New Island in the Kitchen

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!  We had plans to take photos for our fun holiday card this weekend, but rain pushed it back to another weekend.  You can see some of our cards from the past here.

 

When we looked at our house, we were shocked that the wide open space in the middle of our kitchen didn’t have an island.  Since then we have been on the look-out for a new island in the kitchen.

For a while, we used a table from my grandmother’s former restaurant as our island.  When Little Miss arrived, the table helped it become an eat-in kitchen for breakfasts and lunches.  Many times we just pulled her high chair up to the table, and we ate breakfast and lunch right there.  That changed one day when Mom and I found an island at the Habitat Restore here in Charlotte.  You might remember that we have had some good luck at the Restore before when we found the guest room headboards, a Thomasville television armoire that we converted into a bar, and a set of children’s table and chairs from Pottery Barn.  We haven’t posted about the bar because we can’t get good photos of it, and the table and chairs really aren’t blog worthy.

 

The island measurements were just the perfect size to fit into our kitchen, and we brought it right home.  When we purchased it, it was a natural wood color, but I wanted the base to be a different color.  I decided to paint it navy and leave the top natural.

 

The top does have some discoloration on it, and I plan to sand it down and apply a sealer to it.

 

This island has come in so handy.  The shelf on the bottom provides much needed storage space.  I  can use baskets or wooden crates there to hold things like snacks, potatoes, dish towels, etc.

 

Another added benefit is the drop leaf that will open up to increase the size of the top.  I put felt on the bottom of the island, and can easily slide it next to the countertop when needed.  It really helped out when we set up our Thanksgiving day buffet.

 

I love the way it looks with our new rug from Overstock.

If you have been following along, then you have seen the transformation that our kitchen has gone through since we moved in.  Other than changing the cream colored outlets to white ones, I think we are finished for the time being.  To see the progress, you can go here, here, here, here, and here.

Cheers!