Seventeen month old Judah (or JuJu as he is sometimes called) loves to play in our play cupcake kitchen when he comes to visit us. He doesn’t have a play kitchen at home, so I decided to surprise him with his own one.
My mother-in-law a’H was fond of repurposing cast-off items, so she would have just loved this new, but old kitchen. When we cleaned out my in-laws’ home several years ago, my sister-in-law begged me to take home Mom’s lightweight aluminum pots. I had them in storage in a box in my basement since then. They were perfect for use in this play kitchen. Mom would kvell (Yiddish for feel proud)!
I found an old nightstand on the curb near Kaitlyn’s apartment two months ago and brought it home. Kaitlyn showed me some adorable furniture to play kitchen adaptations on Pinterest that I used as inspiration for this upcycled nightstand castoff to vintage play kitchen redo.
Here is what the original nightstand looked like:
I taped the outer part of the cabinet door and first painted the interior black to resemble an oven:
I chose a restoration blue color spray paint and painted the shell.
I had Aaron attach a piece of wood to the back of the nightstand to resemble a backsplash and painted all the vertical surfaces blue. I painted the top surface chalkboard black for a sink and cooktop area.
I repainted the oven silver to resemble an art-deco stainless steel look.
I visited my hardware cabinet and local dollar store for accessories to stock the kitchen.
I found some old plastic foosball table feet that I sprayed silver and had Aaron attached with long screws. They even turn!
Aaron screwed a large screw into place to hold the kitchen timer. The timer hooks on and off in case JuJu wants to use his timer for something else.
I used an old hose spray nozzle for the faucet that I sprayed silver and attached with heavy duty contractors’ adhesive. I bought a silver toilet paper holder that I separated into two pieces. Aaron attached those with screws for the faucet handles.
Aaron drilled holes into a small dog water dish and secured them with screws.
I bought a plastic shower organizer, sprayed it silver and secured it with heavy duty contractors’ adhesive to the backsplash.
I glued an old chalkboard to the backsplash and glued an alarm clock to the chalkboard.
I glued a touch LED light from the dollar store to the inside of the oven for light inside the oven.
I glued an oven thermometer to the inside of the kitchen door.
I fashioned cooktop grates out of craft sticks secured to CD’s covered with upside down plant saucers. Aaron secured the grates with long screws so that they spin.
For a little extra fun, I glued an old unbreakable mirror to the outside of the oven door.
I bought and repurposed lots of accessories and kitchen gadgets including: a hand broom and dustpan, tongs, strainer, oven mitt, ladle, plastic food, squeegee, plastic cups and martini glasses and even a plastic vase with a flower fashioned from a bottle stopper.
Juju just adores this new kitchen. He has been perfecting his chicken soup and I am loving it!
Unbelievable what you do with imagination and effort!
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Wow! Great job!
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