ISO an Island

It’s been longer than even I expected since my last post. Squeezing forty pounds of stuff into this two-pound bag has taken determined effort. It seems as though we bring in things that work better for my apartment and the kids carry out things that will go to a thrift store or yard sale.

First they finished my sewing table. He wanted to make sure it wouldn’t cave in from the weight of the machine. I couldn’t find filing cabinets to hold it up so he improvised.

 

Original 2012 sewing table

Sew hard work

This will hold a whale.

No slackers here

Time to screw it down

Already looks different. WIP

 

Once the newly built by my son bookcases were complete and installed, I realized how many books I actually gave away. There is room for more on the new shelves! How did that happen? The last one is 4’ wide by 10” deep, built to fit the area in the hall. The bathroom door is so wide, it takes all the hall width to close it. Everything is strategic. My son decided after seeing the books on the shelves, the 4’ would need bracing in the middle.

3 ft bookcase for the sewing room. I need a stool to reach the top

4 ft narrow shelves for the hall

Once books were on the shelves, braces were called for just in case. I have room left.

In the search of more drawer space, (I have 2) we looked at all possibilities. Again, I wanted only things that could serve multiple purposes when I no longer need them. I looked at prefab cabinets of drawers out of wood and they were inadequate. Walking through the big box home improvement store, found us looking at a tool roll-away in black (On Sale). It had several colors listed but after much research, found the colors other than black were hard to come by. This apartment is just too dark for black so my son foolishly suggested spray painting it any color I wanted. Little did he know what can of worms he had just dumped on himself.

 

It’s the same color as my blog background this month.

It took longer than expected since they had a 10-day trip in the middle of it all but the end result of his ingenuity and fortitude was priceless! I was in love with my new island. Both he and his wife worked on this masterpiece. I want to have a showing with people lined up in the hall to see this thing of beauty and practicality. I’m still trying to decide what goes where and that still goes for much of the rest of the apartment. Things keep shifting until it feels just right.

 

What we started with.

Back yard sea of seagreen

Soft closing drawers with padding inside

Every size drawers.

They even found 2 free bar stools

They replaced the butcher block to give me overhang for eating at by using flooring on plywood.

 

My DIL trolls Craigslist and the thrift stores which can make some people roll their eyes but my goodness, she has found some really handy and beautiful things. I now have a sweet little bistro set for my porch at less than a fraction of what the original owner paid for it.

Craigslist find

I put a 30″ glass top on it for protection

the battery powered light was a bonus gift. They had my colors.

 

They brought a second little white wicker end table for my Mother’s Day gift found at a thrift store in perfect condition and it has a ‘drawer’! I love white wicker as it lightens up dark, heavy spaces.

I love white wicker

I also found a sweet little quilt rack on Craigslist that was here locally but we were all so busy that I couldn’t get over to see it and I was undecided if it was practical. I sent a note to the owner and he brought it to me. We couldn’t make one for the price I paid for this little sweetheart. I can put my napping quilts on it and not have to dig one out of the chest each day. I’ve met some very nice people through Craigslist. Maybe I’m just lucky that way but I guess right now I’m living on an island of delight.

 

Photo from Craigslist

It’s another thing to squeeze in.

My first quilt on my first quilt rack

Have you ever used things in an unconventional way?

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself