Who was the little guy on “Fantasy Island” that always said “The Plane! The Plane!”? That’s what I keep hearing in my head – The Island! The Island! It is finished!!!! Yeah; Happy Dance!
Once Cowgirl started pushing me (and her friend, A, did most of the sanding), well, I had no excuse not to get painting. After a 3 hour session standing on my head to paint the inside, I wasn’t terribly eager to get back to it, but I persevered. One coat of paint on the inside, 2 coats on the outside and on the top and shelves and one coat of 3x Polyurethane later, it is finished. Bumble bees, spice racks and all!
Here’s where I started:
It’s lying on it’s back because reaching in was the best way to paint the very back slats. If I had a paint sprayer this would have been a MUCH easier and faster job. But I don’t. So it wasn’t. I came away with very few painted gray hairs, so I’m happy.
Here she is right side up with one coat of paint:
Two coats of paint and the bumble bees soaring away:
The poly is supposed to cure for 24 hours and thoroughly harden in 7 days. Cowgirl is very impatient and I let her talk me into moving the island upstairs while Mr. Fix-It and Farm Boy are gone fetching the tractor (more posts this weekend!!!). So, we brought it upstairs and the admonition that we wait a few days before we pile everything on it lasted for about 2 minutes!
Finally, a place to store my wheat bucket where it is out of the way but accessible! Apples, potatoes, coconut oil tub and the box with the meat grinder – all on one shelf! Upper shelf has a cool metal tray that I found on clearance at Meijer to hold all of the “extra” knives that don’t go in the knife block, onion basket, and the acrylic and plastic cutting boards (that I dearly want to leave my kitchen forever). And the freshly oiled wooden cutting boards on the top. But it gets better
When we went to IKEA, I bought spice racks (the $3.99 one), but I bought NINE! Well, I have a LOT of spices and seasonings, what can I say? We decided that two of them on the back of the island top would be a great place to put our most frequently used spices. There was even room between them for the olive oil bottles and Cowgirl’s jar of kosher salt.
There is still an amazing amount of workspace on this island. And what became of the other 7 IKEA spice racks? After some hissy fits because one of the boards on the back of the island would not accept nails or screws, and even ATE a drill bit in the process, we got those racks mounted to the back of the island just as planned. Of course, everyone that I did needed most of the screws moved over 1/4″ or less because I’m not the DIY Queen, but she was having the hissy fits and someone had to do the job.
I told you I have a lot of spices. What’s really funny is that I still have more in the cupboard – all things that we actually use! I ran out of jelly jars and the fancy spice lids, so somethings are still in whatever they were in before. I have room for one more jar on the bottom rack on the right – I just need a jar. All of that after I told my Mom that I have plenty of jelly jars and that I would bring her some. Well, I have plenty of 4 oz. jelly jars! I’ll be making a lot of tomato paste, applesauce, and canned chilies this year.
I made my lunch salad on the island and Cowgirl mixed up pancakes (yeah, for lunch. She’s a teenager) and the island has been christened. We are so excited. I’m especially excited to see my future cabinet color in the kitchen everyday. I’m hoping it will motivate me to get painting on those cupboards!
And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm!
Happy Palace Hobby Farm 