Thursday, February 24, 2011

Colleen's Corner...Make A Quick Kitchen Island

Here's a long story for a kitchen island.

Colleen is my sister and partner in crime helping me with my dad. Many of you know, from past posts, that my dad lives with us. He has his own separate living area just down the hallway in our home, including his own kitchen. He is 86 years old and he is dangerous! LOL !! You know floods, fire, and uses more electricity and heat to power New York City.
For obvious reasons, he can't be left alone for long periods of time. When hubby and I took the girls to Disney World over Christmas vacation, I had to arrange for someone to stay with him every minute. Two of my brothers and my nephew would come from out of state to be with him for the beginning of the week and my sister would have the last 2 days. However, mother nature kicked in and a whopping blizzard hit New England. My sister was with him the whole week all by herself...a few days at her house and the rest at mine.
Needless to say, she tried to keep busy at my house to avoid going stir crazy. She rearranged my refrigerator, played in my sewing room, cleaned dad's house, hung out with our cat Hallie upstairs for some quiet time...dad talks non stop about absolutely anything LOL!
and she built this island for my dad's kitchen.

Digging through old furniture in our basement, she found 2 side tables that are the same size and our old square coffee table.

One cabinet has doors with storage on shelves and the other has drawers.


She placed the 2 storage units back to back.



and then placed the square coffee table on top. The legs of the coffee table just unscrew to remove.



She didn't have to secure the table on top because there isn't much over hang on the sides, but you could always add "L" brackets to secure it.


There is the seam of the 2 cabinets, but it looks fine. If you were doing this for yourself, you could always cover it with bead board or wains coating to hide the seam.



What a great island...I'm sure with all that snow piling up outside, she was wishing she was on an island far, far away!




Can't thank my sister enough for all she did that week! I owe her BIG time.
space
~Karen~

26 comments:

  1. WOW! I would have never thought to marry those pieces together. It looks amazing! I think it's great how you have drawers on one side and shelves on the other.
    High Five to your sister!!

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  2. Karen,
    You and your sister are so handy and each of you has a great eye for seeing possibilities and repurposing stuff.

    I'd like to hear your sister's suggestions for an old sewing machine console I have downstairs. I look at it all the time and just see an old sewing machine console.
    Gail :)

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  3. She is handy! If the seems ever end up bothering you, you could use beadboard (or beadboard wall paper on the side and then paint it.

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  4. How creative! And so practical! Way to go, sis!

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  5. Oh my gosh, she has the desease too....have you consulted a doctor to see why this runs in your family? That is sooo amazing.

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  6. Your sister is very creative. I'm sure that she feels she owes YOU since you are the one who has your father most of the time.....so I'm sure she didn't mind helping you out this way at all.

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  7. Fabulous and practical to upcycle old furniture! You two are very handy that way!

    MGM

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  8. What a great idea..looks fabulous..
    Wish i had the room to do the same..

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  9. BUH-RILIANT! But should Dad have knives?

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  10. Yay for family! Especially family that make you kitchen islands, fantastic.

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  11. What a nice kitchen island! It looks as though it were meant to be.

    Bless you for having your dad live with you... Being a caretaker is such a challenging job. I am glad your siblings were able to give you some respite.

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  12. that is so clever. well done your sister [genius obviously runs in family]
    blessings x

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  13. Had to laugh. Your dad sounds just like my MIL, who is 89 and lives with us. But she doesn't have separate living quarters. Sounds about the same mentally, but my MIL still drives around in our little town. We have to get people to stay with her when we go away too, she tends to lock herself out of the house, lol. Love the island.

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  14. What a cool idea. Creativity obviously is in your blood! What is also especially nice to hear is that you can count on each other to be there as a family. That is worth more than anything and you are so lucky to have that.

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  15. What an absolutely awesome IDEA!! Thank you bunches for sharing it with us...who would have thunk it... LOL I will be on the look out now for some pieces for myself.... :D

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  16. OMG can I borrow your sister lol she has an amazing talent I am into Girl power, I can do an odd thing around the house hang a picture assist in the electricals ( thanks to my late father in law) but wood OH NO not for me. thank for sharing ttfn Nicole x

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  17. Great thinking on your sister's part... I never would have thought to do something like that! And it looks really nice, too.

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  18. I want to rent your sister - LOL! Did she sand and stain the island? It looks great! And it's heartwarming to hear about family being there for each other...even when it's not always easy. May you be blessed for being there for your Dad.

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  19. Great idea! You are lucky to have your sister close by...mine is far away but we get together a couple of times a year.

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  20. She is as handy as you are! What a great project! Good that you got a break, and thankful to have a nice sister stay at your house!

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  21. Oh my goodness, what a fabulous idea..I love it !!!

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  22. How clever you and your sister are...bless her heart!

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  23. HA! Can you send your sister to live with me? I'd just like for her to clean things up for me. If she found something to "make" like the kitchen island, that would be great too!

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  24. That's awesome, but I'd secure it because with an old person, if they were to lose their balance and go to lean on that or grab that top island part, it could all come crashing down.

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  25. L brackets sound like a fabulous idea. People tend to lean on just about everything in the home it's better to secure this top.

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