I full heartedly believe my husband is regretting moving us so close to an IKEA. Last time I dragged him there we built a desk, and this time we gave a play kitchen that we purchased for our son – a makeover.
I knew I wanted to purchase Calihan a kitchen when he started showing interest in his play food, and cooking with us. I looked online everywhere but could not find one that matched the theme we had happening in our place. I love the wood look, but we have more whites – blues – grays in our household.
I found this $89 play kitchen from IKEA and instantly looked up ways to touch it up.
We took Calihan with us to make sure he would be interested, and he was so excited when he saw this kitchen!
The next stop was Lowes to get the paint, backsplash, board, paint brushes, superglue, and painters tape.
This is where the process can get pricey (if you’re picky like I am) or it can be super cheap and easy!
We didn’t have any paint brushes, super glue, or painters tape on hand so we had to purchase those as extras. The backsplash I chose was $7.99 and it took 4.5 packs to cover the entire back of the kitchen. We just used a thin piece of 26.5 x 13 board/wood to put them on and attach to the back! Amazon has fun backsplash as well which I’ll link at the bottom of this post.
We used spray paint for the hardware (champagne mist), and the top part of the kitchen (white). I highly recommend laying out all of the pieces to make sure you know which ones are going to be what color.
The hardware took only one can of the Champagne Mist ($7) – almost exactly. We purchased 2 cans of the white ($6).
We used an old box that I used to paint with Calihan on (as you can see the bright paint everywhere) and placed the hardware by puncturing holes into the box. This made it easier to get all of the angles without smudging parts of the hardware.
The white went on anything above the base of the kitchen starting with the countertop.
The bottom pieces we wanted a certain color for. This was another pricey item since we could have used spray paint, but I couldn’t find a color I was in love with. We went with a color called Silver Fox and have plenty left over if we ever wanted to do another DIY. ($29)
Once all the pieces are dry, you can build! The Silver Fox paint took about an hour for us to feel comfortable enough to touch it, and the spray paint was about 24 hours!
Lyall is big on organizing when building so this is his trick to keep everything separate during the process.
The entire building process took about an hour in total! There were quite a few pieces but it was not hard by any means, just time consuming.
I added the backsplash last to a board that was cut to the size of the gap between the countertop & microwave section. This was quite easy to do, but I did have to cut some of the pieces to fit. The process took about 15 minutes in total. We then superglued the board onto the back of the kitchen.
Before
After
Items
IKEA kitchen – $89
Backsplash – $8 a piece x 5
Spray paint – $19
Paint – $29
Back board (can use extra wood or foam) – $6
Total: roughly $183 + labor
The more you have already, the less the cost will be! If you have leftover paint somewhere from another project, this would be a great use for kids! The $29 could be cut in half if you find a color you like within the spray paint options. The backsplash can range in pricing also! Amazon can help save a few dollars when buying in bulk.
Overall we had a great bonding experience! This takes some patience, but I’m so happy with the outcome! If you’re into projects then I say go for it!! Either way, I recommend this kitchen from IKEA! The original look is just as nice.
Have fun!! If you try this out, i‘d love to see what colors you end up doing!
