DIY play kitchen

I was feeling crafty yesterday, so here's my first tutorial--a DIY play kitchen from a cardboard box! The best part is I only used materials I found around the house and garage so it didn't cost me a penny!

Cbear got a new carseat this week, and of course immediately wanted to play with the box. It was a really nice box so I started brainstorming what I could make with it...you know, 'cause I'm cheap, and after a quick google and pinterest search I decided to try and make a play kitchen. It's something I thought Cbear might like but I'm not willing to spend $100+ on something she *might* play with. Here's the box before...I ended up having to cut it open, turn it inside out and re-tape it so the spray paint would cover it.

Found some spray paint in the garage...thank you previous homeowners for leaving your paint behind!

I ran out of red so we ended up with a red/brown combo. That's okay, it matches my family room.

The burners are made of circles cut out of black plastic and glued to the box with Elmer's.

Cutting an opening for a curtain under the sink...why yes, that is a steak knife I'm using! The hubs' utility knife was dull and scissors were too difficult.

Knobs for the cooktop are made of plastic lids hot glued on. I really wanted to poke a hole in the middle and use brads so they would turn but I thought Cbear would figure out how to take them off and then the brads would be a nasty choking hazard to Jellybean.

I found an old loaf pan for the sink and a soap pump for the faucet. I traced around the pan and cut a hole in the box to fit. I also cut a small opening for the pump and hot glued around the base. If I can find red and blue plastic bottle lids I want to use them as hot and cold knobs.

Hot gluing an aluminum foil roll with my old kitchen curtains slung over them.

A command hook with a spare wash cloth.

All done! I'm considering cutting an opening under the burners for an oven.

A craft stick hot glued to a plastic bowl= pot. Cbear had some plastic picnic food and I donated some rarely used kitchen utensils and empty oatmeal and pasta boxes.

And after all that, she climbed in and thought I made her a fort. Maybe that will be the next project? I'm glad it didn't cost me anything!