Shop Counter

I have been working for the last couple of days on a counter for my retail shop. Because I don't have much square footage in that room I wanted a counter that was not too large. I read an article a few years ago about selling at craft shows, which said that when you have customers it is best not to sit nor display your crafts at a regular table height. I found this to be true, because customers are usually standing, and if you are sitting on a chair, they are looking down on you. So... my counter would be made at a height that I could use while seated on a bar stool.

I decided to use 1" x 4" wood and paint the wood different colours and then distress them. This is how I make a lot of my products, with the distressed look.

Since I am on an island, I chose beach type colours... white, two shades of turquoise and two shades of blue.

I laid out the pieces of wood to see how many I would need side-by-side to make the front of my counter and figured that ten pieces would be best. That ends up being about 36" wide. I used only four pieces for the sides and it is U-shaped.

Horizontally, on the top and bottom of the painted pieces I used some worn looking 1" x 6" pieces of wood that were "hanging around!"

Here's a side section, the painted boards are pin nailed to the horizontal ones:

The top was made with four pieces of the same 1" x 6" boards, which kind of look like barn board, they are a nice grey-brown. The top overhangs the front and sides by about 1 1/4".