I experienced a thing of beauty last week.
I held in my hands a pneumatic air nailer. Better yet, I actually got to fire it off and nail my new, personally hand-crafted butcher block top to my old kitchen cabinet base, producing a one of a kind kitchen island of beautifulness.
I cannot lie. I want my very own air nailer now. Right now.
In pink, please and thank you.
In fact, I was so excited about the prospects of having my own, I was pretty disappointed that my local blue big box home improvement store in Alabama had nothing of the sort sitting on the shelf, waiting for me.
Since I am far from being a girly-girl, you might think that it’s weird for me to walk into a DIY store and want a complete hand tool line specifically designed for us girls. You know, lighter-weight, simple to operate and yes, you guessed it – in the colour pink. But hey, I think that it’s more about the rebel in me – going against the grain of commonness.
Anyways, let’s get back to this blog post. And the story of my kitchen island…
Just hanging out in my new-old kitchen island
OK, I said I did it all. As if I single-handedly designed, measured, cut and assembled this DIY project. Not true. It was a team effort.
Sure, it was me who had been dreaming about this restoration project ever since I bought the house last August. I spied the cabinet in the old kitchen with its old cupboard feel and steel cabinet catches – sigh.
I knew it could be done but just didn’t know where to start.
KariAnne and Denton from Thistlewood Farms. What a great team!
Enter KariAnne Wood of the famed Thistlewood Farm in Kentucky. She’s best known to us at Phantom for being one of the eight national bloggers who came to our April event, which we held to show off my Southern Romance home project and promote our Phantom Screens’ product ideas. You’d do yourself a favour if you read her blog – that gal can write!
But this week, not only did the talented Miss KariAnne come to the house but so did her tool-bearing and skilled handyman husband Denton – or “Denny” as she calls him. What a wonderful, kind, gentle soul.
I know we are not supposed to covet our neighbour’s man-servant, ox or other stuff but, hokey doo, could I ever conquer the world if I had a husband at my side like KariAnne’s! It is a thing of sheer delight to watch her proclaim: “Hey babe, follow this. What if you just do this with that and then that over here with this?”
Before I knew it – bingo, bango, bongo!
There stood my brand-spanking new kitchen island ready for staining and painting. Unfortunately family duty called for all of us and we had to pack our bags and flee home – leaving the final touches until my next trip.
Hammering legs. That became corbels. Honest.
And in case you’re wondering. Even though my dear husband is not into supporting my wood-working projects, I could list a page of other things he’s pretty great at – starting with the fact that he actually agreed to support the pursuit of my wing nut idea (bucket list #67) to restore a Southern home.
I am not taking this marital contribution for granted by any means, but I can’t help wonder just how far I can push my luck with the rest of my hair-brained dreams on my bucket list.
You know, like having a lavender farm. Or restoring another house in … oh, never mind.