Ladybug's 2nd birthday present: TV unit to kitchen conversion!

Soooo how better to launch myself back into the blogging world than to tell you about our very cute TV unit to kids play kitchen conversion! 

...Yes, yes, I know, you can buy these things at the shop without all the effort BUT where is the fun in that? 

We decided to do an upcycle for several reasons: 

-To recycle some furniture which lets face it, will never be used again (hello flat screen TV's)

-To not support supermarket giants and mass production of plastic toys

-To create something unique and from the heart for my daughters birthday

-To save money (in total we spent $60 on bits and pieces) and to create something of more neutral colours which will blend in well with our lounge room (considering it will probably sit here for the next few years!) 

-To utilise some of this creativity inside me which I love using 

So, to kick things off I put out a plea on Facebook for an unused TV unit and we ended up with this

 Perfect! It was exactly what I was after and the colour meant that we didn't need to sand/polish/paint anything :-) it was even on wheels which made moving it around much easier! 

Next I gathered all the items I needed and organised for my daughter to be looked after one Sunday so  Mr Ladybug and I could do the project all in one go without her seeing (thanks Uncle Ben!) 

Mr Ladybug removed the glass door on the left and began sizing the laminate chipboard for the fridge 

I painted the wooden coasters and knobs for the cooktop 

After that I painted the oven 

And my husband started on the sink 

Mr Ladybug attached the hinges and the door handles

Meanwhile I covered the backing in wrapping paper and then clear contact. Sorry no pics here as it was very fiddly to try to make sure there were no bubbles or creases, but I'm sure you get the idea. Just like contacting books, only bigger! 

We then nailed the backing to the kitchen and were ready for the finishing touches! As finishing decorations I created a little window with curtains by putting a scenery photo in a wooden frame and then adding some curtains (a cut up blue $2 shirt, bunched together with ribbons) which I secured to the backing with some Velcro strips, stuck some animal wall decal stickers on the front and right hand side and used foam alphabet stickers on the fridge to make it look more 'fridgey' I decided on 'Yum', 'Bah bah', 'Oishii' and 'Delisciouso' which all mean yum in assorted languages (English, Farsi, Japanese and Spanish) 

Want to see the finished product?

Ladybug loves it! :-)

What I bought extra: 

- 1 piece of MDF board for backing

- 1 piece of white laminate chipboard for the fridge door 

- 2 door handles for oven and fridge

- 4 wooden coasters for cooktops 

- 4 wooden knobs for cooktop 

- 2 magnetic clips for door closure on oven and fridge 

- 4 new hinges for fridge and oven doors

- Wrapping paper for backing 

- Photo frame for the window

- Cheap t shirt for curtains (fabric would be cheap too but I wasn't near any fabric stores!) 

- Wall decal stickers to decorate 

What I already had at home or was given to us: 

- Unused TV unit! (thank you Mr & Mrs W) 

- Silver spray paint for the oven 

- Black paint for the oven and cooktop

- Silver salad bowl for the sink

- Silver tap (thank you Mr H) 

- Pretty photo for the scenery (thanks Mum & Dad) 

- Wooden placemat used for cooktop 

- Clear contact to protect the backing 

- Ribbon to tie the curtains 

- Foam letters to decorate the fridge 

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Sweet Valentines Day craft for littlies

Need something sweet for Valentines day but your little one is a it too young for 'craft'? Then keep reading cause we have an easy and super sweet (literally) activity...

  

We made some nice and glossy fingerpaints by mixing food colouring with liquid sweetened condensed milk (I just use the cheap stuff) we don't eat sugar here so I discourage the Ladybug from tasting it, but atleast I know if she did, then it's not so bad!

This is a very messy activity, but pretty easy to clean up with a washer and water.

 

Hang paintings to dry, cut into preferred shapes - we did hearts - write a message on the back and run through the laminator to preserve your little cherubs creation. You could easily add glitter to the painting before laminating it.

We made one for Dad and each set of grandparents.

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"Weading Wednesday" - Bookshelves!

Ladybug LOVES books. When she toddles off on her own she is almost always found in her room 'reading' her books or holding a book up to you saying "Wead, wead!" So I thought it fitting to do a book review every week.

To kick things off though, we will start with our bookshelves. A massive part of her book love is due to the fact that she can access her books whenever she likes. They are always on display and not kept up on a shelf out of her reach.

When I first caught a glimpse of these library style 'rain gutter bookshelves' which went a bit viral last year, I was in love. Unfortunately my husband wasn't! So these spice racks from a storage shop were my compromise (that and the fact that I did this while he was working away in WA for 2 weeks!) These particular ones are from Howard's Storage World and were a bit pricey to buy all at once, so I bought them gradually row by row. For us though, the expense has been totally worth it. Plus they come with everything you need to install them. Easy!

Now Ladybug has all of her books out at once and can choose her own for story time before bed and can go and look at them whenever she pleases - so now just be prepared to read whatever the current fave is a gazillion times a day! ;-)

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