An "Island Update"

This may look like a gigantic monstrosity but to me it is a thing of beauty! The "island" has made it to my basement (or should I say "lower level"!) crafting space. I have been surprised to see how many people are interested in this project so I have a few more photos to post for you.



After finishing the platform in the garage and painting it to match the bookcases, it was time to bring it into my space. We decided it would be easier (and gentler to our interior walls!) to bring the platform around the back of the house. I work in our finished, walkout basement with a large sliding glass door and the island's destination was right inside that door.



The platform is very heavy so my very handy husband and helpful son had to be careful getting it through the door.



The island platform has arrived! You can see the large locking wheels - there are six of them to support the platform and make it moveable in my space.



I did not want to actually attach the bookcases to the platform - this gives me the flexibility to reuse them in a different configuration someday. To be sure they would not shift on the platform, we rolled out some of this shelf liner - it is a thin ribbed plastic and will create a cushion and a non-slip surface on the top of the platform.



First one of the larger 4 x 2 IKEA Expedit bookcases was settled into position...



then the 2 x 2 bookcase on the end...



There was a brief delay to check on the tennis (Men's Finals at Wimbledon)



But eventually the third bookcase arrived! (please ignore the mess in the background - you know how it goes when you reorganize - first you have to make an even bigger mess to get everything shifted into the new "right place").



So there it is - a big beautiful island with 20 cubby holes for me to store all sort of things - mostly paper and albums but some tools as well.



The platform and wheels makes the finished height about 39 inches, which is perfect for me since I am a tall person. I think my back will be happier too since I have been cutting on the pool table (with a cover on it) and it is much lower. If I can get away in the next few days, I will head to IKEA for some more of these plastic bins that fit the openings precisely and will hold a LOT of paper and other goodies. We also still need to add the top counter which is cut and sanded but hasn't been painted and finished yet.

Today was an absolutely hectic day - I didn't have a chance to do even a single Cricut cut - I am feeling the withdrawal symptoms! Jen and I had two classes to teach and we had some internet issues that gave us big headaches with the screen sharing! We all wondered if there were too many people watching the Michael Jackson Memorial online and gobbling up all of the bandwidth. Thanks again to our lovely and patient students for bearing with all the glitches - in the end we did manage to cover everything but it usually is much, much smoother! The Word Book class for Thursday is completely full but we will be posting the next group of classes by the end of the week.

So tomorrow is another crafting day - I have several swaps to finish up so they can get to their destinations by the 15th. I plan to have something to share here too. Thanks for taking in another chapter in the "island saga!"