So I have to start by saying, KG really got involved. She has watched her Gandy and Nonna pull out tape measure from their pockets and use them to measure. She knows what to do with them! So while we worked on making a night stand into a kitchen for her...she measured every one's feet.
So I thought that this night stand was Ryan's in college, but he corrected me. It was just one that he brought from his parents' house when we got married to add to our first little apartment. It has been unused in our back guest room. So it was the perfect choice to be creative. KG got a kitchen that her Pop made for Christmas that is at our house. He did an unbelievable job!!! He is so talented. After KG started back at my mom's after Christmas, we realized she had out grown so many of the toys at mom's house. And we decided that she needed some type of kitchen for her house too. She was staying in mom's cabinets. After lots of different research and reading lots of blogs, I started the project. I could have finished it in one day, but I didn't have the spray paint and then it rained for a week. So total time was around a week, but that was 5 days of no work in between.
From the beginning...an old night stand became a little girl's kitchen.
The night stand was a drawer front, so I removed the drawer parts and kept the front of the drawer.
They I had three small hinges. I would have rather used bigger more sturdy, but the door front where you connect it to the night stand was very thin in comparison. So the hinges had to be small for the small screws not to go through the wood. That's the reason I used three.
One of the hardest parts was getting the templates drawn in place so that the cutting could begin. I didn't have a compass, so I used a nail, string, and pencil, first then marker, to mark the places that would need to be cut out. The faucet had a marker template that came with it. That made life easier!
My dad first drilled a hole in the middle then took his saw to cut out the circle for the sink. I had to make the circle a little smaller than the bowl so it would have a lip to stay on top of the counter.
Between my grandfather and daddy, they supplied me with all the supplies except the blue spray paint. The faucet was one that my grandfather had changed out a few years ago in his house and kept it. It was perfect!!! All the added wood we used, were all scraps that either Gandy or Dad had in their shops.
After my grandfather cut the board for the back of the kitchen, I sanded it to make sure there was nothing rough to hurt KG. I was taught how to use the brad gun to nail on the two supports for the back splash of the kitchen. I used the clamps to make sure it was in the correct place before nailing. I also sanded the whole piece of furniture so that I wouldn't have to use any kiltz before I spray painted it.
My dad and I measured and cut a pieces to be the support for the shelf and the shelf. Do to the inside of the cabinet, we had to make notches for the shelf to lay correctly. Dad had a wood glue that we used to put the braces up, and then from the outside used the brad gun again to nail for security. Although please be careful if you are the person holding the brace in place. This was my first experience working with wood (which I totally enjoyed!!), but it wasn't without blood. I got shot with a nail through the side of the cabinet. It bleed but it wasn't that bad. Thankfully it was a very small nail.
Before I arrived the next weekend to finish the work, my dad had made these perfect little shelves for the back splash of the kitchen.
I bought two cans of paint, but that wasn't enough. So we used some old white spray paint that dad had in his shop for the back of the kitchen. We actually covered the whole back with the white. Then we painted the rest light blue. My mom's living room, where the kitchen is now located, is cream and light blue.
We used to brad gun again and the wood glue to put the small decorative shelves in place. I also bought a $0.99 stove drain pan from Walmart. I made sure it was magnetic so that she could use if for her letters, and my plan is to insert a picture in the middle.
Now several things happened at this point. My dad wanted to use some type of gorilla glue to fasten the medal bowl in as the sink. He had some caulking so we first tried it. So it didn't work. We ended up doing two small screws on either side of the bowl to keep from KG being able to take the sink out.
For the stove eyes, we cut a piece of wood in a semi-circle shape to add support. We also used caulking for under the medal tops, they were from old Christmas tins that I sprayed silver. The caulking actually sealed the tops, but we were concerned KG could get them off later. So we went ahead and put a small screw in the middle of them too. They were all flat head so it makes a clean surface.
We just used a staple gun to attach the skirt.
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| And the final product! KG and my dad added the American flag from the side of the kitchen, while I wasn't looking. I guess it's never too early to teach patriotism. |
