Wednesday, December 23, 2015

DIY: Play Kitchen from Nightstand

I'd seen a number of DIY projects for children's play kitchen on Pinterest and thought I would take a stab at making one for my daughter for Christmas.  Thankfully, my husband and I don't ascribe to any traditions about WHEN we give each other gifts (before, on, or after Christmas) so I asked him to get me a jigsaw this year to help with cutting.  I'm sure it will come in handy for other projects down the road.  So Merry Christmas to me about a month early :)

Next I have to find a nightstand.  Craigslist was being no help (people don't know who to sell/barter/etc on there, it was frustrating!).  So I went to Goodwill on a whim, thinking they probably wouldn't have what I needed.  But low and behold, there it was.  A perfect nightstand to tear apart and re-use, and at the sweet price of....$3.99!!!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it
when I bought it,
but here is a similar design.

I stripped the nightstand of all the ornamental trim, so it was very bare-bones to start.  With the jigsaw, I added thickness to what would be the counter, painted the 'oven' interior black and the rest was a gray color that was left over from another paint project.  The sink is a square baking tin that I got at Home Goods for $10.  Add a plywood backing and window cut out (all left over wood scraps).





Habitat for Humanity ReStore was a fantastic find, its where I purchased all the oven knobs, faucet, hot & cold knobs (they were actually old toilet handles) and handlebar for the oven. I believe this all added up to under $9.


I bought a magnetic curtain rod and hinges from Lowe's, as well as a wood plank for the table and shelf that I would attach later.  I bought stick-on laminate 'marble' for the countertop and peel-and-stick 'tile' for the backsplash. These all cost me roughly $20 as well.   


You can find little play utensils (or real ones) at a variety of places.
These shown were all from World Market, about $1 each.

Add some hooks (about 1 penny a piece), some baskets ($10/each), curtain (leftover fabric). Also, I added a motion sensor light to the inside of the oven, so when you open it, it turns on!  That was about $5.

So Grand Total: $68.04 (if I counted correctly) 

And since then I've made some oven mitts, hot pad and apron.  I think it's going to be a major hit :)

Christmas Card 2023

 In an effort to be more environmentally friendly this year (and because we ran out of time to send anything before the New Year), we have t...