DIY Lego Table With Storage

My kids legos were EVERYWHERE so I wanted some type of storage but couldn’t find anything online I loved. So here is the tutorial for building your own lego table using Ikea’s lack side table (which is only $9.99!!)

What you will need:

The Ikea lack table is super easy to put together.

I was running low on gorilla glue so I used both gorilla glue and wood glue but would recommend the gorilla glue.

Next I eyeballed where the baseplates should go and then glued one at a time directly to the table.

My kids have SOOOOO many legos I needed as much storage as I could get away with. So I added these adorable baskets to the side of the table using command strips. I made a table for each kid and let them pick out their baseplates.

Like I said, the more storage the better. So I bought the trofast storage bucket from ikea to use underneath the table. It holds soooo many legos!!

Now how to mount it…I had no idea if this was going to work but thankfully it did! I bought regular drawer slides and used part of them to mount to the bottom of the lack table. You just use your super glue again (lots of it) and attach the drawer slides. when putting these on just make sure your bucket will fit. I ended up laying my completely upside down and figured out exactly where to glue my drawer slides. You will want the lip facing in so it will catch on the storage bucket.

Wait for everything to dry and you are DONE! Hopefully no more stepping on tiny lego pieces!

Peel and Stick Flooring

Do you ever see your rooms and think oh some paint will do the trick? Well I thought that until I painted my laundry room and realized the white fresh paint only made my old floors look extra yellow. I had been wanting to do Floorpops peel and stick vinyl tile and figured why not? I mean with covid happening and not leaving the house much it was the perfect time. Thank goodness I pulled the trigger because it was under $100 for the entire laundry room and seriously took a few hours. I even cut the pieces down with scissors, sooooooo easy!

Like I said after that fresh coat of white paint (was tan) I realized the floors needed help
I was soooooo excited when they arrived! Like I said, they are floorpops which I ordered off wallpops and the pattern is stellar

This type of peel and stick can go directly on top of your current flooring. Before installing I cleaned my floors really really well with baby wipes and a degreaser. This just helps the tiles stick better. I also let the tiles sit in the room for two days to acclimate to the temperature of the room.

After that I picked out my starting point which according to the directions it’s supposed to be the center of your room but I decided to start in the right upper hand corner just because I felt like it would look better and I would have less cuts to do and since the back of the room was mostly covered by the washer and dryer I went with this option.

All you do is peel off the backing and place your tile exactly where you want it and from there I just kept going and matching up the pattern. I did notice that you had to play around with some of the tiles as some of them weren’t matching up correctly but I managed to make them all match up pretty well.

I saved all my cuts for last. I also left my washer and dryer hooked up and just kind of move them around and laid tiles under them which was way easier than I expected.

Once I got all of the easy tiles laid I then took a pair of scissors and started cutting my tiles.

The hardest part was cutting around the door and I took a plain white sheet of paper and made a guide and used that to cut and then I just kept trimming a little by little off until it was a pretty snug fit.

The final step was caulking around the entire room just to make it look even better and more finished.

Again this was such an easy project!!

Building Kitchen Island from Stock Cabinets

I bought a 24 inch unfinished stock cabinet and a 30 inch one. I reallllllly wanted my microwave to be built in the island and didn’t sleep until I figured out a way (but for real). So below are allllll the many steps to building a kitchen island but I promise it was easy. And affordable.

Here are the two stock cabinets I purchased:

Since I wanted the microwave in the island I decided to cut out the drawer and move it lower so the microwave can sit up top. Thankfully the cabinets from lowes already have holes for the drawer down low which was a huge win. So all I had to do was cut out the other part of the drawer.

I added tape to help not split the wood and actually just used a hand saw to cut it off.

Next I just moved the drawer down low.

Next I went up to Lowe’s with my measurements for the shelves I needed. I figured I would do one for the Microwave and one as an open shelf for cutting boards. I also grabbed a new 1″ x 1″ and a 1″ x 2″ to help trim out the shelves and hide where the drawer closes. Don’t forget the shelf hooks either (linked here)

That is what it will look like after you nail in the trim.

Make sure you sand these cabinets SUPER good or you will regret it (believe me). I then used my go to paint which is Benjamin Moore Advance- it is the BEST for cabinets and furniture.

I had my contractors anchor the island since I was scared to drill into my new floors but you can make a frame using 2x4s and attach the island to those.

NOW it is time to frame out the sides and back. I was able to get by with the thinnest plywood I could find. I needed two pieces and had them cut it down so it would cover the sides and back of the island perfectly.

Just nail everything in and most of the nail holes will be hidden with trim.

Since I did this during COVID and couldn’t keep running to the store with my kids I settled on trim I had laying around. I wish I would have done something chunkier but oh well.

I picked up corner trim so it would cover where the two pieces of plywood come together.

I used lots of wood glue and then did just a few nails which I covered with wood filler.

Once I added the corner pieces all the way around I moved on to the bottom part of the island (where I wish it was a little chunkier) I once again used LOTS of wood glue and a few nails.

I bought some toe kick for the front but it was a little short so I played around with a lot of the trim I had and made it work. I added trim to the top to hide the gap and then the bottom to copy what was around all the other sides.

I cannot get over how good the finished product looks! It was a lot of steps but very easy (I don’t even own a real saw yet). So you can totally do it!!!! And now I have a custom island for much much less.

Installing Hidden Hinges


Between my soffits and hinges my kitchen was making me want to pull my hair out (I have another post where I trimmed my soffits out).

