even kitchens get the blues

i am a one-woman renaissance.
truthfully? michelangelo has nuttin' on me.
i have single handedly brought about what will henceforth be known as

the great

play kitchen rebirth

2010

i bought my oldest daughter a little plastic play kitchen at a second hand store when she was about 15 months. it was $10.
up until a few months ago, it was still the play kitchen.
she is 10.
then we received a hand-me-down from a friend.



(you can see the old plastic kitchen in the background there. it's being relegated to the outside playhouse)


overall, a much nicer kitchen set. wood, sturdy, bigger. so i stuck it in the corner, baby bear was delighted, and i didn't really think about it too much.


sure, some of the handles were hanging off or completely off.


sure, the red/green/blue/white/wood color scheme was, how shall i put it, hideous not exactly complementary to my decorating style.


sure, i wish it was like this or this from Pottery Barn. but seriously, $700 for a toy? SRSLY?
then i had a "DUH" moment.


uh, hel-looo googiemomma! aren't you all BFF with spray paint? can this not be painted???


why yes, it can.


and here's how i did it.


first, emptied and wiped down each piece, removed the handles (the few managing to cling on still) and the plastic oven window.


okay, truth be told, also hunted around the house for the missing handles, which i knew were lurking SOMEWHERE.


once i had all my pieces rounded up and prepped, i gave all the brightest colored areas a coat of grey primer





then a coat of the same blue i used on my rooster lamp





and then another, and another, annnnddd another...and, after googiedaddy weed-wacked and it spit little pieces of grass all over the fronts of my drying appliances...another.


the knobs on the stove i taped off and hit with some metallic chrome spray paint, as well as all the handles.


(the sink was basically a plastic bowl, so first i sprayed it with white Fusion spray paint {the kind that bonds to plastic} and then used the metallic paint)



i know that you're jealous of my spray booth/bottom of the kiddie pool~i've said it before~no unitaskers in the googiehaus.


details i added with acrylic paint, like the stove burners





and with paint pens, like the knob details





and a little white detail on the fronts





at the end everything got a couple coats of clear acrylic sealer (which also muted the chrome spray paint. i'm not sure how i feel about that)






i'm completely loving it.


i love it's little retro vibe.


i love that my kids can't stop playing with it.


i love that they set their alarms to wake up early sunday morning to have more time to play with it.


i love that i made the practical decision to buy felt food from IKEA instead of trying to make it...because as much as i LOVE the food people make, and have bookmarked a million tutorials on how to do it, i just don't have the time/energy/desire.










apparently we cook panda around here.


action shot:





and one more because i was playing with photoshop:





for about $10 worth of spray paint and a couple bucks for new screws so that we can have a complete set of handles, i think it was totally worth it.


sushi, anyone?







Linking up at these fine parties!

UPDATE:
i'm also entering this in this week's

the theme is SPRAY PAINT!!!
although, the guest judges are from Krylon...and the metallic paint i used is rust-o-leum....
oh no, hope that doesn't count against me....
i swear~the blue paint was Krylon!!!!