the best room in the house...
this playroom closet kitchen continues to be one of my all-time favorite projects, mostly because my girls continue to get a kick out of it on a daily basis. a few years ago, santa brought a playdoor that is made to stand alone or fit into a doorway. the little door has shutters, a mail slot, a door bell and dutch doors. it sparked an idea - i set out to create a playhouse out of the playroom closet.so...naturally i waited until my husband was going to be out of town on a business trip. then, i removed the closet door and clothes bar & cleared out the space. i painted the closet bright blue, then painted a fridge & stove-top oven on the wall. i found large, bright magnetic strips at ikea and attached them to the fridge for a realistic fridge door. i added some magnets and pictures for the girls to play with. i painted some wooden hobby wheels red and attached them to the stove to create manipulative controls. i painted a fruit basket bright yellow and hung it with grosgrain ribbon from a plant hook. it holds some wooden melissa & doug fruit and veggies. more wooden food sets, bowls & utensils are stored in little drawers (not pictured) to the left of the stove. i found a vintage mail organizer at a flea market, and decided it would be perfect for the growing collection of postcards gammy & grandad send from their world travels. i'm pretty sure my grandmother had the exact same one hanging on her kitchen wall in ada, oklahoma. ( i also took the liberty of covering the walls on either side of the play kitchen with chalkboard paint. you know the story, "if you give a mouse a cookie"? i'm writing one called "if you give a girl a lowe's card".)....
i love the added dimension this space brings to our little playroom, and of course, the hours of creative play it provides for the girls. lucy's favorite thing is to peek out the door and take food orders. she "writes" on a pretend notepad, and it always goes like this:
"may i please take your order, ma'am?"
"sure. what do you have?"
"we have everything in our kitchen. whatever you want."
"okay, i'll have a chicken salad sandwhich."
"sure...."
at this point, lucy always closes the door and rummages around for a moment. then,
"we are out of chicken salad, ma'am. can i get you something else?"
she repeats this routine until you give up and let her choose something from her imaginary menu.
it cracks me up every single time...
i do realize that one of these days i'll have to get out the primer and boring white paint, the boring clothes bar and the boring old door, and return this "kitchen" to a more practical space. but for now, i've got to go. somebody is waiting to take my order...
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