Kids Play Kitchen

Ok, here is the project I have been working on for months. It was a process with several mistakes and draw backs but a wonderful learning experience. Anyway, the most important thing is that its finally done and Diana LOVES it. She has already made me 'pretend' chocolate cake, breakfast and bacon soup; (and they were yummy)!

Below are the after/before and inspiration pictures.  Picture 1 is what started it all. It was love at first sight, I knew my daughter would love it. I wondered if I could make it, so James got me power tools as an early Christmas present - (did I mention that I have an awesome husband?)

1. Pottery Barn  2. Target image (this is how my kitchen console looked before)

Here is an up close view of my kitchen. I love the small cooking utencils from here, the pots from here and kitchen appliances from here and similar here. What do you think about my tiling job? I got the tile from here . The burner were made from a place mat I got here. The range knobs were fun to make, Diana thinks they look like a radio, lol!. I didn't want to spend more money buying the actual knobs so I used my spice container lids and I wrote the numbers on a piece of black thin foam and stuck them together. I printed the time on a plain sheet of paper then glued it there. Diana loves to ask what time it is, so this was perfect.

Sink - baking tin. Faucet and knobs from here. I love the little red mug cup.

For the oven door, I used a corrugated plastic sheet from here. I like that its semi transparent (I still have to get a baking rack for the oven). Then to make it look a little real, I draw write lines with a painters marker across.

The fridge - I got the pretend food from here. I love the plastic foods more than the boxed foods. The boxes are way small as you can see from the apple and orange juices, but they are still fun to play with. The fridge, oven and dishwasher handles came from here

Its a perfect size for her. I made the curtains when i made the apron set here. The curtains and the window with a bird outside are a fun addition. She loves to close the curtains when its 'dark outside.'

Say cheeeeese! The apron set looks great on her. Tutorial here

Here is a closer look at the pretend gadgets and appliances we got for the kitchen. 1 Toys R Us similar here . 2 Toys R Us similar here . 3 Ikea . 4 Ikea similar here.

My major draw back came from not knowing how to paint laminate wood. First James sanded it lightly and then I painted it without even using primer. Big mistake. So, we sanded it again, used a paint+primer product, another big mistake. Then I did my research which I should have done at the beginning. Finally something worked, this wonderful paint and primer from Home depot, did the trick. It was a hectic adventure but it saved us a lot of money:)