From Nightstand To Play Kitchen.

So I've had a few people in the recent months discuss play kitchens, and a friend today actually. She suggested I repost the play kitchen we made a couple of years ago, for any of you handy folk with children. This is the original post from our old (no longer updated) family blog. So here is a short digression from my usual home decor posts. Enjoy!

Our latest project has been a play kitchen for the kiddos, made from a nightstand!

BEFORE 

  

Let's take a peek inside. As you can see, it has a refrigerator and oven. 

 

A closer look:


Some details:





This project has been in the works for a while. I first discovered nightstand kitchens a few months ago on a blog (http://vintagesongbird.blogspot.com/2009/12/diy-is-fun.html).

I knew instantly, I had to make one!

Then I started looking at tons of other kitchens people have made. I pulled bits and pieces that I liked from all over the place! I told Steve I was going to make one of our own.

So, I scoured Craigslist and family houses for a nightstand that would work. I couldn't find the exact style I was looking for (one with 2 drawers), but I did find a useable one at my father in laws. He wasn't using it and let us take it!

Unfortunately, because it didn't have 2 drawers, we had to do a bit more creating than I had planned. That meant that Steve was going to have to take on a pretty big role in "my" project. I suppose he assumed that was going to happen...

So, I got to work finding all the supplies we were going to need. Here is a list of all the materials we needed, and the price we paid for each. It took me about a month to compile it all.

-Spray Paint (white/silver/red/blue/black) $8 (for white primer/paint, the rest we had)

-Chalkboard Paint $4

-Wooden J for faucet $2

-Wooden trivets (4) $4

-Plexi-glass for fridge shelf $3

-Oven Handle  $4

-Fridge Handle $4

-Cabinet Hinge for oven $6

-Shelf (cutting board we had)

-Wood for back & front (Ikea as-is) $5

-Hooks for side $2

-Hinges for Fridge $1

-Magnetic Closure $2

-Support Brackets for back $4

-Towel  $.50

-Wire for curtain "rod" (had)

-Curtain (had fabric)

-6 Knobs (had)

-Stainless bowl (from my dad)

-Cookie cooling racks (2 that we had)

-Gorilla Glue (had)

-Screws (had)

-Photo for window (scoured through books for one we had!)

So, as you can see, the total was just about $50 for everything. We could have made it even cheaper since we had handles, but we opted for nicer ones that fit better. Once we had all the supplies, we got to work!

I spray painted all the accessories, as well as primed the nightstand.

Steve then cut the sink hole and figured out a way to make the fridge and oven. We were originally only going to have an oven, since that is what I had seen in other kitchens. As we started working though, Steve, being the smarty-pants he is, added a fridge! We also added the oven window along the way. He is just so

handy. It took him about 5 nights of working on it, so it was no small feat. My final contribution was sewing the curtain.

Some of the neat details:

-The window with a view (a page from the Golden Book "Wonders of Nature")

-The groove in the fridge that we cut and painted to look like it has 2 doors

-The oven window with plexi-glass

-The painted heat coils on the burners and in the oven

-The cookie cooling racks for the oven shelves

-The adorable birdie fabric for the curtain

-The cute slice & bake cookie set (with removable frosting) & baking sheet

-The chalkboard menu on the side

-Knobs that really turn

-The upside down letter "J" for the faucet

For all the food, I bought Melissa & Doug wooden sets (cutting food, food groups, & cut & slice cookies). The pot & pan are also wooden and from Melissa & Doug. The wood utensils, bowls, and plates are from Plan Toys. The coffee cups and saucers are vintage porcelain ones from the attic of my father in law, and the cake pans are tin pieces I found at my fav antique shop.

The entire kitchen is made from non-plastic materials. Oh wait, the oven window and the shelf in the fridge are made from plexi-glass. Other than that, everything is either wood, metal, glass, or fabric.

The grand total for EVERYTHING- the materials & the play items, was $100. I bought the Melissa & Doug food at AC Moore with 50% off coupons, which made them reasonable. The Plan Toy set was from gap.com (I know, weird), and the pans were from Toys R Us (with a coupon and on clearance!). I think that is a VERY reasonable price for items that are going to last MUCH longer than plastic things, and that are much higher quality. Plus, they are infinitely cuter.

Hopefully this will last through all our children, and maybe even be passed on to the next generation.

