Play Place Restaurant Now Open, Thanks to Pinterest

Oh, darn you Pinterest. You’ve done it again. All your do-it-yourself projects and yummy healthy recipes.

I have forever been lost in the Pinterest world. I do not know when I will return.
Until I do, here is what I have been up to instead of keeping up with the blogging challenges.

Big M and I purchased a home-made kids kitchen sink at the local Goodwill last summer for $5. We decided to fix it up for lil m for Christmas because she loves pretend cooking. Over the years we have collected many foodie toys for her.

Well, our Christmas present turned into making a room in the basement just for her (the room was already made, used to be Big M band practice room). This room is now Play Place Restaurant and everything is repurposed with the exception of the fake food and play food cart.

There was an old Fed-Ex box that we cut doors out of and she put all of her food in there. On top are old salt and pepper shakers we don’t use. This is her “fridge.”

We used another Fed-Ex box and our old cooktop. We ended up buying a flat , new model because this one was having issues. Beautifully duct taped in place. (LOL) She loves it. That little blue pot is a pot I found at Goodwill. The other items she already had.

This is the actual sink I purchased at Goodwill for $5. You can tell it used to be a bathroom cabinet. We added some hooks on the side ($3 for pack of 20) so she would have a place to hang some pots or cups. On the front I added a hand town rack ($4). The drying racks came with her new set of Christmas dishes. The sink was a plastic bin and we spray painted in silver ($3) and we purchased an actual motor home faucet and knobs for $5. We then painted the cabinet yellow with some extra paint we had already on hand. Let me tell you, in a few weeks she is going to be 7 and she still loves her play food like she did when she was 3. I am glad this was something we were able to easily put together for her. I put a nice shiny red bow on it and gave it to her after she was done opening all her other presents. She knew this was something her dad and I worked on together. She was so happy she cried.

Here is the sink and stove together. We also have an old microwave cart that she is using for storage along with some old bins we had laying around.

Our old kitchen tables serves as the focal point for the Play Place Restaurant. Here you see our 50s diner style salt & pepper shakers, napkin holder and our Zsu Zsu friends. They come to dinner quite often.

This is little m, in her jammies, showing her menu for the day. Apparently she was about to clean up a bit before the dinner guests started to arrive.

In the corner you can see part of an old desk we are using as the hostess stand. We have some old chairs we are using as the waiting area. There is Big M hanging out, waiting for his meal.

The beginning of storage and the stove.

The start of the fridge and stove.

So, my end product might not be as fancy as some of those you see on Pinterest and that’s Ok. We are frugal and do what we can with what we have. We built an entire restaurant in our basement m 90% of the contents were things we already had in the house. I think this is awesome frugal living. I love to reuse, re-purpose, and up-cycle. All that matters is that we all have fun building, creating, and playing.