DIY: old chest of drawers to a play kitchen

Ever since my wonderfully generous in-laws purchased a power drill for us last September we have been DIY-ing all over the place!
Pictures are hung on the walls, shelves are installed in the kitchen, castor wheels put on that wooden pallet and is now our coffee table in the lounge.
All very excellent.

And soon enough our 'handmade Christmas' came rolling around and it was a case of what the heck to make?! This happens every year a couple of weeks in from Christmas Day which really leaves hardly any time to make things... *sigh*

Anyhoo, we have been observing our wee red headed child loving being Mr. Hospitality to us and his brothers - always offering them snacks and serving us endless cups of pretend coffee.
"Sugar? Milk? ...*slurp*...  Another one coffee?"
Dear wee fellow.

Whenever we go to a playgroup he's right there hanging out at the play kitchens banging pots around and serving up food. I had been looking online for a play kitchen and they were beyond our budget. Of course. Especially when the budget is pretty much ZERO.

So the wheels in my head got a-turnin' and a-thinkin' - we had an old chest of drawers not really serving a purpose - well, holding my fabrics - but a little bit of shuffling things around resulted in this set of drawers just crying out to be dismantled and made into something new.

I'm sure there's a sermon in that...

And so the creation of a play kitchen began.
Now unfortunately I didn't get a 'before' shot..... yeah I know. My husband and his little Beni-Boo helper were too eager so I missed my moment, but here's the process...

We dismantled it and reconstructed it using only the pieces from the chest of drawers.
I bought the red paint, hinges and a handle for the oven door, tiles for the splashback and plastic knobs.
Curtains were made out of fabric from my newly-relocated fabric stash, the elements are blackboard paint and my sister had some silver spray paint for the oven window. Done.

Thanks to presents from Uncle and Aunties the kitchen was equipped with plastic food; pots, pans and utensils; and a wooden Gaggia espresso machine (which was originally baby pink... but Gretchen painted it blue and stylised it into a Gaggia machine. Cool huh?)

And the wee red head? Well, he was super-duper excited and thoroughly pleased with his new cooking space and immediately started serving up coffees and cooking up a storm.

All the while wearing his Incredible Hulk costume. As you do.

He's a happy (but sometimes angry) wee chappy.

:::