New Year ~ New House (Part Three)

The dust was just about settled at our house as the weather turned cold and I started thinking about Christmas quickly approaching. My mind was filled with lists upon lists of things to accomplish before I started dragging out holiday decor. Why can't I just put my feet up and relax? Seriously, I think I need an intervention.

I had long been admiring a project completed at Slice of Suburbia.

Beautifully done, don't you agree? Now, my island doesn't "hang over" on the end, rather on the edge to allow for extra seating. Still, I thought with these fabulous instructions, I could no doubt handle this project solo. Of course, this was planned as another surprise for the hubby. I'm sure he really can't stand that word anymore!

So, I began my search for legs. What a joke this was! I searched high and low online for legs of the proper height and was SHOCKED at the prices. During a sideline trip to Lowe's one day, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted staircase newel posts. I whipped out my measuring tape (don't leave home without one) and oh my, oh my, it was the perfect size! About $20 with hardware for each leg, and $5 for the extra pine boards to build the frame and voila ~ I had a spiffy new island!

Funny sidebar ~ my dad always taught me measure twice, cut once. So glad I did, because apparently my floor is uneven. Although the granite counters are perfectly level, the legs are not the same height (not by a smidge either - a pretty nice size difference).

It was quite a bit of fun to "insert" the frame underneath the granite, but it turned out great.

We added trim to the bottom of the island and along the underside of the granite. The extra trim pieces were used to add a decorative piece to each end of the island and I bought new covers for the outlets.

It now looks like a piece of furniture instead of the builder-grade island.

I was now able to go fetch the Christmas boxes and start on that "project."