Super Exciting $10 Play Kitchen

I recently got into reading all about DIY play kitchens. We wanted toddler child to have a play kitchen, but a good solid wood one runs several hundred or more dollars. Have I mentioned I'm cheap?! So for several months I've been looking out for a deal on a night table I could convert. There's a whole flickr for people who've done conversions and I thought I could do that. Maybe not as cute, but hey I'm not making a kitchen for Emril. Remember those V8 moments I sometimes have? Well, I had another one. I'd been looking for a piece of furniture and I failed to remember I had something on hand that would work.

Enter the old icky entertainment center:

(I forgot to take a true before picture, but this is from when we still used it. Pardon the mess we had pulled all the boxes out of the crawl space for Christmas and the dogs were cute. Look through the chaos.)

Several years ago we upgraded to a wall mounted TV, but we still had the cabinet the dinosaur tv was on. Long ago the older boys broke the glass out of the front and we've thought of getting rid of it a hundred times, but the thing is sturdy wood, not that fiberboard junk you usually find. So we kept it. Since the move it's been sitting in the garage. And when I had my "aha" moment we unwrapped it from the packing paper and got to work.

I pitched the idea to my uncle. He's retired and very busy, but figured he'd be more than happy to play along. I know my way around power tools and wood, but I don't always have the time to lock myself into the garage and hope my kids don't burn the house down. Uncle was kind enough to put the back on as well as new doors, and dismantling the drawer to turn it into a door. Essentially he handled the grunt work. The things I would have pawned off on the man I married. Enlisting uncle's help was also to our benefit because his garage of random bits is bigger than ours and anything I didn't have he did.

Once we got everything put together. I was able to paint it and do the detail work. And though it's not perfect I'm excited with the outcome:

I only did two burners, so we'd have more "counter space". Pretty cool for only using what's on hand right? The faucet was the letter J from Jo-ann's. And I had to buy the paint for the burners and a can of spray finish, but that's all. Would you believe I spent less than $10 making our play kitchen dreams come true?! The fridge isn't very fridge looking and some day I might swap out the knobs to long handles. I also think if I ever come across a little pan I might make a "water dispenser" to look more like a true double doored fridge, but in the mean time I think we have a winning present for Christmas.