Love, LOVE that clock (well, actually the whole kit & kaboodle) – But I have to ask, what are biscuits? I am only familiar with the baking powder kind (preferably dripping w/ butter and gravy)
Absa-Fricken-Lootly AWESOME, LOVE it!!! Well done! do you ever do work for others???
Wow!!!! Beautiful work! Can I move in?