Make Your Own Play Oven

How proud am I of this?  

Earlier in the year I was inspired by people who transformed existing furniture into play kitchens.  This nightstand has been kicking around my house for 3 years.  It was a freebee and therefore ripe for renovation.  It started its life looking like this:

As you can see it has four burners

and a deep oven perfect for making playdough pies.  

And what does every tomato-loving Turtle need?  A new timer, of course!

Our entertainment center (which has always been used as Toy Central) is unergoing renovations as well.  A few final touches and Turtle will have a full-fledged kitchen!

DIY details

I lightly sanded the stand & coated it with primer.  Next time I paint furniture, I will make sure to use the right tool to get a nice, thick coat of primer down.  After two coats of paint, I can still see a bit of the wood underneath.  Oh well, I'm not being perfect!  I thought about replacing the hardware on the drawer, but it does the job.  The burners are sticky-backed glitter foam.  I thought about painting the burners on, but that would have required buying paint.  Besides, the foam was faster.  I haven't put a door on the oven yet because I haven't decided how I want to do it.  Turtle doesn't seem to mind so it will do for now.  If you think this is neat, you should check out some of these kitchens!

Turtle's Fairy Garden

Of course I made a fairy garden for Turtle!  It is actually looking quite good these days, unlike the life-size bed of weeds  garden it sits next to.

It is hard to see the little pool (made from a shell).  I think I'm going to put something under it to raise it up a bit so the fairies can find it.  So far Turtle hasn't played with it, although she thinks it is booteeful.

The succulents have grown enormously since I took these pictures -having daily rain for three weeks certainly agreed with them!

How to Build a Teepee Style Playhouse

I've been wanting to do this project since last summer!  Although our backyard is north facing, it gets relentless sunshine throughout the entire day with few places for shaded play.  My original idea was to grow vining plants up the poles to provide the shade inside, but for lawnmothering maintenance we left it bare. 

How to Build a Teepee Style Playhouse

1. Buy bamboo poles
2. Determine the size of the structure (we put 2 poles together & had Turtle walk through them to space the doorway poles)
3. Shove the poles into the ground at an angle
4. Tie poles together at the top
5. Stand back & watch your child & other neighborhood children admire your work.

I won't get my "dream" playhouse,  but I have a thrifted sheet that will make a great cover so that the teepee can be shaded during those long, hot summer afternoons.  When we are done playing for the day, the cover can be removed so that the grass inside doesn't completely die.   Speaking of grass, the opening is large enough to get the reel mower through the entrance.  (Guess who will be trimming around the poles with scissors?) Maybe next year I'll get around to planting a sunflower house..........