Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Ikea Play Kitchen reimagined

I've been pondering a play kitchen for quite some time, searching high and low, through Craigslist ads daily, Pinterest daily etc. for design ideas. I wanted to originally make a play kitchen for our daughter using an old entertainment center or perhaps turning her dress up station into a kitchen, but decided it was going to take up too much space and/or effort to remove furniture from her room without her getting suspicious. Finally it turned out that the best way to make her a kitchen was to reimagine a generic looking Ikea kitchen. I finally found one on Craigslist for $50 but nicely talked the lady down to $40. Right before Christmas this is easy to do since people want stuff out of their house to make room for the new stuff.

So here it is, the "new" play kitchen for our daughter.


This is a stock photo of what it looked like BEFORE:


Everything got a makeover including Gray paint for the lower cabinets, gold/brass toned hardware and fixtures, a pretty light turquoise pop of color for the upper cabinets with a white fridge and a ruffled fabric backsplash.  



All of the accessories were found at a local thrift shop and I was lucky enough to find fabulous pieces in mint condition. These included 6 real china plates, a dessert tray that I painted gold, a 50's sugar bowl, 4 china mugs, several brass pans, black metal measuring spoons, measuring cups, an ice cream scoop, a spatula, 2 metal spoons, a whisk, a 70's metal teapot and a pretty ceramic lidded dish. Right before Christmas all the housewares are 50% off, cha ching!


The sink and faucet look much better in gold. I found rings at the local hardware store to add to the bar in the back and a spring rod holds the fabric curtain in place.


4 knobs were added to the front from Cynthia Rowley. Anthropologie has similar knobs.


The "fridge" on the right holds all of her new wooden food.


I sewed a little tea towel from some old fabric and two cute little napkins.


This little spice rack was purchased from a local thrift store along with several glass and ceramic salt and pepper shakers.  It will be mounted the wall at some point.



The counter top got a marble finish.


Sewing the curtain was simple using a main piece that I attached three longer pieces to using a ruffle technique. The top portion was sewed in a loop to slide through the spring rod.


Here is the little 70's ceramic dish in the "microwave."


The candy dish was actually silver when I purchased it but decided to spray paint it gold.





The stove also got a rim of painted gold.


Here is the cute 70's tea pot. The inside got a new coat of paint due to some rust, but otherwise it gets the job done.


As for the process and supplies you'll need

1) Ikea Duktig mini kitchen plus top section for mini kitchen
2) 4 decorate knobs
3) 1 tension rod
4) 2 cans of white primer
5) Assorted fabrics for window curtain. 
6) 1 can Gold spray paint
7) 1 can of a fun color for top portion
7) 2 cans of gray spray paint
8) Gray and Gold acrylic paint and sea sponge for marble counter top.  

As far as the process, my husband dismantled most of the kitchen for me and I primed everything, waited a day and then spray painted everything and waited about 3 days before we reassembled everything. 




This upper portion was tricky. You have to make sure to tape off the parts you don't want painted for the microwave section.




The handles and faucet were hung from twine while being painted. This made the most sense in terms of time.


When I sewed the curtain I brought the upper portion inside to take all of my measurements.


For the countertop I primed it and put two coats of white paint on it. Then I used acrylic gray paint and a sea sponge and dabbed it in various places. I watered down the paint first.  Then to get the marble effect I used a water bottle to spray the paint to feather it out. I used a paint brush to paint in some gold lines.


The look on my daughter's face on Christmas morning was the best part of the whole project. She loves her new kitchen and has been cooking up fake meals ever since.


Hope you like the new and improved Ikea "hack." It was fun and so far the paint is holding up great!


xo
Cathleen

Friday, December 26, 2014

TeePee!

I've been working on a Teepee for the kids for about a month to give them on Christmas morning.  Here is the Teepee all set up on Christmas Eve. 


It seemed easy enough following these instructions, so I gave it a try. WARNING: When following these instructions, the indicated cut in step C is along the wrong edge! Before you cut through your fabric, fold a piece of paper as in the instructions, cut, and make sure it looks okay. Luckily, I didn't learn this the hard way.

The Materials I purchased included:

– 6 wooden poles cut to about 7 ft long
– 3 yards of cotton canvas or duck fabric about 60 inches wide and 2 1/2 yards of felt fabric for bottom.
– rope that you can get from the fabric store.
– 6 plastic 1 ½ inch rings
– Embroidery floss or strong thread
– 12 large grommets and grommet installation kit
– 3 yards ribbon
– Ruched ribbon for opening edges
– Felt for making arrows and yarn for hand crocheting
– Drill
– Scissors
– Marker
– Gold Spray paint for top of poles
– Rug, blankets, and pillow for inside
– White Christmas lights or twinkle lights

My daughter set up breakfast for her new doll on Christmas morning inside the teepee.



Here she is peaking out on Christmas day. She has been reading and playing in it along with her brothers since they got it yesterday.


Joe was lured into the teepee for story time.


This is an image to see how we set up the poles.



The rug is super plush and soft and was purchased from Home Goods.




I tossed in Silk black and white Waterford Eurosham pillows for good measure and comfort.


My oldest son who's 8 hand knitted the white yarn that hangs over the top. He was proud to see his craftsmanship included in this project. I hot glued the felt triangles to the yarn.



This image shows how to lace the top of the poles. You need to drill holes through each pole about 1.5 feet from the top.




From the inside looking up.


The kids just adore this new teepee and have been hiding and playing in it a lot. I'm so glad we got to make it for them. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!
xo
Cathleen

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Christmas Tablescape


I love the idea of pairing a black and white flannel table cloth with fancy china and vintage pieces. Using tree cuttings for "placemats" adds to the rustic appeal and adding fancy gold plates on top juxtaposes them. Next using vintage pink glassware and flatware to give extra gorgeous glam to your table.  Vintage pink and gold ornaments in a bowl or hurricane would make a cute centerpiece.  Can't wait to hit up the fabric store this weekend to get started on this look!

xo
Cathleen

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Christmas tour 2014

The Christmas season has begun! Come inside and look around. We have gone vintage this year. Grabbing all of my Grandmother's ornaments and decking the tree in them. Adding pearls and colored lights galore!  It feels like home again and we couldn't be more merry.































Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season.

xoxo
Cathleen

For links to the printables see:
http://refreshrestyle.com/chalkboard-printable-free/
http://www.the36thavenue.com/free-christmas-printables/
http://www.boutiquecafe.com/home/tag/printables/
http://www.restlessrisa.com/2013/12/christmas-printable-free.html
http://www.allonsykimberly.com/2012/12/free-christmas-printables-glitter.html
http://merrybrides.tumblr.com/post/37608757930/diy-christmas-chalkboard-printable-free

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