DIY Floating Timber Counter

Because I have had a few people ask about it I thought I'd share the details of the floating timber counter we have in our powder room.  Unfortunately we didn't take too many photos during the actually creating process.

For all the details Read More.

 Here is what I started with.  A rough cut fir timber measuring 10" high by 18" deep and the piece I used was about 22" long.  These are leftover from the timber work we have on the exterior of our house.

This is what it looks like on the underside of our floating counter.  Thankfully you do not see this unless you are on your hands and knees directly underneath the sink.  I first had to square up the timber which I did using a band saw.  I was left with 18" by 20" by 10" high.  The finished size I need was 20" by 20".  (Thankfully my father is a wood worker and he lets me invade his space once in a while.  They were summering at their cabin while this was going on.) Next I had to core out the inside of my timber leaving a 2" frame around the timber which would act as the skirt of the timber.  I used a drill press, chisel, and a whole lot of muscle to accomplish this.  I then added another 2" piece of leftover timbers and screwed it onto the back to give me the dimensions of 20" by 20".  Because this is a high water area each crack had to be completely filled with epoxy to ensure that no moisture would seep into the cracks and break down the wood.   This was a long process because some of the cracks ran very deep and could only be filled a little bit at a time or the epoxy would just run right through.

This is what the cracks look like once filled.

Then the fun begins.  This whole timber had to be sanded down and levelled out.  I spent hours sanding this timber with my dads belt sander.  Once that was complete I cut out the template for the sink hole and faucet, again using the drill press and chisel.  Stained it with Minwax Jacobean stain, and sealed with multiple layers of helmsman spar urethane.

Here it is sitting in my dad's shop ready to head over and be installed.  I tried to leave as many as the rough cut lines as I could when sanding because I really wanted it to look rough and natural.  The jabobean stain also enhanced a lot of the grain lines.

 We of course had to reinforce the wall we were mounting this heavy counter to in order for the wall to support this extra weight.    We then glued, and bolted it to our extra support brackets, and ran the fixtures.

Only if you look very closely can you see the join line for the extra 2" added.  Because our counter was square and fit nice and tight against the wall all that was required was a simple bead of silicone to complete the job.

 This is the finished product and what you see from the floor.

 And here is the completed bathroom.  We love how it turned out and think it is a great way to add some detail to a very small powder room.

Marci