a breakfast bar saves the day

alexandra turns an ugly half wall into a breakfast bar. while there is no straight-up hacking on the ikea countertop, it is a neat idea if you're looking for ways to maximize space or hide mistakes.

she writes, "previous owners took down the wall that separated kitchen from the dining room, all that was left was this column. it was 'begging' to be a breakfast bar. we went to home depot to do the estimate on the counter - over $500 for the 2x5 piece of what's-it-called fake marble plus the installation.

we looked at the table-tops at the ikea, as an alternative. we got vika byske in oak. (it's very well made, but it needs to be oiled or polished)

it was installed right on top of the old column, screwed in from the bottom up. it looks great!


cost? $89 for the table top + labor (easy to do if you have the tools)."