I just thought I'd share what Brad and I got Claire for Christmas. We knew for a while that we wanted to get her a play kitchen. The first time that she really played with a kitchen was when we visited Bull City Burgers back in August. It was love at first sight for her. She didn't even want to stop to eat. Following that introduction, she played with a few other play kitchens at a few church nurseries and was equally as excited.
So, we started the hunt. We quickly found ourselves in a sea of choices, which was a little overwhelming. We don't have a dedicated playroom, and Claire and I spend most of our time in the living room/kitchen area, so I knew I wanted something that wasn't a neon plastic eyesore. We also had a very specific amount of floor space that we could work with, so the dimensions needed to be just right. We also didn't want to spend just a ton.
With those things in mind, we trolled around for some inspiration and found a few options that we both liked the look of. Then, we did what any reasonable grad school couple would, and we set up a search on Craigslist. We are Craigslist people. We utilized it quite a bit in Boston and loved the results. We've used it a couple of times here in Durham, too, so we have a system of sorts for finding things we want.
We started having things pop up, most of which we knew we didn't want for some reason or another. And, having done our internet research, we knew what were good prices and when folks might be trying to take us to the cleaners. For a couple of months, nothing that we wanted really appeared. We had decided that if we couldn't find something just right on Craigslist, we would go with a play kitchen that I'd found at Ikea (incidentally, the Ikea kitchen popped up once on Craigslist but wasn't a good enough deal for us for a used kitchen).
And then one day, a Melissa and Doug kitchen came up and caught Brad's attention. I have to admit, I wasn't crazy about it at first. It looked big and bulky. It had all kinds of decorative "kitchen-y" art that I didn't like. It just wasn't what I had pictured. Brad pointed out, though, that we would be getting an awesome deal. And, we could tweak a few of the things I didn't like with some paint and "wall paper" (i.e. craft paper/scrapbook paper). I thought on it and decided to go for it.
We got it home, threw it under a big blanket in an area of the house that Claire isn't allowed to go into it, put in some elbow grease to clean it up, and got to work covering up the things I didn't like. Like the fake backsplash. And the scuffs and dings that didn't come off with a good cleaning. It really started taking shape...and we decided we loved it.
I was like the kid on Christmas morning the Saturday that we decided to celebrate Christmas here (since we did so much traveling over Christmas, we had our own little family Christmas on the 15th). I couldn't wait for Claire to wake up so we could show her her kitchen.
She wasn't just overcome with crazy excitement, I'll confess, but she immediately knew what to do with the kitchen and played with it all day. We didn't have any play food or anything because we knew that grandparents and other relatives would be getting her some; I just put out some plastic containers and utensils, and she went to town.
Right after the elves finished up
The "after" of the backsplash. I just wasn't a fan of the decorative "tiles"...so I covered it up with cardstock squares.
"Oh boy! A cotch-y"
Getting down to business. Didn't even notice her stocking.
Doing some plumbing?
"Something is definitely up with the pipes, Mom."
Vanna-ing her kitchen before church.
Reeeeeeeeach!
It's been a big hit, and we are really glad that we pulled the trigger when we did. If you come visit, I can guarantee that you will be roped in as sous chef before your visit is over. :)
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