Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The kitchen project.

Ah, it has been a while.  In the last little while we have painted every surface in our "new" home that is paintable (tables, shelves, chairs, cabinets, walls- nothing was safe!), new tile, new carpet, new walls... lots... and we finally moved in.  We have also dealt with being sick for pretty much the last month straight!  The before Thanksgiving the twins had the flu, the week of I had it, Jack and Abby had a cough just before that,  then about three days after we were all better the twins came down with rotavirus.  That stuff is awful!!  They are pretty much all better now, though still a little crabby, though they could be teething. Anyway, so not much sewing going on here! (though there was a little I will update later). And I am behind on my flickr and blog reading, so if you get some random comment from me a month later, don't worry;)
 
So a few weeks ago I went with a group to a few garage sales and saw this beauty.  Well, in this state not so beautiful, but it had great potential!!
 

I saw it even before I got out of the truck and was SO excited.  I asked the guy what he wanted for it, he said make an offer, so my MIL said $5... and he accepted!! I was totally willing to pay a lot more.  But that just meant I had more of a budget to fix it up. 

So a couple cans of spray paint, some varnish and few knobs later...



I am so in love! I was worried at first it was going to be too dark, but it really has grown on me.  I wanted gray in my house but didn't have anywhere that it would really work, so this became gray!

 
 
And while it was supposed to be for Christmas, the kids were so excited and started playing with it as a kitchen even before I painted it, so I put it in the front room and just let them have it.  See?  Jack has even already stocked it with their felt food.  And honestly, I can't even tell you which group loves it more, the bigs or the littles, they all play with it All.The.Time. 
 
Abby was so excited when she saw the knobs "they are just like a REAL kitchen, Mom!" I almost went with some novelty ones, but since this really is for me (haha) I went with what I wanted and she approved:)

I have plans to make removeable "burners" so it isn't strictly a kitchen.  They also play bakery with it and put the donuts in the top see through part, and I thought they might like to play ice cream shop... so...

This:

An ice cream sundae!  It is from the book Big Little Felt Universe.  Oh I can't say enough good about this book! I rented it from the library a few months back and fell in love!  And now that I had a kitchen, I had the perfect reason to order it, right?! Plus it was half off, so win-win.  The kids remembered it from the library and were SO excited to flip through it and begin putting in their requests.  This was Abby's first request.  Of course I told her "when I have time", she will be excited. 

I learned a lot with each new item I made.  I feel like it will be how I was with my sewing, I am a bit embaressed looking back at some of my first projects I sewed, and I can see all my mistakes in this sundae.  But I am trying to look at the positive, and someday when I get really good I will have to revisit the boat and bananas!:)


If you are interested in trying this pattern out, it happens to be offered on this website for free.  But really, just get the book, you wont be disappointed!!

I am only able to sew at night after the kiddos have gone to bed so that makes it difficult, this took me two nights.  I do really enjoy it though, it makes me feel productive while watching tv! :)  I have quite the list I want to make, but since I am cutting it close I am not sure how much will get done by Christmas.  I  bought a few Melissa and Doug sets at Michael's last week as they were half off (yay!!) so I wouldn't feel too pressured... because I am a procrastinator- just ask my curtains, ha!

10 comments:

  1. Precious! I thought the sundae was store bought at first - great job!

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  2. The kitchen/bakery/ice cream shop looks great and I love the ice cream sundae! I put a hold on the book at my library so that I could give it a look through.;)

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  3. The kitchen's looking great :-)
    I love your sundae, and look forward to seeing lots more food get made :-)

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    1. Thanks! I made a carrot, eggplant and a bit of a radish during nap time today! :)

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  4. This is amazing!! Everything look fab! I can bet your girls will get hours and hours of play with all this neat stuff. :)

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    1. Thanks! They already are loving it... the part they have been given anyway:)

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  5. I love this,I like toys that work with the rest of my house rather then screaming Disney. This is perfect!
    Clever clever you!
    xx N

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    1. I completely agree, Nicole! I don't *mind* the Disney stuff, but if it will be somewhere I am staring all day long, I would much rather have it be something like this:) And thank you! I am ridiculously happy with it.

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