DIY Play Kitchen

I’m so excited share that I ‘m teaming up with the amazing Lauren Bradshaw to create a seres of fun and repurposed play items for her absolutely stunning Walnut Animal Society dolls! We’re crazy about all animals in the society but are especially keen on having Mr. Chester the Raccoon and Margaux the Kitty with us today (Kitty is sporting our very favorite Magnolia the Bunny Easter dress. You might recognize our bitty bunny fabric on it. So fun!).

Today we are sharing a simple kitchen set made with cardboard and duct tape. It’s the perfect size for our stuffed friends but would really work great for any 18″ doll or stuffed animal. Or, even for little 18 month old’s who seem to fit perfect in this little space! (She loves it and I couldn’t get her to leave! She now plays with this set almost daily. Her older brother is happy to play along too).

 

From just one large box we were able to make a stove and a refrigerator.

1. To start we cut the box down the middle and used each side – one for the refrigerator and the remainder for the stove. But if you have boxes that are already relatively the size of what you want your items to be, that would work even better (In fact the Walnut Animal Society friends come in a really great box that could be used for this too – we just ended up using for something else). Basically our refrigerator ended up being 2′ tall, 9″ wide and about 8.5″ deep. The stove is 11″x9″x8.5″.
2. Construction was pretty simple. Just decide where you want your doors and shelves etc. Cut them out and then tape them on. I have a huge roll of brown kraft paper carton tape on hand which makes cardboard construction easier (and conveniently matches) but really you could use any packing tape (even duct tape) to adhere the shelving, etc.
3. Once everything is assembled how you like, you can now decorate with duct tape and paint, etc. We kept ours pretty simple but you could get as fancy as you’d like.

You can also use scraps of cardboard to create a few extra play items such as little pot. Basically we just bent the cardboard around into a circle, threw on a bottom and duct taped the whole thing together. Perfectly imperfect repurposed pot.

 

And we can’t say enough about our new Walnut Animal friends. I’m quite fond of Chester. He’s just such a happy and dapper little fellow. But really we might just have to collect them all.

Little Miss M is definitely keen on Margaux and can’t stop giving her loves and kisses. Really they are in heaven in their little kitchen together. Miss M is particularly interested in helping her cook up a delicious meal.

 

We have more playhouse items in store for our friends so stayed tuned. What would you like to see us make? We’d love to hear!