Time to say bye bye to those awful hinges. They were dating my kitchen and making it look so old.

I bought these off amazon and they are even self closing!!

Next I decided to buy the best tool possible for this project

I simply clamped this down onto my cabinets. I liked it up with where the old hinges went but you really can’t mess up using this tool.

I put my tool on the six after playing around with it.
The jig also comes with two small holes that you will predrill for the screws (that is what the two small holes beside the big hole are)

I placed my hidden hinges in my cabinet holes and then held the entire thing up to the base and marked I wanted my cabinets to hang. Then I took the hidden hinges back out of the cabinet door and installed them into the cabinet base first. This was the easiest way to install on your own!!

Here is the before again
And the after

I promise this is an easy diy and totally worth it. I am so glad I ended up keeping my cabinets!!

DIY Bar Top

I have an awkward kitchen layout since the previous owners added a door where windows use to be. Which meant a table didn’t quite work so I pondered for way too long and came up with the idea of building a bar top on the half wall / pony wall. I waited so long thinking it would be hard but it wasn’t!

Before:

After:

Now for the directions.

I went to Lowe’s and picked out two huge pieces of pine wood (my bar top is 99 in long). Both pieces were pretty cheap and I made the entire top for around $100.

I ended up running a planner along the edges but it is not necessary.

Next I made lots and lots of pocket screws.

The more you add, the stronger your bar top!!

Now it’s time to finally see it come together. I filled the top with lots of wood filler. Especially where the boards meet. Let that dry and then sand.

I also added a backsplash/lip so my kids wouldn’t push their plates off and into the family room:/ I just drilled it right into the back and filled those holes with wood filler too.

Now to sand and stain!

I ended up doing two coats of stain (make sure to follow directions) and went with a satin poly.

Next I found some brackets to use and painted them white.

Now it’s time to rip off the current top. I was able to use an knife and pull it right off.

Attach the brackets to the wall. You will also want to drill up or down into your bar top.
Now all that’s left is to touch everything up and find the perfect barstools.

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

When we were house hunting I am pretty sure every house we saw had 1990s oak cabinets so I knew I’d be painting whatever we picked right away! Lucky for me I already had a trial run in our first place so was excited to get it done perfect this go around. (If you want to see how they are holding up five years later click here!)

Ok step one..remeber to take a good before picture (something I always seem to forget to do)

This is sooo important! Draw a layout of your kitchen and number the doors. Now grab painters tape write the numbers down and put them on the doors. This will save you quite the headache when you go to hang them back up.

Next it’s time to take all the cabinets off and all the hardware. I always use some soap and water to wipe down the cabinets from all the prior grease.

I wasn’t thrilled with how high my knobs were so I used wood filler to cover up all the holes.

This is probably the worst / most boring part but so important. Use a sander with fine sand paper and sand the doors down so that primer really sticks! Make sure you dust them off when finished.

Okay now it’s time to start finally seeing the transformation! I always use a paint brush to get my paint on the surface and go over everything with a foam cabinet roller. The foam roller is what gives you that perfectly smooth finish. Below is the primer I used and highly recommend.

I did two coats of this on everything including the base.

Remember primer isn’t that pretty so don’t get worried. Once done with the two coats lightly sand any spots that seem not so smooth.

Ok another big step coming! THE PAINT! Now I’ve done my fair share of diy projects and tested out/researched soooooo many different paints and believe me when I say this is the best paint ever… Benjamin Moore Advance paint. It’s basically made for a streak free long lasting painted kitchen. My only complaint is it going on thin so you have do a lot of coats but it is worth it. Believe me!

Also make sure you follow the drying times. I’ve learned the hard way and it will streak and you will have to sand down all your hard work. I usually wait a full 24 hours in between coats just to be safe.

I used simply white in a satin finish.

Make sure you use that foam roller!

Can finally see a change and it’s soooo exciting! I think I ended up doing about three or four coats of paint. Below is how I laid out my cabinets to paint.

Covering up your dining table makes a perfect paint space!

Let them dry for a day or two before hanging. The longer you wait the stronger the paint gets.

Now hang those cabinets and put on some new hardware and I swear you will think you have a new kitchen!

I have since also painted my backsplash using the same paint (pic above) click here for tutorial.

Below is after some more renovations….BUT still the same cabinets!!

Painting Kitchen Backsplash

I went back and forth on what to do with my awful kitchen backsplash. I have big plans for my kitchen….one day far away so I didn’t want to spend a lot. After trying to remove the tile I realized this wasn’t not the best idea. That’s when I decided to go grab my favorite go to paint (Ben Moore Advance). I literally use this paint for all my projects.

Before picture:

First I simply taped everything up with painters tape. And got out my favorite primer and did two coats (I only had grey primer on hand which isn’t ideal when going with white paint 🤷🏻‍♀️) . I used a paint brush and foam roller (like you use for cabinets) for a smooth finish.

Once the primer was dried I started with my favorite white paint. Make sure you use the paint brush to get paint on the tiles and the foam roller to smooth everything out. I usually did one coat a day since advance paint has a long drying time.

Literally the best paint ever and what I used to paint my cabinets

I think I ended up doing three or four coats..mainly to cover up the grey primer

Once you are happy with the coverage use an x-acto knife to help trim off the painters tape or some of your hard work will peel right off (I learned the hard way) shew those counters are messy!!

SO MUCH BETTER

Before and after comparison