It just so happened that the village wide rummage sales rolled around on the same day that I ran my first 10k. In like 90 degree weather. It kicked my arse. So I pretty much slept through the village wide rummage sales. Pissed me right off because I had wanted to hunt for an entertainment center for my project! I had people texting me all day telling me where they had sited entertainment centers. And I couldn't get off the couch. Finally dinner time rolled around. Of course, the sales had ended at this time. My husband was at a wrestling tournament & I had put all my energy into the run so I decided Subway it was for dinner.
After getting Subway I decided to just take a run down a street several people had told me an entertainment center was on. Maybe they were running their sale late. Sure enough as I rolled by, there she sat. Curbside. Which could only mean one thing. FREEEEEEE. I pulled aside the road and in a frenzied fury called my husband, my parents, anyone I could think of who had a truck to come help me load this free baby. I sat there listening to the ringing phone as I sang to the entertainment center out my window...I got you babe....
Alas, no one was home or answering cells. Deflated I drove away, so close yet so far. Oh well. Later when my husband got home I said, you know let's take a drive and just see if it's still there. If it's meant to be, it will be. As we approached the house, I felt my heart leap as we drew closer and I saw it sitting on the curb still. Truly meant to be. Everything happens for a reason.
So we loaded that heavy as hell sucker into the back of my husband's truck. Brought her home and unloaded it onto the back porch. Now the fun began.
First step was I took off all the doors. There was a side door that opened up to shelves for DVD's that I took off and intended to leave off as the "Pantry area". The rest of the doors I set aside to transform at a later time. I was already armed with spray paint in the main color of the kitchen. Seeing how my young Julia Child prefers purple we went with a nice light purple, nicknamed Gum Drop by Krylon (6 cans @ $4.00 each = $24.00). Patience is a virtue with spray paint. Unfortunately I lack patience so I have a major love/hate relationship with spray paint. Any paint actually. I hate the apply a coat and let dry, apply another coat, dry, coat, dry...I am more of a want things done immediately girl. But if you want to avoid runs, invest in patience with this step.
Next step is I made curtains for the "window". I selected fabric ($5.00) and ribbon ($3.00) from WalMart and picked up a tension rod ($3.00). I folded over about 6 inches of fabric and using my beloved hot glue gun, I glued the fabric together to create a "pocket" to threat through the tension rod. I measured the "window" area and trimmed up my fabric to match. I cut a rectangle section from the center of the fabric to give it the appearance of curtains and valance. I glued on ribbon trim. Voila...curtains!
No window would be complete without a view and my mom had an old framed picture of a young boy playing with a dog at pond side just sitting in her closet. So FREE! I removed the frame and glass and disposed of the glass as the lower risk for harm, the better. I spray painted the wooden frame with a silver spray paint ($4.00). After drying, I put the picture back in the frame and using Command picture hanging strips, attached it to the back of the entertainment center where the TV would normally go and then hung the curtains. A kitchen with a view!
Next I hung Command hooks ($3.00) to hang up the apron, pot holders & a dish towel. For a stove top I took old, scratched up CD's and spray painted ($4.00) them black. I used a square piece of patterned contact paper ($3.00) to create the stove top and then placed the spray painted CD's for burners and covered them with clear packing tape to avoid scratching the spray paint off the CD's/burners during play. For oven knobs, we had recently replaced the knobs on my daughter's dresser so I spray painted the old knobs silver ($4.00). My husband cut a piece of wood to fit the opening under the TV area and screwed it into the enclosure after screwing the knobs onto the wood.
The oven was a door I had removed under the stove top area. I spray painted the door silver, bought a long, thin drawer pull ($5.00) and attached it at the top of the door. I used a piece of glittery black foam with adhesive backing ($2.00) to create the oven window. Reattach door.
The "fridge" was the long glass door that enclosed a shelved area. The glass made me nervous, but I covered it with contact paper on both sides so in case the glass did break, it would not shatter on the floor but rather remain stuck to the contact paper. With the remaining contact paper I covered the wooden shelves to create the fridge shelves. The outside of the fridge door I painted in magnetic paint ($20.00) which was probably the worst part of the project. If I did this again, I would most likely skip this step. I also rolled the magnetic paint to the top of the area where the TV would sit for a school locker chandellier- it really lights up as in pic below ($15.00)! Once covered in dry magnetic paint, I spray painted the outside of the fridge door. To decorate the fridge door, I took some old clear photo magnetic frames and found some old greeting cards with different pictures I thought my daughter would like. I cut the greeting cards to fit the frames and attached to the fridge door.
I had a little bit of contact paper left over so to break up the color and make it a bit spiffier, I used contact paper to wrap the other door, adjacent to the oven to create a cupboard door. I spray painted the handle and reattached door when dry.
For the sink I bought a silver dog dish ($3.00). Make sure the top of the bowl has a "lip". My husband cut a hole in the TV area of the entertainment center to fit the bowl. I found a faucet on clearance at Lowes ($8.00). I jazzed up the kitchen with a dry erase board ($2.00) and a clock ($4.00). I happened to find a small pot of flowers for 30 CENTS at the Dollar General.
For around $112.30 I ended up with a heavy duty, amazing one of a kind play kitchen. If you skip the magnetic paint and chandellier you can do this for around $75.00.
No comments:
Post a Comment