How to...

Before

After

Playing with our new kitchen!


So, I've had a couple of requests about how I did Harper's kitchen (see pictures). The original idea came from here. (via Pinterest). In case you don't know about Pinterest, you should, unless you value your free time. Okay. Here goes. Harper's total cost for her kitchen was approximately $20. For all materials. The website I referenced has pretty good detail but some things I changed and some things she left out. So here goes.
1) Find an old tv stand, preferably one with a door (we had to add one which added a whole boatload of steps because ours didn't have a door). It would be great if you had an old one you wanted to get rid of, we didn't, so we found one at a thrift store. Cost $6.00
2) Cut a hole using a sabre saw to fit the sink. We used an old metal dog bowl that Jason found in the woods. Cost $0. They are cheap if you wanted to buy a new one, though.
3) We put two coats of primer (Kilz) on the tv stand to cover up the ugly wood laminate. Cost $0 since we already had the Kilz leftover from another home project.
4) Painted topcoat color on once primer dried. Cost ~$10 (bought way too much paint, tons leftover. You could use spray paint if you wanted for a fraction of the cost. The paint basically doubled the cost of this project. Long story made short, I was supposed to be able to get free paint and it didn't work out).
5) Painted 'eyes' of stoves with craft paint ($0.99).
6) Added stove knobs. Cost: Free (many appliance stores will give you old oven knobs for free).
7) Added door. This involved buying a scrap piece of lumber from Home Depot, getting them to cut it to size. Cost: $0.51. Seriously. Always check in the scrap section for projects like this. Had to paint and prime the door as well. Used the craft paint to paint detail on 'microwave' and 'oven'. Bought hinges and 'oven' handle for less than $2.00. I recommend always checking stores like Habitat Restore, that resell used or surplus construction and home project stuff (everything from cabinets to door knobs, to used furniture, to new ceiling fans) for these items. They sell them CHEAP and the money benefits people in need. I got the 'faucet' for the sink for less than $1.00 from our local store. This would be a great place to buy a tv stand, too, but our local store had tv stands that were too tall for Harper. We used liquid nails to place the 'faucet'. It takes 72 hours to set so take that into account before you give it to your little one.
8) Added fabric. I hemmed 1/2 yard of fabric to make a curtain then used a staple gun to attach it. The tutorial I linked to made a curtain with a curtain rod, but since I didn't have anything to attach the curtain to since it was an open piece originally I just stapled it. The fabric was on sale, I can't remember how much I paid. 1/2 a yard was probably around ~1.50. I picked a fabric that was retro looking, had muted colors that coordinated with my paint color, and wasn't too obvious for a kitchen. I looked a one that was fruits and veggies, but this was so much cuter and seemed more retro kitchen-y somehow.
The tv stand came on wheels but I took those off and added padded furniture strips to protect our floors and to make it a better height for Harper. Time wise this whole project didn't take that long, mostly just waiting on the paint to dry. We did have one issue since we had to add a door. I bought a pretty thin piece of wood since I didn't want the door to be heavy. The hinges, however, had screws that were too long and poked through the back of the door. In order to be able to mount the door correctly Jason had to use his dremel tool (cutting head) to cut the back of the screws off. Which required a Christmas Eve trip to Home Depot. Other than that, this was a fun, low stress project. And it is special because we made it just for Harper. I hope you guys are inspired to try your own project!