Play Kitchen

Departure from What We've been Doing as this is what I've spent the last few days doing. I waited all week until we could go to our local second hand furniture shop, Emmaus. They had this cabinet for £30. This was more than we wanted to spend but it is really good quality, all the hinges work, and the money goes to help homeless people get back into work and find accommodation.

Job number 1 was sanding it down which didn't take as long as I thought it would.

I then primed the whole thing. (I'd started painting the inside of the oven black before I remembered to take a picture).

When hubby got back from his mum's with the drill she let us borrow, he set about cutting the hole for the sink. He drilled all round lots of times until the middle fell out. I neatened it with a small saw and sandpaper.

Then came the painting. Lots of painting. I bought tester pots from B&Q for £1.10 each (2 black, 2 turquoise, 1 ocean blue, 1 white and 1 silver acrylic from Hobbycraft). Everything needed 2 coats, including the inside of the cupboards. I had definite backache after I'd finished! I laid out the sink, tap and hob to check it all fitted. It was at this point that I thought it needed a pop of colour so decided to use the leftover red spray paint from the playhouse for the knobs.

The knobs are model wheels from Hobbycraft. The tap is a J decoupatch letter, also from Hobbycraft. The sink is a curry dish from Poundland that hubby broke the handles off. For the hob, I used some old coasters which I painted black.

Finishing touches were adding the oven handle, drilling some holes for the knobs and threading each one on a screw with a washer so they will spin, and super gluing on the tap and hobs.

Here is a breakdown of everything I used;

Stuff I already had/ borrowed
● Tools (brushes, saw, drill)
● Coasters
● Screws and washers
● Red spray paint
● Sandpaper
● Primer

Cost breakdown
● Cabinet £30
● Paint £6.90
● Knobs £1
● Sink £1
● Tap £2
● Door handle £3 (I thought this was £1.50 but just checked the receipt)
Varnish £7.95 but I used about 1/3 which is roughly £2.65

Total: £46.55

Not as frugal as I'd hoped but if you take out the cost of the cabinet, it was only £16.55 to transform a tired cupboard into a fabulous kitchen!

Tah dah!