Once (again) on this island

I recently posted about the new kitchen island I got from IKEA. You can read all about it here.
Since I had 'hacked' it a bit by adding a dishtowel hook on the side, it got me curious about other IKEA Hacks, so I Googled the topic and found dozens of other ideas for transforming IKEA stuff. One of the articles I ran across was a hack of the very island I had purchased. The blogger had painted the piece charcoal gray, added a towel bar, and replaced the butcher block top with a marble slab. It was pretty spiffy. You can read that article here. And here are a couple of photos from that entry:





So it got me to thinking: I could do the same to my piece to give it that little extra "tshudge" and make it less "IKEA-ish". I didn't feel the need for the marble top, but I did have half a can of dark gray paint in the cupboard left over from the renovation, the color I painted the entry hallway. It would be perfect. I also went to Home Depot and found a different dish towel hook for the side, one in antique brass instead of the silver one I had. This would match the kitchen cabinet handles better. Best of all, the new hook was only $6.00! Perfecto.
Here's the progress of the re-tshudge and the finished product, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Umpainted, ready to begin...

First coat of primer

First coat of paint in charcoal gray

First coat of gray done

Second coat done and the finished product

Fits just right in this corner

The antique brass dish towel hook

I may add the towel bar at some future date if I can find one the right size, stay tuned for that.