let's begin with... fun kid's stuff :)

...and with a re-deco'd/recycled kitchen, thank you very much ;) I had been looking for a play kitchen for my son for quite some time and knew exactly what I wanted. Wooden. Cute. Newish. Already put together. And Girly. Yep. I wanted a project to convert from pinky girly girl to fun-for-all. To Craiglist, I went - and I scored with this cutie from just a few blocks away from us. Funny how that happens.

With a little elbow grease...and a little sneaking around in the garage and in the yard... I went from this to this:



At first I planned to replace all the hardware, but the sizing of it all was not standard, so I ended up keeping the original and spray painting the pieces (except for the heart knobs... those so had to go, and I spent just $2 on little wooden replacements.) I knew I wanted the colors to be mainly green (did I mention that's my favorite color? I am sure you will be hearing this a few more times... ;) and found the perfect green, indeed, with this: RustOleum Satin Eden.

I finished with a top coat of spray Varathane Satin Spray, which is pretty wonderful stuff, and it has not chipped yet.

I found the cute toaster at one of our favorite second hand kids' stores, and sprayed that puppy as well.



At first, I didn't like the idea of adding spray toxins to my little one's new kitchen, but I did some research, and the harm is really in the spraying. Once it's dry, it's pretty dormant. Supposedly. Also, I figured he'd be less likely to chew on anything that was considered hardware.

I finished with a little personalization of foam pieces (I just could not think of how to cover those heart holes in wood without some fancy jigsaw work) and just stuck those on. I only had to buy one sheet of thin, sticky red foam, and then sprayed the stars and letters. I added sticky hang-up hooks from the dollar store, and little Wilton heart cookie cutters for extra fun to play with. I found the awesome mini speckled cast-iron pan and tiny stainless steel pitcher from one of my favorite thrift shops, and found some new measuring cups and spoons and hand towel in the perfect colors from K-Mart. My co-worker gifted me some play food, and I added on to the collection with Melissa and Doug wooden food ("food groups," scored at nearly half price when Borders was going outta biz!)



Overall, I was very pleased how this turned out - only a couple of things "new" needed adding... other than that, I'd consider this pretty well re-deco'd/"recycled"!



Our little guy absolutely LOVES it - as does his "twin" cousin (born on the same day! :) Yep.