A place to cook

Pinterest has helped me get my creative juices flowing again. It has caused me to have some ups and downs on different projects.  Some hits and some misses.  I saw someone had turned an entertainment center in to a play kitchen for their child.  I am no where near a DIY project master whatsoever.  I did not know where to begin.  I followed advice from other people.  Someone had mentioned finding free or nearly free items on craigslist.  I started my search there over the summer of 2012.  I saw a kids desk for sale for $20 or $30. I can't remember now exactly how much it was. I don't think it was more than $40 though. This picture of the white desk/start of the kitchen is one of the only pictures I have before it was painted.  The handle on the door at the bottom was moved and the holes cut out for the sink and the faucet were made by my husband.  We had some extra pressed wood from a different project my husband did so he made some round shapes out of those extras to make as the stove burners.  The frog sticker was on the desk when we bought it. The two pieces on the top shelf were picked up at the target and hardware store.

I had no idea what to do with starting to paint and sand. I am a LAZY person.  The fastest way is the easiest and best way for me.  Fast and easy I should say is the best for me.  I read somewhere that there is a primer you can use that does not require sanding.  It seemed perfect for me.  I got to work on using it.  My cousin told me about this stuff too, and it's called 123 Bullseye.  I got some.  I used it.  The following pictures will probably be of primer and the paint process.  It took AGES for me to decide on colors.  I wanted it to be princess type and cute and pretty.  I didn't want it to be covered in pink though.  I also wanted a color that I wouldn't mind looking at.  I took a good month or longer deciding on the colors.  I finally came up with purple, green and pink.  Then it took ages for me to decide if I wanted flat, satin or semi gloss or high gloss.  Oh the decisions were so over whelming.

I wanted to find something fun and textured for the knobs for the oven and burners.  My daughter has a touch sensory issue.  I also wanted something bright and colorful and pretty.  She does have a dresser in her room that was painted by my mother. She also replaced the knobs with fun funky knobs that kind of resemble these.  My mom was a Hobby Lobby junkie and got her replacement knobs from there so I figured I should too. It was kind of a way to think of my mom sort of helping me out some.  I think she would have chosen these for the knobs.

The above stamps of roses was from a box of stamps that my grandmother had left me when she died. It was her favorite of the stamps.  I used acrylic craft paint from a paint by number from the hobby store.  Just brushed it on. The back side of the pieces here have the much more blurry roses and messy looking ones.  I stamped the other side first and saw it was a mess so I turned it around and uses this side.  I wanted to incorporate something old or part of the family.

Originally I was only going to put primer and pink glitter paint (Martha Stewart from Home Depot or Lowes. I can't remember which store.) and saw that when I started using it, it was super pale.  I used spray paint that I used for the door handles that were one time red. I decided to just cover the top and a few other pieces with the spray paint and then put glitter paint on top of the spray paint of the crown piece.  I also went over the burners with acrylic craft paint from the paint by numbers and then used glitter paint.

I am very new at sewing. I was pretty impressed with myself for making curtains with my dear friend who teaches sewing.  I am taking classes by the way to sew. Still working on straight lines because well...I don't do very well with straight lines.

So things have changed with the desk.  My husband also cut out holes in the doors making a microwave and oven.  He glued plexiglass in there too where the holes are.  The pink top is supposed to represent a princess crown.  And the ribbons and tulle at the bottom is supposed to represent a princess skirt or tutu.  The gems I used at the top area for the crown is from a wall decal set that comes with quite a few stickers of Disney Princesses and other additional stickers such as castles and flowers and birds.  I got those from Wal-Mart I believe.

So I want to brag about the curtains.  With the help from my friend who teaches sewing worked on the curtains with me. She gave me the material at the very top that is green. And she used her surging machine to make it look good.  All I did was sew straight lines when she told me to.

I have to say that my husband and even myself never in a million years thought I would ever follow through with this and finish it. It was not something to get done over night.  I guess I could have done it in a weeks time at the most if I worked on it day and night and as a full time job.  I could only work on it here and there while my toddler was napping during the day or sleeping for the night.

Through this process I was able to feel proud of myself and feel that I was more than just a house wife and mom.  I was creative again. So many times though I would find plastic kitchens on sale or for free even on Craigslist.  I was so tempted a few times to just kick this project to the curb and buy one premade and plastic.  I didn't give in to my temptation and carried on.  I literally remember feeling like I had come to my typical point in projects to give up. I remember pushing passed my comfort zone and it was WEIRD.  I had spent nearly 3 to 4 hours on the desk/kitchen at this one point painting the green pieces and the dark pink pieces.  I had spent the most time on it that day and I felt like crying because I was in new territory.  I then dried my tears and saw the light at the end of the tunnel and continued on a week or so later. That day I spent so much time on it, got really cold and I was coming down sick. I was sick in the bed for a week and a half.  Well I am a mom. I wasn't really in the bed. I was just not working on the desk or other fancy extra things.  I also had surgery somewhere in there too, the week of Thanksgiving so I was not able to do much then for that week either.

These last few pictures are of the stickers I added.  We also added lights under the shelf above the stove burners and inside the oven.  They are easy to turn on and off and were easy to put on. Just tear off the paper on the back and stick in place.  The one above the burners did fall off one time and we stuck it back up and it's still there.

The last few pictures are of the kitchen finally made it in to our daughter's room and she loves it.  Of course I had to add a picture of her happy smiling face. Yes, I bought her a sushi set.  She does love going to our favorite sushi place with us. She loves the Miso (sp) soup and the fried rice.

Very happy little girl. As you can see she's a bit short still for this kitchen. The oven is a great height right now, but she will grow in to the kitchen which pleases me so she can have it for a very long time I hope.

You can see there is the light on in the oven.  I just love how it shines through and it runs on batteries and easy to turn on and off.  I was thinking if she needs a night light it can be used for that later on. She's pretty happy with it being dark in there right now.

Bippity Boppity Boo Fairies in the microwave to help make the magic happen. 

This last picture is in her room and she's super excited to have it in there.

Anyway, I just created this blog for helping others out there who might think about trying something like this and fear they can't. I wanted to help encourage you to try. It surely isn't perfect that is for sure. The paint is already coming off from the banging and usage.  It's okay though because it's meant to be played with and not displayed like it's for a museum.  Have fun with it.  Oh yeah, and the faucet was $10 off of craigslist too. 

Oh, and I have to share a little story about the ribbons/tulle below the sink.  They first belonged to a friend of mine who adopted her little girl right before we were blessed with adopting our precious baby girl who is the proud owner of this kitchen.  I found out about the adoption agency via this friend I had never physically met in person and rarely spoke with via email through a support group for infertility.  She had posted in this mass email about the agency and so I had questions. Our adoption process was a fairy tale dream come true.  So then our daughters have birthdays really close to one another so I bought her party supplies from her daughters first birthday so I could use for our daughters first birthday.  Inside she included this high chair tutu.  I guess you could call me a hoarder because it is finally being used.  I used the rest of the tulle/ribbons on a heart shaped wreath for the door.  Anyway...so this girl who helped bless us with a family is helping to doll and cute up the kitchen.  I think it gives it a razzle dazzle touch and hides the sink which is a mixing bowl.

Happy pinning on pinterest.  I don't know yet how to add a "Pin It" button for people yet but will try to figure that out soon.