The Big Reveal!

I have been wanting a play kitchen for Embry.  Not an ordinary play kitchen.  Not made of plastic.  Not one that is cheaply made.  I fell in love with a metal, vintage-looking play kitchen that was way too expensive.  I knew I would settle for a wooden one, but one that would match her bedroom in the future, and not stick out like a sore thumb.  Now that Danny had a saw, and since he made the Jesse Tree back in December, I decided to ask him to build it.  He laughed at me when I asked him to go from a simple pallet Christmas tree to a full blown play kitchen.  Surprisingly, he willingly agreed to take on the challenge.  In the end, we definitely could have afforded the vintage-looking metal kitchen with the money we spent on this project.  BUT, Embry's kitchen wouldn't have taught us so much, and it wouldn't have been made by her Daddy.  That, I say is PRICELESS.  

I wish I would have taken a before picture.  But since the before picture would have been a pile of wood, I don't think anyone is truly missing out. 

Danny did draw out my ideas beforehand.

After Danny started in on the plans, I decided to clean out the closet downstairs and change it into a playroom for Embry.  Saving a space for the play kitchen, this is what the finished closet looked like:

As Danny continued working in the garage, and making a horrendous mess with saw dust, I decided to take the plunge and buy a sewing machine.  I have not regretted this purchase!  I became even slightly addicted to making little projects (pictures are shown later).  I of course, had to put a few of my touches to the play kitchen!  

After 2 weeks, this is what sat in our garage.  I was soooo pleased with how it was coming along! My amateur husband was excelling!!  Our only major setback came when he put the first coat of oil-based polyurethane on.  It dried yellow and made splotches of yellow all over it.  He was so frustrated.  I also became frustrated when I went to buy more pink paint (he planned on sanding the polyurethane off and then repainting it), and the store was out of that color and not getting anymore in.  Danny headed to Lowes and purchased WATER-BASED polyurethane, and had them match the pink as closely as they could.  Danny sanded the whole darn thing, and repainted it.  I was surprisingly happy with the new coat of pink paint, for it was a tad lighter hue.  With water-based poly, you need more coats, so this setback put us back another week.  A new coat of paint, and 4 coats of poly later, he could move forwards.

 Tada!!!!  The final product:

I ordered wooden circles online and painted them a metallic grey for the stove top.

 The oven knobs, oven rack (aka cookie sheet), faucet, oven handle, and the sink bowl were all ordered on Amazon as well.

 This was Danny's first tile work as well.  I was really pleased how the backsplash came out.

The next few pictures show off the few things I added.   The picture below shows the oven mit and pot holder that I made.  Those seemed easy, but were a little bit more difficult then I imagined.  My favorite feature on them is the stitching back and forth in diagonal lines to create a quilted look.

This ruffle curtain was therapeutic to make, and I enjoyed learning how to use my sewing machine.  It was probably a comical sight---me sewing with the machine manual laying next to me, stopping ever so often to read it.

 Embry's apron is my favorite piece.  I just LOVE how it came out.

The pots and pans are from IKEA.  I love that Danny added hooks so they could hang above the stove.

Here is Embry's completed playroom....uhhh...I mean play closet.  Hope no one questions my parenting when I mention that Embry is in the closet!

I am truly overjoyed with how the kitchen turned out.  I hope that Embry enjoys it for years to come.

Maybe one day she'll pass it on to her little girl.  ...Unless she destroys it over the years...

This morning, we did the big reveal to our little girl.  Knowing she is a 1 year old, we fully did not anticipate any major reaction.  She wasn't quite herself, and seemed teary eyed when I was putting her apron on.  I think she definitely liked it, though.  She was pretty curious about everything.  Danny was proud of his work for his little girl.