Overboard? Pshaw! Out of hand? Well, Maybe...

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll probably be disappointed. I prefer to scroll through Facebook and see what my pals have posted and then I just steal those idea. We'll call it the lazy man's Pinterest.

Several months ago, we were doing a major decluttering and I was thiiiiiiiiis close to busting down an old TV stand. Then my memory actually kicked in and I remembered seeing this bad boy (full blog post can be found at http://www.timeoutchicagokids.com/eating-shopping/shopping-services/105266/diy-the-best-play-kitchen-ever):

I just *had* to do this, but I am smart enough to realize that there was no way that I could accomplish this on my own. Not if I wanted it to resemble anything close to a kitchen. Luckily, my husband has an engineering degree, my dad is a retired tanker and my mom is a housewife extraordinaire (I got it from my mama, I got it from my mama...I g-got it). GOOOOOOooooooOOOOOO TEAM!

Here is the before:

Not too pretty, is it? We started out by completely breaking it down to just its outside frame, removing all hardware, shelves and trim. Then the flimsy cardboard back was replaced with a board of plywood. Warning - this pretty much triples the weight of the stand. But because it also triples the quality, it is a win-win. Just remember to lift with your knees.

I did a lot of research on how to paint laminate so that it will last and settled on two coats of primer, two coats of paint and then two coats of a polyurethane. PAINT FIRST! And let it set for a good couple of days so everything dries completely and is less susceptible to the scratches it's bound to get as you start assembling. You will still need to do some touch-up at some point, so don't beat yourself up (unless you're into that sort of thing).

I should mention that it was around this point that I discovered that I'm expecting yet again. There was a chance that we would have ended up making the kitchen totally girly, but adding another kid to the bunch made us stick to the idea of a very gender-neutral play set. And once we realized how rock-solid it was going to be, we starting imagining little Romero grandchildren playing with it for years to come.

I like the idea of granite countertops, but at the beginning the idea was to do this project for as little money as possible. We went with a RustOleum textured spray paint and it worked really nicely. We had also added the backsplash while we were budget-conscious and found tiles at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore (great place...go check them out!) for $2.50. Mom and I felt like HGTV rockstars after completing the tiling and grouting. We pretty much rocked it.

And here is where our budget got thrown out the window. It's the thought that counts, right? Not that I'm pointing fingers, but it was pretty much my husband's fault.

We found a great faucet at Home Depot (on our 20th trip there) and stole the dog's water bowl for the sink. Don't call the Humane Society, we did get him a new, much better one.

And I need to own up to this one - I batted my eyes at the husband and asked him if he thought that the kitchen needed a working light. I may have had to promise some sexual favors, but off to Lowe's (for the 27th time) we went. I didn't realize my idea meant that the kitchen had to be wired for electricity, but the husband took it all in stride and didn't even bat an eye when my "suggestion" rang up a $65 total. He's a good man.

Isn't the best? *dreamy sigh*

Next step was to do the appliances. We had originally painted some leftover plywood with a metallic paint, but weren't happy with the results so back to Home Depot where a nice gentleman pointed us in the direction of the aluminum sheeting. Genius! Husband decided to go with two sheets with a small space in between to give the door the appearance of being a separate freezer and fridge. The aluminum was adhered to a piece of MDF using contact cement. Not too shabby, huh?

After seeing how amazing the refrigerator was looking, we decided to also scrap the original oven door. We had taken an old cabinet door and painted it with the same metallic paint. The new oven used leftover MDF and aluminum and looked 100 times better!

Time to assemble! We used the original hardware for the oven and fridge door. Then adding two small floating shelves to the back so there would be more storage. Crown molding was also attached to hide the on/off switch for the light, which was placed on the top of the kitchen to make it easily accessible.

Now comes the super-fun part - adding all the details!

Super awesome handles from Menard's and the decal is a photo of an actual water dispenser that we printed and glued on with spray adhesive

Again, we took a picture of an actual oven and printed them out

Safety first! Since the oven door kind of fell open with a thud, a toy box hinge was attached. This keeps it from falling all the way to the ground when open, plus requires friction to close and shut helping keep little fingers from getting caught.

New light since the guys were calling the kitchen "the red light district". See the hidden Mickey's?

Black PVC trim was added to cover the rough edges of MDF and shelves give her lots of storage space for all the fun Melissa and Doug accessories

For right now, the stove is really a trivet the hubs found at Walmart. 

Full view of the counter

TADA! Our finished masterpiece. Okay, not completely finished as our to-do list keeps getting longer as we come up with great ideas (like a real refrigerator light). 

And so that it's fresh in your memory, here is the before and after side-by-side:

This came out much better than we could have imagined. My tips for you if you decide to tackle a project like this yourselves - 1) Say "screw it" to a budget 2) Be open to making over a dozen trips to three different home improvement stores in a span of 48 hours 3) Don't dismiss your husband's idea - he will surprise you with his creativity 4) Realize this wasn't done in a day