Play Kitchen Reveal...finally!

As you may recall, I gave you a little sneak peek of a project I have been working on this summer. For those of you that guessed it was a Play Kitchen, you were right! I have been obsessed with these play kitchens that I've been seeing all over blogland and knew I just had to make one for my kids.

So without further ado, here is the big reveal...

(I plan to paint the burners on the "stove", but I couldn't wait to show it to you so it's not exactly finished...yet!)

My daughter is testing out the oven...

We used a long metal drawer pull for the oven door handle.


The faucet started out as a brass mess, but with a little elbow grease and spray paint it was transformed.


I think the sink basin was a dog bowl in its past life.


We added a towel bar on the side for their tea towels.


And we put some hooks on the other side for pot holders, utensils, etc.


I made the curtain using a tension rod and some fabric that I bought at an estate sale years ago that I've been holding on to. Not only is it super cute, but my mom actually made my sister and I baby blankets out of this same fabric when we were kids!


So there's the kitchen. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how it turned out! I think it is way cuter than any plastic kitchen I could buy at the store. And it's even more special because my husband, dad and brother all helped me to make this kitchen for the kids.


But it didn't always start out so cute. Now I'll show you some of the Before pictures...


I found this nightstand on Craigslist for $10! It was the perfect size and I loved the legs and curvy detail. I have seen so many cute play kitchens out there, but mine was heavily inspired by this one by Kate over at oh write!. When I saw her kitchen I thought it looked like an old stove. It was those same details in my nightstand that sealed the deal for me. I knew it would be the perfect base for the kitchen. Oddly enough, the top was even laminate!

We simply took out the drawers and their "parts". We unscrewed the top and began the laborious task of priming, painting, taping off, painting some more, and so on, and so on...red takes a lot of coats to cover!

(I totally forgot to put a piece of cardboard under the cabinet so my driveway is now accented with red spray paint...oops!).

I found this horribly ugly and dirty faucet at our Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $4! I think the guy thought I was crazy for even paying that much, but I knew it had potential.

I cleaned it, took all of the parts apart and then primed it and spray painted it silver using Valspar Metallic spray paint. I did also coat the faucet with a clear top coat since I know it will get a lot of handling.

I don't have pictures of ever step (bad blogger!) but I also used the silver spray paint to paint the inside of the oven.

I found the towel bar and oven door handle at the ReStore as well, each for $2! The hooks I had on hand and the dog bowl was found at Goodwill for $.75.

I used cheap lumber from Home Depot to make the oven door and backsplash. I just had them cut the pieces to size and then attached the backsplash with screws and the oven door with hinges (that I already had). We bought a magnetic closure to attach to the oven door to keep it closed (I think that cost around $3).

So for the cost of some hardware, spray paint and wood, we were able to transform a $10 nightstand into a play kitchen that I know my kids will love for years to come!

Any of you tried your hand at making your own kitchen (real or play)?


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