Building the Kitchen Island

I wanted to show you some pictures of the Island being constructed!

We have not built one before, so it took a few weeks as we were pretty much making it up as we went along! We used fence posts (planed and sanded) for the four corners and 2" by 3"s to create a base the size we wanted as a starting point.

We then built a unit to fit into the middle which would house the electrics for 2 sockets and create cupboards on either side and 2 drawers above them on the sink side.

On the seating side- we 'blanked out' the space where drawers on the other side would go.

Euan added in the sockets ( wiring comes through the new floor)

 And finally we got the Oak top! Its a huge 140cm by 190cm and was made at Norfolk Oak

 

The oak that forms the open storage at each end cost a few pounds and came from the timer yard a few miles up the road. They were all different widths and lengths and looked like firewood but after we worked some magic on them with Euans planer/thicknesser, a good sanding and some oil- they looked gorgeous.

We added the supports at one end- cut in a curved shape to match the wall cupboard.

The bar stools proved difficult. We had 2 false starts with other sets of stools which had to be sent back because they were too tall....you couldn't sit at the island. In the end, I bought them from Neptune and they are perfect.

                                                                                                                                                            

A Kitchen Update....Our Island.

When we came to view the house 3 years ago....it was the kitchen that we fell in love with because we could see that it would one day be big enough to have an Island and that was the dream.

But we 'finished' the kitchen 2 years ago without having built the Island because well, we wanted a large one and we didn't have the money. So we had to wait! 

It was the bespoke oak top that cost the money...we could find only one company (Norfolk Oak) that would make us the worktop and it had to be driven up here especially from Englandshire....but it was worth it! Euan made the base of course. There are cupboards on both sides, drawers and open storage at each end.

 I must apologise for the quality of these photos.....I need to get a decent camera or a steadier hand methinks

A few other things in the kitchen have also changed and been added.

We ended up replacing the oak worktops with granite. We loved the oak but it began to bow and stain, even with regular oiling and I was always paranoid about water around the sink.

We also extended the worktop into the window this time....the granite we choose is a really beautiful warm colour...Giallo Venneziano.

We also found a Welsh Dresser on Gumtree which now sits nicely on the far wall and gives me somewhere to display pretty things! Here it is a few weeks ago at Christmas.

 

The island is a joy to prepare dinner or do baking on.....sorry bout the mess in this one!

Euan made us a little extra unit to give us more worktop around the sink... he made it a wine rack with oak shelving to match the island.

                             

Euan put in a big drawer and open storage at each end.

And here he is.....the kitchen maker himself!

We/I really mean Euan also got around to building us a proper larder which is wonderful and has really made life a lot easier! No more rummaging through wee cupboards to find things....its all in the same place!

We lived with wiring hanging out of the new floor under the old table for 2 years because we knew we would be putting power into the island when we got round to building it! Its really handy for appliances and for charging phones!

I am sorry I have neglected my blog. I will try to put together a post at some point showing a bit more of the making of the Island, rather than just the end result.

Building a new Entrance Hallway and Staircase.....

Hello! I am still here, I have not abandoned my blog........ but I dont know where the year has gone.............2015 is just falling away from me.
Apologies for not posting in a very long time......we have been busy working on the house and garden as usual and I have a couple of renovation updates to come in the next few weeks.........but today I am going to show you the new downstairs hallway and stairs which were finished last year.

If you remember, we had to remove the weird metal spiral staircase which had been at one end of the kitchen in order to cover the freezing cold stone floor and we wanted to add a wall to create a proper hallway for some new stairs.
The old kitchen was about 8.5m long so we could afford to loose the space and with the metal spirals location and orientation, the space underneath and around it was wasted anyway.

So it was removed......Cue Euan with an angle grinder and a sledge hammer........

Looking through from the entrance porch at the indoor fireworks!......

 

And here is the ladder that was to be our means of getting up the stairs to our bedroom and bathroom with a shower.........for 7 months over the winter.

We choose to concentrate on getting a kitchen in the kitchen and to tackle the stairs afterwards. 

Euan built a new half landing and put together a flatpack staircase.
Niether of us had ever done anything like this before so it was a bit scary I have to be honest.....

Once we had secured the stairs and landing in position on top of the new floor, the roof space above had to be reworked.....roof supports were removed and stabilised, wiring and plumbing re-routed to allow the addition of 3 radiators in the new upstairs and downstairs hallways.

Removing these supports and cutting the floor right back to the external wall here, allowed us to put in a half landing instead of a winder and move the staircase back about a metre from where the opening had previously been.......which made the world of difference.

This new hall is the smallest room in the house but its probably been the renovation step that has been the biggest transformation for us, having this new space between the kitchen and living room. 
It was worth climbing a ladder for 7 months to get to bed!

Theres a cute wee cupboard space under the landing and I found a lovely little reclaimed cupboard door on ebay that was an almost perfect fit.........we just need to get around to fitting it.
  

We choose simple spindles and the 8 Newel posts are actually just fence posts from the timber yard up the road! Euan cut them to size, ran then through a planer/thicknesser and sanded and painted them..........this large saving allowed us to buy a beautiful oak handrail of which we neede quite a bit as there is a gallery upstairs.

We are lucky enough to have a seperate entrance porch though that door there for wellie boots and coats so it didnt need to be big enough for those kind of things.
We absolutely love the new space, it turned out a lot better than we expected and its hard to imagine the house any other way now.

But that was a while ago now..............and now that the weather has warmed up, we are getting stuck in outside again but my next post will be on the Kitchen Island.......... which is almost finished!

Lots of Love, Hayley x