Refurb Your Ikea Play Kitchen For Under £30 - Part One...

When we moved house last year a lot of stuff went into the shed for storage. Preloved toys that Hector simply was not old enough for, stashes of clothes and Charlie's much loved Ikea play kitchen that we had purchased when he was 18 months old.

These kitchens like many things from Ikea are reasonably priced - £59 - and given they are flat packed seem to last the test of time - most families with children under 5 will have had this one or a play kitchen of some sort.

The one that we had seen had seen some serious play and was starting to look a bit ropey. I dragged it out in January after the Christmas tree had gone and gave it a polish up and Hector has loved playing with it.

Now it's half term I have embarked on stage one of its refurbishment. Given that the kitchen is in our lounge and is a fairly large bit of kit I wanted it to fit with the decor of the room.

The end result I hope will look like a minature version of my own kitchen. Grey doors with a white marble effect work top.

The beauty of these play kitchens is that they have a blank back which if given an hour can turn this play kitchen into a whole new level of role play to whatever your child wants it to be.

Here I will show you how I created a chalk board effect on the back for under £15...

What you will need...

1. An Ikea play kitchen

2. A tin of chalk board paint (we got ours from B&Q)

3. A paint brush

4. Some masking tape

5. Chalksticks

Method...

1. Mask up the areas of wood at the back of the kitchen so that when you paint it does not mark the wood.

2. Use your chalk board paint to paint a smooth thin layer to the white areas.

3. Once the first coat is done leave to dry for at least an hour.

4. After an hour or so repeat step 3.

5. Once you have allowed the paint to fully dry peel off the masking tape.

6. Take your chalk sticks and get creative - this afternoon we set up a pop up cafe!!

The beauty of the blackboard area is that it can be whatever your imagination wants it to be!

Hector and Charlie have loved playing in the cafe this afternoon and as you can see it's Cobham's newest hangout!

Would love to see your play kitchens!

Nathalie x