Two Big Projects!

I know I have been MIA for a while, but I have been very busy working on two big projects.  The one project just hit the half way mark!  I am now officially 20 weeks pregnant.  If you are like me, you will understand why I haven't gotten any projects done.  The first trimester really kills my motivation.  I am so sick and so tired that I literally do nothing, and now that I have a toddler, I learned how hard it is to be pregnant with your second child.  Way harder then the first :)  Oh, well.  I hit the second trimester and now I am working diligently to finish unfinished projects and start new ones that will be necessary to bring home my new baby Girl!

But on to the second project I have been spending all my time on...

My little boy just turned 2 years old and I wanted to do something awesome for his birthday present.  I have noticed that every time we visit one of my sisters houses, he goes directly to their little girls play kitchens and never leaves.  It is time for him to have his own kitchen!

So I spent a lot of the time on the web seeing tons of amazing inspiration.  I got most of my inspiration from Cat at Constant in Chaos.  Her vintage play kitchen really spoke to me, specifically the farmhouse sink and the retro styling on the refrigerator.  So after getting all the inspiration I needed, I designed my plans and set off to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Grandpa did most of the actual building (I really tried to help cause I wanted to use this as a teaching exercise for my woodworking skills, but he is not a very patient teacher and likes to just do it himself.  I will just have to rely on the great tutorials on the web to figure things out!).

When I got the finished pieces from Grandpa I went to work with the fun details.  I had just received my new Silhouette (tons more projects to come, but I have been too busy to post them... they are cute though :) so I used it to create my stove buttons.  I love how it turned out.  If you want the files to cut your own labels, just email me and I will send them over.  Nothing too crazy, but it really makes the oven look more real for him.

All the play kitchens that I saw has the really cute skirts on the sink base, but I needed a less girly kitchen for my little man, so I did cabinet doors.  I learned that hinges and me don't get along so well, I will needs tons more practice before I build my own kitchen and bathroom vanity.  So the doors are a little askew, but little man loves them.  I also went with a real facet and I am really glad I did.  Not only did it save me time putting it together, but little man loves to pretend to turn it on (except he was really mad at first when it didn't start pouring water, but I think he now understands it's pretend).

For the fridge, I wanted to do the freezer on bottom to mimic our real fridge and I love the retro look of it.  It is a simple box, with routering on the top, side and bottom.  I think it really came to life when I got it painted and added the handles.  Totally retro and cute!

We love the little kitchen and it gets tons of use.  Here you can see little man playing with the sink faucet.  It is the perfect size for him and he loves to "cook" all kinds of things like cars, balls, pretty much any toy that fits in his little pots and pans :)

Hope we inspired you to make a little kitchen.  They are way better then the ones you buy in the store cause they are custom and unique and filled with love :)