Clara's Play Kitchen

Most of the posts I read about mommy-constructed play kitchens start out something like this: "I wanted to buy baby girl a cute wooden play kitchen, but the ones on Pottery Barn are just so expensive!  So I decided to make one myself."  My story was pretty much the opposite.  I knew I wanted Clara to have a play kitchen because I knew she'd love it, but I would never even dream of looking for one at Pottery Barn, and I wasn't too sure about building one either.  I actually called my sister in November and asked her if she thought the wooden one they had was that much better than a plastic one (that I could buy), because Walmart had some cute ones on sale.  She and her husband built one out of Ikea parts a few years ago, and she said they wished they had built it from scratch and that the wooden ones are so much cuter than the plastic ones and get played with a lot more.

So... the next day I went to Home Depot and the nicest man in the lumber department helped me find the best kind of wood for my project and then made every single cut I needed (that took well over an hour) for our Clara-sized sink, stove and refrigerator.  I came home thinking that I'd do one big step each week and be in great shape for Christmas.  So that week I sanded the edges of everything.  The next step was to prime - and everywhere I looked, asked, or read recommended using an oil based primer -- which is a big no-no during pregnancy.  Spencer was slammed at work and traveling, so my dad came to our house one night to prime everything for me.  But when he saw how poorly lit and cold our garage was, he decided to take everything home and set up shop in the unfinished part of his basement.

My parents really came through and helped a ton on this project and I would not have finished it without them!  One week while Spencer was out of town, Clara and I stayed at their house for a few days and I worked on assembly with my dad after he got home from work each night.  We used our Kreg Jig (my dad and I bought one together a few months back) for the majority of the assembly, and it really made it come together easily.  Plus it creates really strong joints, so each piece is really nice and solid.  We hit a snag in the plans when the oven door didn't fit inside the oven door opening, so my dad recut and assembled a new door that fits perfectly. Thanks, dad!

My mom and I made Clara a little oven mitt, hot pad, dish towel and apron (all matching - from a single set of Ikea dish towels). We also did the ruffly little skirt on the sink.  I love how it all turned out!

  

We are so happy with how it all turned out and Clara loves her new little kitchen.  She plays with it every day and loves to spend time "cooking."  Here's the cost breakdown for anyone who is curious:

Wood: $40 (I used cabinet grade plywood which has a super smooth sanded finish - I bought 2 4'x8' boards, but only used maybe 1/8 of the second board)
Primer: $0 (already had it)
1 Quart Paint: $18 (Home Depot)
Door Handles: $15 (Ikea)
Oven Knobs: $8 (Hobby Lobby)
Faucet: $11.50 (Home Depot)
Bowl for Sink: $1.50 (Thrift Store)
Hinges: $6 (Home Depot)
Material for Sink Skirt: $8 (Joann's)
Tension Rod: $3.50 (Target)
Stove Top Burners: $2.40 (Hobby Lobby)
Tap Light for Oven: $5 (Home Depot)
Plexiglass (oven door window): $4.5 (Home Depot)
Magnets (fridge and oven doors): $3 (Home Depot)
Mirror clips (for oven door window): $2 (Home Depot)

TOTAL: $128.40

Extras:

Pots and Pans (from IKEA on sale!): $4.99
Utensil set (from IKEA): $3.00
Cookie sheet (tray from dollar store): $1
Basket to hold food: $1 (dollar store)
Mixing bowls: $1 (dollar store)
Apron, oven mitt, hot pad: $4.99 (made from a 2-pack of dish towels from Ikea)

52 Projects... Revisited

Remember at the beginning of the year, how I was going to do some kind of project every week all year long?  And then ideally report back on my blog?  And remember how that hasn't happened?  Well, it's not that I haven't accomplished anything this year, but probably not as much as I hoped.  But with a new baby on the way and a burst of second trimester energy, I'm hoping to really get a lot done in the next little while.  With Spencer out of town all week, Clara and I spent a good bit of time at my parents' house and were able to get a lot of projects done!  I took projects I knew we could start and finish - I needed that sense of accomplishment.  Here's what we ended up with:

6 knit newborn baby hats
3 pairs of babylegs
2 changing pad covers
2 sets of car seat strap covers
1 fleece blanket
1 flannel crib sheet
1 scallop bunting for the girls' room
1 autumn bunting for the living room
1 hooded towel for baby girl #2
1 felt Christmas tree just for Clara to decorate with 25 felt ornaments - still deciding if we'll use them advent style, or give them to her all at once to decorate and undecorate the tree at will

We also started a color book for Clara, similar to this.  All of the pages are done, except for the color words. I think the felt ornaments and the color book were my favorite projects because they allowed complete creative freedom.  Plus, with a sweet toddler as the end user, I know she'll be thrilled with whatever we've created.  Having my mom to help really sped up the projects and helped me get so much more done!

I still have a lot to do before the new baby, and I still think it would be cool to keep up with weekly projects on the blog.  So we'll see if it actually happens.  Here are a few of the things on my short list:

-clean out the garage
-make new roman shades for the girls room
-cornice boxes for the girls windows
-coordinating crib skirts for the girls
-quilt for the new baby
-mobile for baby (rain drops and clouds or owls)
-clean out storage/laundry room
-get craft area organized
-organize and consolidate all files
-rain gutter bookshelves for girls room
-hang art and shelves in the girls room
-make Clara's baby book...
-make gauze blankets for new baby
-organize girls closet and dresser - make them shared-room-friendly
-get new baby crib set up
-recover the bouncer
-set up new baby area in our room

Alright, let's see what happens in the next 14 weeks!

Chairs!

About three years ago I picked up some chairs at DI for $10 (for 4). I recovered them in red stripey fabric, but now my dining room is headed in a new direction, so they needed a new look. Besides that, the seats were sinking and starting to get uncomfortable. I reinforced and repadded the seats and chose a pretty aqua floral for reupholstering. It's actually a quilt - from Home Goods (TJ Maxx) - so there is a little extra padding in the fabric itself. What do you think?

From Scratch

I have to share my internet find of the day. Spencer and I always talk and dream about building furniture. I love knowing that something is solid, made of real wood, and built with love. After my adventure in construction last year, I feel a little more comfortable and knowledgeable in working with wood and tools. Which is why I was so excited to find Knock Off Wood. It's a completely amazing site full of plans for knock-off furniture from all the (overpriced) favorites - Pottery Barn, West Elm, Land of Nod. I seriously can't wait to get started.

poplar as a chair

Back in the depth of gray winter, I decided to spice up my life by taking a community class with my friend Mandy. We took "Make An Adirondack Chair" at West High. For seven weeks we spent a few hours each Thursday night in the wood shop transforming raw lumber into beautiful Adirondack chairs. The price for the class has since gone up, but at the time $35 to walk away with a handmade hardwood chair was a steal by any comparison. Overcoming my fear of most power tools was just a bonus.

Halfway through the class I decided to make two chairs (who wants to sit alone?) and thus walked out of the last night at the high school with my arms full of jigsawed and sanded - but not quite assembled - chair pieces. Over Memorial Day weekend I finally found some time to put pieces together and Mandy helped me remember the final steps of assembly the other night. I'm very close to finishing the second chair as well, but for now I guess I'll be sitting alone.