Look What Mommy Made: DIY Pretty Little Kitchen from an Ugly Old Entertainment Center

One evening in May, I was perusing Pinterest as I often do, and came across a cute little green play kitchen- the crafty momma had fashioned it from a microwave stand or tv stand or something, and I was immediately intrigued. Joy's 4th birthday was in July, and she would LOVE something like that, and I could definitely make it happen if I put some real effort in, so from that minute I was in love with this idea.

I didn't have a plan at all, or know what I would make it out of, so I started hunting for other ideas and tutorials on Pinterest. I found some good ones, and some not so good (and also found that everyone wants you to pin what they've done, but no one wants you to know how they did it!). Anyway, I settled on the image of a mostly white one (it was adorable!), and took it to Facebook.

This is the white one mentioned- photo credit to Deep Fried Creative. Cute as a button, right?

I sprang into action and posted an all-points-bulletin on Facebook for an unwanted entertainment stand. I couldn't see myself spending more than $20, I see these things in the trash all the time since they don't work with today's wall-mounted tvs.. So basically, I was looking for one taking up space in someone's attic or basement, that they really just wanted to get rid of. Lucky me, my Uncle had one hanging around collecting dust, and I just had to come get it. Awesome!

Here it is. Giant, ugly, hunk-o-junk, and it was all mine. I started by taking any and all hardware off and bagging it up for later, and got rid of the dust and cobwebs. Not gonna lie, next thing I did was stare at it for a long time. It was a little scary cause I had zero plan, and zero vision, and zero idea what to do next. At that point, I did what any reasonable person would do, I walked away. Seriously, I went to Home Depot, and landed in the paint aisle.

I ended up with roughly $30 worth of paint, 5 spray cans of pink (on sale for $2.97 each), and one can of chalkboard paint for $15.

Now at least I had a starting point, so home I went.

Next I sprayed and sprayed, and sprayed, and let dry, and sprayed some more. I had some silver spray paint in the basement from a previous project, so I decided that her "appliances" should be "stainless" like mommy's, and started spraying that too.

I also bought the cheapest of cheap ($0.99 each) plastic drawer pulls, 4 round for burner knobs, 2 handles for the fridge and oven doors. I painted black circles for burners, and a black window on the oven door, and drilled holes to attach the plastic ware. I used the original hinges for the oven and cupboard, and added some others for the refrigerator later on. I also added some cupcakes and hearts to the cupboard, but that was just cause I wanted to add something girly.

I didn't have anything lying around that I could use for the fridge door, so my next purchase would be a small sheet of plywood (this one was actually sub-floor, and it was $6). I used the chalkboard paint on both sides, and painted a silver sink on the counter. I procured a used faucet and battery powered touch light from a second-hand store, along with some used pots, pans, and other kitchen items for $10 . I had to drill 2 holes with a 1" bit to attach the faucet, but it really wasn't difficult. I also closed the back of the unit with small nails and plywood leftover from cutting the fridge door. Next I painted the fridge to match the stove.

My next order of business was to wallpaper the inside, this was mostly due to not wanting to start over with paint, and I found a scrap roll for $1 at Valu. Plus it was Little Girl/ Outer Space themed, so that was perfect.

I made curtains, which I hung with a small tension rod; I also made her an apron, and oven-mitts to match. All for about $7 worth of fabric, and 45 minutes on the sewing machine.

Isn't it the cutest?!

I really couldn't be happier (or more surprised) with the result. It ended up being slightly more expensive than I'd anticipated (roughly $60) but I probably would've spent that on birthday presents anyway, plus, it'll last longer (and is WAY better looking) than similarly priced toy store items.