diy play kitchen

So we knew we wanted to get Reese a play kitchen for Christmas, because she loves to play and pretend to make dinner. She especially likes to wash her hands (her Dr. daddy is so proud) when she finds little kitchens other places. We started searching for kitchens online and the ones we really wanted that we thought would stand the test of time with all the kiddos were just way too expensive and out of our small residency budget. (I mean have you seen this and this from pbkids? adorable!!) Anyway.... I saw THE cutest little kitchen ever on Pinterest and when I clicked on it, I found that they had made it themselves and had an awesome tutorial on how to do it. I ran this by my hubs and he LOVED the idea of building a special gift for his little princess. So we planned out the timeline of how he could actually do it with basically NO free time, except like one Saturday and when he gets home from work at 7pm after working a 12 hour day. I thought it was pretty insane and that maybe we should make it another time in our lives, like maybe for our grandkids when the Dr. finally has some time off.... but he was determined to build it.  And once he has set his mind to doing something there is no going back.  So.... he did it, and he did a GREAT job! 

HERE's the link to the tutorial we used to build it and here's more details from the awesome mom who actually built it at CraftingChicks.com (this was really helpful!!) They also have a little fridge that we decided we didn't have time (or a place to put it), but we'll probably build it at some point in the future. 

So we followed the materials list on the tutorial and bought pretty much everything at this store here called Menards (have you ever heard of it?... it's hilarious. They sell EVERYTHING from mattresses to lumber to groceries to toys to hardwood floors to paint. so funny. seriously a one stop shop) Since we were very crunched on time, I didn't really search that hard to find deals on many of the parts. We just went with whatever we could find, so I'm sure you could make this for even cheaper than we did if you found parts on sale or at thrift stores or even on craigslist like I had originally planned.

So, here we go.... 

Thanks to our dear friends who let us borrow some of their tools that we didn't have and thanks to Menards for having a sander on major sale so we could get one for ourselves. I just had to take a picture of Mark working in the garage at midnight still in his scrubs...what an awesome daddy. Reese, I don't think you'll ever know how much he loves you and would do anything for you!

starting to come together :) 

And the sink and the oven are both built! (on a side note, if you use the measurement from the websites mentioned earlier, the bottom shelf, middle shelf and top are TOO SHORT.  We had to take another trip for lumbar because Mark did all his cuts exactly as they say to on the '"cut list"and they were too short. The oven door gets a little tricky too and you should make sure to check your cuts and math about 10 times and be ready to sand and trim edges again just to get it to fit perfectly.)

So then it was my turn. I filled in all the nail holes (ps. you can make this without a nail gun but i'm pretty sure it would take FOREVER and would be much harder so if you plan to make one... get a nail gun or at least borrow one) then I sanded it all down (that was fun! i love our new sander, haha).

The next day my sweet friend, Kara, came over to watch Reese and Sam play while I painted in the garage with 35 degree weather. Reese, this was worth it for you, but otherwise I think I would have waited for a warmer day. My hands have never been so cold. I think I ended up doing two coats of primer and two coats of paint (and we only used half of a quart container). The paint color I picked was tropical holiday and I LOVE how it turned out.

the finished product on christmas eve:

more details:

SINK- We bought a small dog bowl from Petsmart for the sink ($4)

FAUCET: I wanted to find a used one or a cheap one somewhere but ran out of time so we ended up just buying a small one on sale at Menards for about $20

CURTAIN: used THIS tutorial - scroll down to where she talks about the curtain. I really loved the original one from the Crafting Chicks kitchen so I went to hobby lobby with a picture of it on my phone (and without Reese, I might add).  I literally laid out about 42 different fabrics and spent forever mixing and matching them to decide which ones went together best. Finally a sweet lady walked by and gave me some affirmation on the three I liked the best and that was all I needed to actually make a decision. Again, I originally planned to get fabric on clearance or use some I already had... but when it came down to it I decided to just get something I would really love looking at all day. So the fabric & trim probably cost around $18 (of course the ones I picked out were from the 'new spring fabric' and weren't on sale) and then we bought a mini tension rod for $3 (again from Menard's, did I already say that I love that place?)

BURNERS: 2 for $1 at hobby lobby. I got two small ones and two bigger ones and alternated them on top of the stove. I spray painted them silver. In retrospect I probably should have used a spray sealer or something over the spray paint because they've already gotten pretty scratched... but who's stove is actually clean and perfect looking... just makes it look more authentic, right :) We glued them on with epoxy glue.

KNOBS: Hobby Lobby $2 each. 

OVEN PULL: I think Mark found ours from Lowe's for $9.

SIDE HOOK: $3 from Hobby Lobby.

OVEN TRAY: $1 from Dollar Tree. It was the perfect size and I couldn't pass it up

POTS & PANS: Mark's sister, Anne Marie, got these for us from IKEA in Dallas and mailed them to us along with some of the play food. I wish we had one here because they have some awesome play food and kitchen tools for super cheap! spoons&utensils-$3.99, 4piece pots&pans-$9.99, play food breakfast set-$7.99

PLAY FOOD - Melissa and Doug. we got her a few little sets of play food that we actually found at Kohls for about 75% off.

TEA SET- disney princess set from a toy store at the mall.

I think the total cost to build the kitchen was around $130 and then we added a few little extras with the food and utensils, etc. I really think we could have easily done it for less than $100 if I would have tried harder though. In the end... the extra bit of money we spent was totally worth it because R loves her kitchen and plays with it everyday! Most importantly, it's such a special gift that she can always say 'my daddy built this for me' :)