Entertainment Center to Child's Kitchen

Santa's elves have been putting in a lot of overtime hours in my basement. Look what they've been up to.

Before: An entertainment center I got from the online classifieds for $15

After: A Child Sized Kitchen

I used this tutorial as a guide

Here are some close ups of the elements:

The sink is made from a buffet steam tray. The faucet was a yard sale find.

The counter top is modpodged fabric. Doesn't it look graintey?

The stove. It is the original door with a window cut out and plexiglass added. I attached the plexiglass with E600. The burners are formula can lids. The knobs are things I found at a thrift store, I have no idea what their real purpose is. I got a whole bag of them for $.50 (email me if you'd like me to send some to you. I have a TON left over). The oven door handle is from Ikea, the pot holder is from Ikea, and so are the pots and pans.

Aren't these the cutest? I found them at Sears. Here's the mixer, but I don't see the toaster online.

The window scene was a print from a picture I got at a thrift store for $1. It was modpodged to the back of the kitchen. Then I bought another $1 frame. I painted the frame and glued it around the picture. I used an 18" curtain rod from WM.

Here is the total cost breakdown:

-entertainment center: $15

-paint: $20

-sink: $10

-faucet: $5

-hardware: $10

-fabric: $8

-window: $2

-misc: $5

Total: $75

Thank You Mr. Columbus

If it weren't for you Mr. Columbus I never would have got work off today. If it weren't for having the day off of work I never would have got such a good deal.

A friend from work and I took a day trip to IKEA since she had never been there. (I am a regular at that store even though it's 1.5 hrs from my house) I have been coveting this "big boy" bed for my son.

It goes from this...

to this...

Regular price? $200 I got it for $60 because the box was damaged. Hands down best deal ever!

Desk Transformation

My current craft/sewing table is a gem. It is a $20 card table from Wal-Mart (don't worry you got 4 chairs with it for that price as well. P.S. one of those is currently my craft chair; gotta see what can be done about that) Anyways... it has a big, ugly sheet of plywood underneath of it. Why does it have plywood underneath of it you say? Because the card table is so wobbly and my carpet is so squishy that unless I sew at the slowest speed possible my machine dances right off the table. The plywood only makes it possible to go one speed above a snails pace but I've been managing. Well after my cup full of pencils, rulers, scissors, etc danced itself off the table while I was sewing one day I'd had enough! I headed to the DI to find a good 'ol sturdy piece of furniture to transform into my new craft/sewing desk.

I am so pleased with this DI transformation. This started out as a banged up old desk. And a HEAVY desk at that. My sewing machine's dancing days are done! Although I picked it up at the DI for $20 it had come from a local university and had "PROPERTY OF WEBER STATE" printed huge on one side. Unfortunately I do not have a before picture. My sweet husband wanted to surprise me while I was out of town and he painted the desk for me while I was away. So sweet and much appreciated, but I am bummed I didn't get a before picture. But it looked very similar to this:

Fake wood Formica top, metal sides. The standard desk that I'm sure every teacher at your high school had. It had some deep scratches and dents where a chair had obviously ran into it over and over. He sanded the scratches out and pounded the dents as smooth as possible and then gave it a new coat of black spray paint. (Thanks hon!)

Then I went to work on the top.

I bought a variety of black and white printed scrap book papers and Mod Podged them to the top of the desk. After 2 coats of Mod Podge I started applying a satin polyurethane. 3 coats of that (sanding between each coat of course) and TA-DA!

I am very much in love with it. I would like to hang a big peg board above that desk to store all sorts of crafty things, but in the meantime the drawers will work great.

Total cost?

$20- Table

$4- Spraypaint

$5- Scrapbook Paper

$4- Mod Podge

$2.50- Polyurathane

$35.50 for a new, no dancing table! Whoot Whoot!

So long card table! You WON'T be missed!