Play kitchen

This thing is so awesome it deserves its own post.

Some of you know that we had been planning since the spring to make Ella a play kitchen for her birthday. I had found this neat idea where you repurpose old cabinets or media centers into a pint-sized kitchen. We scoured garage sales over the summer and fall, but still couldn't find exactly what I had in mind. I was about to give up and find plans to make one from scratch when Jim had the idea to use some old Ikea cabinets we had hanging around in his Man Cave.

I realize now I forgot to take a picture of what they looked like before they became a play kitchen. I'm sure if I look through my photos I can find one where they are hanging around in the background.

Anyway, this is what they look like now:

Front view

Top view

Here's what we did (I say "we" because I served as artistic director): 

-Sawed the cabinets in half (the part that is the fridge was the upper portion)

-Flipped one of the bottom cabinets around to become the oven

-Cut a piece of plywood to connect the two bottom pieces

-Cut a hole in the plywood for the sink portion (the sink is just a cheap brownie pan)

-Cut a hole in the oven door and installed a piece of plexiglass 

-Added in a cheap oven rack

-Installed the sink hardware (this was the most expensive portion- I think Jim found it for around $15 at K-Mart)

-Painted the whole thing to match the table and chairs Jim made for the playroom

-Painted and installed the burners, which are cheap wood circles from Hobby Lobby

-Made and painted oven knobs. The circular portions are again cheap wood circles from Hobby Lobby; the raised portion Jim made with a jigsaw. 

There you have it. Ten steps to transform an Ikea cabinet to a play kitchen. I'm sure if Jim were writing this post he'd give you a lot more detail. 

I think it came out awesome. And I certainly like the cabinets better like this. 

Here's a little video of Ella on her birthday seeing it for the first time. 

You win some, you lose some

It's going to be a two-for-Tuesday here at Two Nerds. Jim and I both finished up a couple of craft projects we've been working on (although I'm sure he would apply a much more masculine word to describe what he's been doing out in the garage for the past few weekends).

My project was to make a trick-or-treat bag for Ella. Originally I was planning on buying one for her. Then my thoughts about consumerism and mass-production, coupled with Pinterest and pictures on Facebook of cutesy little bags other moms had made, convinced me that I would be failing my daughter if I did not make her a Halloween bag.

I found this tutorial while browsing Pinterest. It looked cute. It looked easy. It looked like it could be accomplished during a baby's nap. All excellent points in my book.

Somewhere along the way, something went wrong. Here is a picture of my finished product.

I think the main problem is that the proportions are off somehow, and that it probably would look okay if it was a Frankenstein design instead of a pumpkin. Or maybe if the face was bigger, or if there was more of the green stuff along the top. Perhaps it's simply that it's closing in on a decade since I last used a sewing machine. Definitely took me significantly longer than 40-60 minutes to accomplish. (Note: This is in no way a reflection upon the original tutorial. The fault definitely lies with me.)

You know it's bad when your husband tells you things like, "Well, it's made with love" and "You tried hard." Now instead of mom-guilt about having my daughter carry around a mass-produced trick-or-treat bag most likely made by child-labor in a developing country (holy hyphens!), I now have mom-guilt that my child will hate me for making her carry around such an ugly trick-or-treat bag. 

Jim had significantly more success with his project. This crappy picture doesn't do it justice, but he built me an amazing butcher block for our kitchen. It's not 100% finished yet- he still wants to add on a towel bar and a wine rack, and possibly more shelving or drawers (that's one of the best parts about doing stuff yourself- you can always change things up). Even so, I think he did an amazing job, and I'm incredibly excited about it. 

   

Another Easy Fall Project: Halloween Sign

Jim had some wood scraps out in the garage. I had some paint. This is the end result: 

Because it's for Halloween, I don't think it matters that the wood isn't perfectly even, the writing is a bit off-kilter, or the ghosts look a little wonky. All part of the charm. 

Fall Wreath

Our current place has a rather bland look on the outside, and I've been wracking my brain for weeks as to something that could help spruce up the place. Today I came up with the perfect idea- I'd get a fall wreath for the door. So Ella and I went out in search of one, looked at a few, and promptly went back to the drawing board. Why? Because I'm cheap poor frugal- whatever you want to call it, it means that I was not going to pay $100 for a wreath.

Figuring that the internet would not fail me, I picked up some random stuff to make my own wreath. Basically, I wandered around Hobby Lobby tossing autumnal-looking things in the cart, and grabbed one of those dead grapevine things to put it all together.

After Ella went off to bed, I grabbed a pumpkin ale and my hot glue gun, turned on Dr. Who, and went to work. Having grand delusions that I would write up the whole process like a crafty blogger, I dutifully snapped the picture below of all my purchases laid out on the craft surface (aka a summer tablecloth laid out on the living room floor).

The wreath base and all the decorative "stuff"

Yeah, that's where the picture taking ended. Partially because no one really needs to see the intermediate steps, and partially because in the midst burning my fingers off with the hot glue gun I wasn't exactly thinking about taking photos.

If I had to write up the process, it would go something like this: 

1. Look at pictures of wreaths on pinterest. Decide that you are going to be super ambitious. 
2. Lay out your materials- dead grapevine thing, random stuff to stick on the wreath, hot glue gun. Figure out what you are going to use in place of floral cutters because you forgot to buy some at the store (scissors + pliers work just fine). 
3. Cut off pieces of the decorative stuff. Arrange on wreath. 
4. Once the final layout is achieved, glue said pieces onto wreath. Note: the hot glue gun, is, in fact, extremely hot, as is the glue that comes out of it. 

That's pretty much how to make your very own fall wreath for significantly less than $100. Here is a picture of the end result: 

Not too shabby if I do say so myself