A kitchen island has been at the top of my Gotta-Wanna-Needa list since hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. With three cooks in the kitchen, you can imagine the chaos and lack of counter space. My host daughter literally sat on the floor to prep her Moroccan cookies. Although it made for fun memories, more space was needed pronto. When it comes to kitchen carts/tables/islands, there are many possibilities. I felt like Goldilocks while searching for the perfect piece. This one is too bulky. This one is too short. That one is too expensive. While watching two of my favs, Chip and Joanna Gaines, I spotted the perfect kitchen island cart. This one is just right.

Finally, I knew what I wanted existed but the price tag was a big no no. Determined to save $300 and create the desired look on a budget, my son and I set off on a new DIY project. Not sure where to start, I originally attempted to find a counter top from local home improvement stores but many were way too heavy and needed to be supported by cabinets-too bulky. I then thought to use a pub table in place of the island-too short. In the meantime, I searched high and low online for kitchen carts with a wood or granite top-too expensive.

While shopping in Ikea one day, my son (yes, he gets all the credit) noticed a table top that was a perfect size for our kitchen. Turns out to be a Linnmon desk table top for only $4 on clearance. We grabbed it! The table top was originally for a desk, so the IKEA legs available in-store weren’t tall enough to match counter height. A quick trip back to our local home improvement store resulted in us combining the table top with pine table legs ($19 each). We opted not to paint the legs and show it’s natural beauty!

After a fun afternoon of trials and errors, the table leg plate didn’t work as planned and had to use gorilla wood glue, our kitchen table was done!

No need to add wheels (not sure how it would’ve worked anyway) because the table is very lightweight and so easy to move around, yet sturdy enough to stand up to daily use. After nearly a year, it has held up against spilled coffee, spaghetti sauce and everything you can think of! It wipes off clean time after time. I couldn’t be happier with this mother and son Do-It-Ourselves.

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I loved the kitchen table so much I decided to do a quick and easy DIY rug to go with it! Using an old roman shade from a local thrift store, shelf liner and a hot glue gun-voila! Can’t take full credit for idea-stole it from Pinterest but it works. Certified Do Try This At Home!