All in all, I designed (mostly), shopped, sewed, and helped paint. Steve did ALL the building, helped with the design, and did the top coats of white.

I think it was a pretty collaborative effort, but I have to give Steve the credit for the actual construction- he was in the garage for HOURS. The kids absolutely LOVE it and have been playing with it non-stop since we finished it. That definitely makes it worth all the time and effort.

(Sorry some of the photos are blurry, I had a baby in my arms.)

*So there you have it friends! Back before I honed my photog skills. Also, I should add that it has been over 2 years and it is still in GREAT condition. The oven window bit the dust, but that has been the only casualty. I was mentioning today, that it has been the MOST played with, MOST loved toy for 2 years straight. Every child, of EVERY age that has come into our home has absolutely loved it. Definitely worth the work!!

Industrial Modern FUN

After a night full of working (mostly Steve) until 2am, we wrapped up the shelving unit! It looks 1000x better than I even imagined and I couldn't be any more thrilled with it. My incredible husband amazes me with his skills! He always works so hard to see my ideas and designs come to fruition. What a guy!

(Now, pardon the photos. I am a day or so away from being able to use my computer and Lightroom again, but for now I had to shoot in jpeg and do zero editing. So these are all straight out of the 'ol camera.)

Without further ado, here is our industrial/mid-century modern work of art. VOILA!

Don't mind the TV cords. Soon to be moved behind the TV.

Are you loving the gray wall as much as I am?? Again, we chose Sherwin Williams Grayish and it is perfect. Bright and light, with a touch of warmth, and it contrasts nicely with the white trim. It is a smidge off in color here, sorry, again, no editing. It is showing a bit greenish in the top two photos, but it is more warm and ZERO green in real life.

In terms of the styling, I am really enjoying how it is coming together. I am trying to blend loads of texture and keep everything earthy in color. Notice glass, metal, leather, lambskin, soft blankets, mirrors, paper, greenery, wicker, wire.

A bunch of the pieces I have found recently while antique shopping, some of them we've made or repurposed, and a couple of items we already had. I still have a fantastic Kodak camera from the '50s on the way from Ebay, as well as a really cool metal airplane. Other than that, this is it.

LOVE these '50s books I picked up last weekend for a buck or two a piece (Actually, the blue one is more recent, but looks super modern to me). Talk about great titles too!! "Fortune Is A Woman". Truer words were never spoken. ;) I painted that little wooden airplane that I snagged for $1.

Steve welded this nifty piece of artwork for me. Totally cool.

I am diggin' the mixture of soft/cushy with the wicker and metal and wood. Again, sticking with earth tones.

I picked up those wicker boxes at Michael's (last night actually) for 40% off plus 20% off with an entire purchase coupon. DEAL! They are perfect for holding all of our DVDs and our DVD player.

This awesome antique toy phone Steve and I discovered while on our day trip last month. The box is one I had that I painted with chalkboard paint.

These are all books I had. Camera for $5 last weekend. Spheres I made and featured HERE.

This cigar box I scored last weekend as well. Marked for $20 at the antique shop, I offered $10, she agreed. Woohoo! Perfect spot for the remotes and incredibly cool. 

All in all, a BIG success! It was surely a labor of love though. It took more time, more money, more stress, less sleep and a smidge of disagreeing (only natural right?) to get it done, but in the end, it is even better than I thought. 100% custom, totally unique, and crafted by hand by my amazing Stevie-Poo (sorry babe). 

Maybe I'll get more into the construction of it later (including more photos once we paint more than just that one wall), but for now, that's all folks! What's your favorite element/piece??

Oh, and a before and after, just for fun.

BEFORE

AFTER

Family Room Sneak Peek!

GAH!!! I'm so excited! Steve and I finally mustered up the energy to start back up on the family room shelving unit. We have been a smidge burned out lately and needed a minute to catch our breath. AHHHHH. So. Now that THAT is out of the way, onward!

Last night we set up the entire thing. Measured it, anchored it to the wall, put the unstained boards on it, hung the tv, and made sure we were happy. Ummmm. Happy? ECSTATIC! I didn't want to take it down!

Alas. We had to. Steve has to remove the two middle units in order to remove the boards to stain them. So it was just a sneak peek. But he managed to stain all the shelves last night and they are ready to go tonight. See? (iphone pics again, my computer is still on the fritz so I have no Lightroom)

Oh they look heavenly. Nice and dark cocoa-ish to pick up on the woodtones on the other side of the room in my desk and post office box. Coordinates so nicely with our coffee bean couches and contrasts perfectly with the white end tables and frames and the blue rug. I wanted them to look a bit distressed and aged, and Steve did such a great job. Love love love!

