DIY... Play Kitchen

I am blessed in many ways. 1, that I have an amazingly talented father who happens to be a professor in the construction department at BYU-Idaho. This means he has unlimited access to so many awesome tools. And 2, I have an extremely supportive husband who is willing to listen to my crazy dreams and ideas and helps to me accomplish them. 

This year it was my dream to build Aniston a play kitchen for Christmas from an old entertainment center. I saw a couple examples on Pinterest, and I just thought it would be such a fun project. Honestly if my father had not agreed to help us we probably would have failed miserably. It was a big project that took a lot of time, thought and measurements. My Dad is kind of a perfectionist, so that probably added to the awesomeness that became Ani's kitchen. 

I'm not gonna lie... I'm a little obsessed with how awesome it turned out to be. We spent 2 Saturday's in the shop, the first one sanding, taking everything apart, building doors and shelves and the microwave. 

 The microwave is, and I quote, "the best box I have ever made" according to my Dad. Nothing but the best for Aniston Kate.

 I can be rather dangerous with a power tool...

I went to the store and picked up an aluminum bowl that we used for the sink. So simple, but so perfect! 

I am in LOVE with the way it turned out!

 I used the die cutter at work and cut the "EAT" out of cardboard and painted them black. I also took an old picture frame with no glass and used it for the window frame. I designed the tree picture on publisher and had it printed. LOVE it! We used a $10 bathroom faucet for the sink that we found at Walmart and I bought the hooks and hot pads from the dollar tree!

 I made the numbers for the microwave also on publisher, seriously publisher is becoming one of my favorite programs to use ever! I think it looks pretty cool. We set the time at 10:33 because that was the time when Aniston was born. We aren't going to ever tell her siblings that though.

 We bought the cute play kitchen utensils and pots and pans from IKEA of course. LOVE IKEA! Wanna know something cool? My Dad designed the handles on the stove to actually turn and spin like a real stove top would do. He is a genius!

 The shelf in the stove actually pulls out so that you can have more room to "cook" big things.

 The fabric for under the sink came from an our curtain that I had made that we had replaced, so we just recycled it. We hide all of her appliances that we got from Walgreen's (who knew they had killer deals on toys) under the sink.

 This was suppose to be the freezer, but we are using it for storage instead. I bought the magnetic letters from the dollar store and hot glued them to the fridge to make it a little more whimsical. 

 I bought little baskets for Ani to organize her food, I'm sure that'll happen right?!?!

 Such a cool little kitchen. We used the paint samples that you buy at Lowes to paint the kitchen. It turned out to be way cheaper that way and the color selection was decent. We are IN LOVE with this color! Gender neutral and it totally pops!

Aniston LOVES it! My Dad made it so sturdy and awesome that I'm sure that it will last for generations! I can't wait to watch her grow and play with the kitchen more and more.

The surprise gift I pull out gets my husband the World's Best Husband award! I will post more about it later!

Thank you Dad and Spencer for all your help on this project! So great!