DIY Play Kitchen!

A few months ago, Leo and I went to our Co-op pickup, and the owner of the home had a big plastic play kitchen in her basement.  I was so surprised that, for the half-hour I was there, Leo was all over this kitchen!!!  I immediately thought that it would make a great Christmas gift but we couldn't afford to buy an expensive plastic play kitchen that he may or may not end up using.  So, I asked Jason if we could build one and he was all in!  My husband rocks.  I was well aware that many husbands would look at their wife and just shrug their shoulders in indifference.  But mine was ready to get to work!!

I did my research on Pinterest and found my two favorite play kitchens:

Source: flickr.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: sewdangcutecrafts.com via Lisa on Pinterest

How cute are those?!?!

So Jason and I scrounged up some materials in our basement and got to work.

I pulled out all the paints we used for various walls in our house and we used an old TV stand we had in the basement.  Jason made the doors and the back out of compressed boards and used some old broken cloudy Ikea drawer inserts for the oven/pantry doors. 

I tried my hand at painting without a stencil.  The flower petals were evenly spaced and sized for the most part, but it took me a few failed attempts at trying to create a stencil for me to finally just throw caution to the wind and freestyle it!  (See below for further explanation.)

We bought a $6.00 stainless steel bowl for the sink - the most expensive part of the whole kitchen!  

I went shopping at Goodwill and picked up bowls, plates, the heart frame and the potholders.  Granny and Papa had just sent us this photo and it fit perfectly in the frame!!  And it looks just like my big kitchen with photos of family

Jason attached magnets to hold the oven and pantry doors shut.

Christmas morning was pretty exciting.  Leo and Elena were a little distracted and took a long time to venture to the other side of the house to see the kitchen!

But when they finally stumbled on it, they were super pumped!!

They were gifted some awesome pots and pans and lots of different stirring and measuring spoons from generous Aunts, Uncles, Grannys and Papas.  These utensils look so authentic, I might end up borrowing from them when all mine are dirty!!

Not bad for $30 out of pocket!!  And, since Jason and I built it, it puts a smile on our face every time we walk past it.  It was an easy labor of love for our babies.

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Okay - so now for the outtake.  I was very nervous about painting any sort of design on the kitchen because I am terrible at drawing or doing anything without an eraser or template!!  So I thought of everything!  I shopped for cheap stencils at the stores.  I traced stencils from my computer screen and cut them out of posterboard but they didn't hold up.  I even walked through the house looking for any kind of item that could be used for a flower stencil.  

And then I found it - A perfect daisy!!!

My materials?

Yup...I have no shame :)

See the flower on the cutting board in the upper right-hand corner of this photo?

It was made using my "homemade" stencil.  And it was a complete failure.  I gave up and just free-styled the flowers with much success.  But I had fun using the old brain to come up with creative ways out of doing the work!!!