Here is what the piping looked like up, without the wood of course.

HUGE right??! I was surprised at how substantial they are! I mean, I knew it was going to be most of the wall, but it is hard to envision until you actually see them up. It is going to make SUCH a statement in the room and the entire first floor (this wall is visible throughout the floor). I don't even think you can tell that well from the photo, but they are lovely.

We are also planning on painting that wall tonight. Steve picked up the paint that I finally chose last night, and hopefully we'll whip that out this evening. We don't want to have to take the entire unit down again just to paint, so we'll do this one wall and then finish the rest soon.

Here is the color I picked.

Sherwin Williams Grayish. We color matched (like always) to Olympic Premium Latex paint since it is one of the only zero-voc paints with zero-voc colorant as well. Can't wait to see it up!! It is nice and light and bright and slightly warm to coordinate with all the warm brown tones we have in the room. Yet not beige-ish or too cool. I think it is going to be perfect with the industrial shelving. Hopefully tomorrow I can come back and show you! Maybe, maybe not. We'll see how much we get accomplished this evening.

Another really cool update for the room is in the artwork realm. I managed to snag four (fantastic!) nautical maps of Lake George NY on ebay this week. Graphic yellow. Gray. White. BIG. Annnnnnd $15 for all four. KILLER! I am going to frame them in the same frames that I used for the gallery wall and they will be grouped as a set on the wall where the old oak bookcase was. Here is a sneak peek.

PERFECT right??! I am in love. I had no idea they were going to be this lovely. What an absolute steal. Just when you think Ebay is lost and way overpriced. Wait until you see how incredible they are going to look all together.

I also have been wrangling some funky objects for the shelving lately. Today I painted a box I have been saving, with chalkboard paint. CB2 inspired! You'll see that soon. Lots going on here, and soon I'll have some more reveal photos to share. It is just so fun to see things coming together!

Quick & Dirty Cushion Recover

Last night I had a burst of energy and inspiration to do a little project while the kids were with Steve outside. I grabbed a piece of scrap fabric and my staple gun and got to work! I have two ottomans/benchs in our family room for people to prop their feet on. Our room is very wide, so you can't reach the "coffee table" to put your legs on, so I like to have these available. Who likes to relax on the couch without a foot rest?? I recovered one already with a bright yellow chevron fabric, but this one was just plain white and I really wanted to update it a bit. I had a minute so off I went!

Here it is before. We actually recovered this about seven years ago. It was Steve's grandparent's old stool and it used to be floral.

All you need is a piece of fabric (I am using leftovers from the roman shades in the kitchen, which was actually a tablecloth from Target), a staple gun, and staples.

Step 1) Remove the cushion from the stool. Mine was not attached this time because there is a little storage area underneath, but the last one I did was screwed in.

Step 2) Lay your fabric out and place the cushion on top. (Don't mind the old gross vents. When we redo the kitchen they will be getting replaced.)

Step 3) Cut. I know. This is all very complicated. Thank GOODNESS you have the photos. ;)

Find a baby to park it on the corner of the cushion. PHEW! Glad I have one just hangin' around.

Kidding. I couldn't get him to move his tush.

Step 4) Start stapling it nice and tight. Make sure your pattern is right where you want it by flipping it over and checking the placement first. I do the two long edges first, then corners, then short edges. I'm not an expert on corners, I just fiddle with them until I like the way they look and do lots of stapling.

Step 5) Replace the cushion on the bench, screwing it on if you need to. VOILA!

Now. I am planning (I think) on painting the wood either white or gray. But I want to wait until we paint the family room because I'll just do it at the same time. Also, I always have a hard time taking the plunge when it comes to painting hardwood furniture. I am always afraid of ruining it! So, I mull it over awhile just to be sure. For now, both ottomans are wood toned and when I decide, I'll do them both. Or not. We'll see.

Here it is in it's home. Ready to be pulled out as needed or have a drink or magazine plopped on it. Whatev.

Oh shoot, I should have taken a better photo. See at the top of the mail sorter? I put the West Elm spheres that I made up there. Perfect spot! The stain matches 100% and it adds a bit of height to the piece which, in my opinion, was just a teeny bit short before. Someday I'll take a real photo to show you better.

