J & J Log Home

After searching some shops around town, we couldn't find a decent kitchen island. They were either the wrong color, style, or way too pricey. We decided to build our own. Picked up some maple from Menards and used a "This old house" article to get started. Built 2 identical shelves: Here are the corners, Then we used some wood conditioner, followed by stain to match our kitchen cabinets: Finished the assembly today (sweet plywood top huh?), the granite top (to match our existing counters) should be ready next week:

Finished the mantel the other night. We had a couple poplar 4x10's left over from building, so I cut them down to 2.5" thick by about 8" deep & used them for the mantel around the pellet stove. Close up. We used a water based polyurethane & it really brings out the grain of the poplar. These will turn into many shades of brown after they age a while. Still a bit green since I just planed them down.