The Reveal of "The Thing".........

I told my Facebook friends that I had bought a "thing" for my kitchen, that the little guy at the store said he put the sample one together in about an hour. He loaded my boxed one into my Tucson and asked if I had help at home to get it into the house. I told him no but that I would get it into the house. He shook his head and said it is awfully heavy. He had used a dolly.

 

 Here I am in my driveway with the new "thing for my kitchen" and I am wondering, am I really going to be able to unload this! First thing I did was to spread an old blanket on the driveway starting a little bit under the bumper. Then I put a folded quilt over that just in case I couldn't support the weight when the thing lowered - soften the blow.

 

 

So now you can see what it is - a kitchen island in a box. I tried to pull it out and couldn't move it an inch. So, I squeezed in the tiny space between the front of the box and the back of the front seat and pushed with all my might. It moved a little bit. I kept moving it a few inches at a time until it was hanging out beyond the car. Trying from the other end again I was able to get the end down on the blanket with a gentle landing. I pulled on the other end of the blanket (the box slid too) until the back end was about to the edge the car. Somehow (I forget exactly) I managed to get the whole thing on the blanket and I never felt more weight than I could handle. Dragging from the front end of the blanket, the ride on up the driveway, through the garage and into the kitchen went fairly easily. If you can get it onto a strong blanket, you can move it! I have moved many heavy things that way.

 

 

Now here is what it is supposed to look like when I get "this thing" put together. Let me get this unboxed! And let the fun begin! Not!

 

 

Most of the smaller wood pieces out of the twenty wood pieces.

 

 

Some of the larger of the twenty wood pieces.

 

 

 

And more.

 

The bamboo top and the two baskets. Oh my word, I didn't expect to have to assemble the baskets!

 

 

The four wheels.

 

The screws, bolts, nuts, knobs, etc. Now I am wondering how many days is this going to take me.

 

 

I got steps one, two, and three done pretty quick but I tried and tried to finish step four and it nearly drove me crazy. I gave up for the night. Next morning I tried again and the same thing happened. I could get half of it together with the little 1/4" round x 1" long dowels in the pre-drilled holes ready to be dropped into the holes in the other pieces but when I started to move it, it would fall apart. After breaking some dowels and a trip to Home Depot to get more and buy some wood glue, I decided to glue the dowels in the holes and wait for the glue to dry and then put the pieces together. I knew all along that if all those six or so dowels didn't line up exactly to fit the holes they would have to be sawed off and the holes re-drilled, probably why they didn't tell me to glue in the first place. Nearly holding my breath as I picked the large piece up, it all stayed together,  hoping for a miracle, all the dowels fit in every hole! So, I got it standing up on it's wheels and finished all the next steps without much trouble.  My arms and legs were black and blue and I was exhausted but, TA DAH............

 

I had to push it back out of place to get back far enough to get a picture. I already had the big bowl in here and it will stay for awhile but, I am not going to load up the top with a bunch of decorative things. I want to keep some space that I can actually use. The bowl is extra large because it is part of an antique pitcher and bowl set.

 

 

 

 

Every thing looks straight and plumb. By the way, the drawer was in several pieces and was the  second step after the big towel bar. The island doesn't look level in the picture but it is. Some of you will remember my kitchen is very small and I had a small square butcher block table in the middle. I will miss it but, I am so glad to have all this new storage! Not for more things, but to spread out some of what is already in the kitchen, which has been so piled up. And, surprisingly, the room looks a little bigger now. One of my next projects is going to be to put new knobs on a lot of doors and drawers in here. There are way too many kinds that don't match or blend. That will be an easy one compared to this. This was one of the most difficult projects I have ever done. I really did think I had bit off more than I could handle but it got finished and I am happy with it.