So there you have it folks. That took me 5 minutes. Quick and dirty (notice I didn't show you the underside once it was stapled? That is where the dirty comes in. Who cares! No one can see it). Now it looks like it was purposely chosen for the room. YAY!

Old Lady Junk Turned Narnia Portal

Steve thinks this mirror looks like a portal to another world. To Narnia. He thinks it is funky because the frame of this LARGE mirror is so thin. SO it looks like a portal. Well, better to be a Narnia portal than the gaudy old gold thing it was before!

This past October I was at the Ronald McDonald House Sale and from across the room I spotted this baby. The very moment I saw it, I said, "GAH! I must have that! In turquoise!". I scooted my little booty over to it and beamed at the $20 tag. NICE. It was crazy gold and very old lady-esque, but I saw past all that and only saw the fabulous curvy lines. Unique and purrrrrrdy! Have I mentioned how much I love the RMH Sale??? Why oh why is it only once a year??!! I have gotten the best finds from that place.

Well, it sat in storage (we were living with my father in law while we waited to close on the house) for awhile, and then sat in the dining room (currently our staging room for projects) for a couple of months. I needed some warm weather before I could work on it, and finally last week's weather fit the bill.

Here it is before:

Look at that finish. OK, so I realize some people may well really like this gold/bronze hideousness. You might be cursing my name for not sharing your fondness. Well, I'm sorry. It had to go.

First things first, I had to grab my arsenal. Spray primer in white, and glossy jade. I primed it first because a)I didn't want to have to prep the surface at all (sand, clean etc) because of all the curves, and b)Steve said the jade would cover better and more vividly over white. When it comes to paint, I listen to him. Usually.

The primer we had already, and the jade I picked up at ACMoore with a 50% off coupon for something like $3.

Step 1) Thoroughly cover the mirror. I used wax paper to shove underneath the frame (which took forever since there were so many curves) and a piece of plastic wrap once the wax paper ran out.

Step 2) Find your spraying location outside (I would never suggest spraying anything inside your house, fumes and over spray would be wicked) and cover your painting area. I sprayed in our garage because it was SUPER windy out that day. I used an old white fitted sheet. It doesn't have to be fancy schmancy stuff here peeps.

Step 3) Spray with primer. You want to hold the can about 8 inches away from the item. Also, good rule 'o thumb, "if your paints a sprayin', your arms a swayin'". Basically, when spray painting, never stop moving your arm. Never hold the can stationary in one position. Also, you want multiple, VERY thin coats. Thick coats of paint will a)take FOREVER to dry (multiple thin coats will dry much quicker than one thick coat) and b)drip drip drip all over the place. No one likes paint drips on their work.





At this point I was like, "Wow! This looks really good white. Maybe I should nix the turquoise and go with white instead!". But, I talked myself out of it because this is supposed to be a statement piece. So I begrudgingly pushed away my white addiction and trudged on.

Step 4) Spray with several thin coats of glossy jade. I think I did 4 coats or so. I sprayed it real thinly and then let it dry about 15 minutes before coming back and doing another quick spray. I had to really maneuver my way around this thing because of all the curves and hiding places where spray didn't want to go.

At THIS point I was thinking, "GAH!!!! I ruined it!!! I should have stopped at white!! What was I THINKING??!!!" LOL. I just kept going since there was no turning back now and figured I'd wait to judge it until after all the paper and such was removed. But I was already planning out how I was going to cover it in white.

Step 5) Let dry (I waited overnight) and then pull off all the paper. You might have to use a flat edge razor blade to scrape some paint off the mirror. I had a bunch of over spray, how that happened, I have no idea since every square inch was covered. Oh well. I got the mirror wet and then scraped (well, Steve did).

VOILA!

So I love it!! I think it was turquoise over-kill with all the paper and such. Once I peeled it all away, it was EXACTLY what I was hoping for. PHEW!! (I seem to say that phrase every single time I play with color)

It adds an unexpected swipe of color to the room and it definitely makes a statement. Everyone who has walked in the room since we put it up, raves about it!

I love how it reflects so much sunlight from the window, since they are directly across from each other.

It also perfectly matches the lamp on the other side of the room.

So there you have it. Bright & playful & something to talk about for sure. For $23 or so, it is definitely worth the price!