Good morning everyone!
Trevor and I went to Hamilton with friends this past weekend to see the wonderful Reginald Dwight or Sir Elton John as most of you know him. An excellent performer and I am not even an Elton John fan. Have you ever seen him?
Back to decor, my official first paint project to be shared on the blog of 2014. I was having a paint crisis when choosing the colour for this project as I have a huge load of new paint from the 2 companies I work the most with and just want to use them all right NOW.
It has been -15 C here on a regular basis which whatever, it's winter but it is too cold for Trevor to even work in our garage and get the rest of the insulation/furnace installation done. So, I am relegated to small projects in the house.
We needed more space for prep and setting things in our kitchen but I didn't want to get rid of our barrel island since y'all seem to think it's genius. Pat on the back for me lol.
I found this inspriation photo on Pinterest
and thought to myself, well hell I can do that and shove it right under the wine barrel. I initially started to looking for islands and this particular one from Williams Sonoma is 930.00 CAD not including shipping. Ouch!
After not getting or finding what I want (I am notorious for having such a specific image in my head with no room for compromise, it drives Trevor insane.) I was huffing in the garage trying to get some decor mojo running and saw my paint cart. Formerly the little island in our first home. The top was covered with paint but well now the size was perfect. I dragged it in the house at 11:45pm one night and ha, it fit.
PROJECT IN MOTION!
I threw some test paints on the legs, waffled for a day and decided on the colour.
For information sake, the cart started out like this
Ikea Bekvam kitchen cart 69.99 (it think it was 59.99 when we bought it 7 years ago)
We now have this. I will also remind you that although this is a DIY, I have not made promises on this blog that all my DIY's cost 5.00. My DIY's must not look homemade or I hate them. I try really hard to make it look like something that could have been purchased somewhere which I believe is the true success in a DIY. So, in closing please don't send me nasty comments about this not being a thrift store mock-up, I'll still love you but I'll hate you a little too.
my ikea hacked cart. now sporting 2 coats of #GeneralFinishes Queenstown Gray with #MissMustardSeed furniture wax topcoat.
I have added a carrara marble top to correspond with the island in the same thickness (makes the cart quite heavy but solid) We only removed the original wood paint splattered top and used PL Premium (in the caulking aisle) to attach it. For you local readers, we had the marble cut and honed at a fabricator in Welland called Granite Innovations. I have used them for all my stone work (they know me by name now lol) I also painted the rubber on the wheels to get rid of the 2 tone with #AnnieSloan graphite and clear wax. All my favourite paints are supported here!
towel bar/handle is a pair of vintage brass towel holders from etsy with a piece of electrical conduit for the bar (this comes in 10 foot lengths only, I had to get the guy in the store to use a pipe cutter to cut it in half so I could get it in my truck)
towel is by my lovely sponser (although she wasn't when i bought this) linen me
and since the kitchen was so squeaky clean I figured we would wander around except for one corner as I am saving that for another coolio post this week. we built something awesome. i reorganzied the metal tray and bought some spring with a white orchid
i always wonder when i see photos of kitchens in magazines/ pinterest etc where they put all their kitchen essentials. i get styling but where the hell is the toaster and coffee maker? i would love to pitch our toaster for better photos but it feels like lying. like don't we eat in our kitchen?
the area on the cupboard above the crock [this is where the dead mail/papers go throughout the week. they aren't on our counters causing clutter and go out to the recycling once a week] is getting the same towel bar as the island for our dish drying towels, i am just waiting for the other pair of towel ends to arrive.
most of the ironstone bowls we use on a daily basis are now on the island instead of rooting around in cupboards. things in our kitchen don't move that often but my darling man is king of the "where does this go?" question. seeing it on the island helps him and me.
we found the welland box at a local antique store and it now holds our potatoes and yams. onions are stored in a crock on the top shelf. of course i majorly purged the kitchen because of this and threw out all the gadgets and dip holders we have from years of gifts that we have never used. our kitchen isn't big enough to keep things we don't use, my patience isn't long enough to look for things all the time, the space has to work for us. the back door people at the goodwill got a visit for a change.
looking into the dining room. we found these great wood corbels at a local pick we just went on by accident with a lovely local woman restoring a huge grand farmhouse. i have wanted to add something to this doorway for awhile but most corbels were too big.
Have a great morning everyone,
See you back in the kitchen for some more goodies this week, maybe a coffee or 2 as well!
Meg
What I'm Listening to:
Night Still Comes: Neko Case
New York State of Mind: Joanna Wang
joining
the scoop
a stroll thru life
coastal charm
knick of time
savvy southern style
city farmhouse
common ground
jennifer rizzo
french country cottage
craftberry bush
miss mustard seed
upcycled treasures
thoughts from alice
