hats

Imagination is so important.  I love giving my children the opportunities to try and/or practice being anything they want to be.  My oldest daughter loves dressing herself.  She rotates between ninja and princess most of the time.  The fun part about making special furniture pieces like this one, is the fact that I can enjoy it right along side my girls.  We have had our fun acting as ballerinas or super heroes flying through the house.  But the best one yet; is when we act like British ladies with adorable hats at a tea party.  That one is my favorite.

Don’t worry this didn’t cost an arm and an leg and didn’t take nearly as much time to complete as I thought it would.  Yes we had to sand it, prep it with white primer paint, and then tape it off to do the two tone color effect.  Knowing that this was going to be used by kids, I wasn’t too hard on myself to make it “perfect” (I even let the girls have a go with the painting too).  It will get scratched, dinged and even colored on :/.  Don’t fret, the best part is witnessing it being enjoyed.

You can find all sorts of furniture for inexpensive prices in all sorts of areas.  Mondays and Tuesdays are a great place to start at Goodwill.  I have found many items at garage sales and have even been able to find a couple items in the trash/free pile on front lawns.  This particular piece was found at Lighthouse Ministries (similar to Goodwill but Christian based values) for $25.

The primer and light pink paint color I had to purchase from HomeDepot (about $15 – $20), but I already had leftover bright pink paint (always check what you have in your house before spending your money, you’ll be surprised by what you find).

Once all the painting was done and dry I made sure to spray paint a sealer over it, twice (You can find spray paint sealer at Walmart for pretty cheap about $5).  Make sure you let it dry in a covered area outside.  It takes a few days for the spray paint smell to disappear.

My husband had the pleasure of cutting the $9 wooden round dowel and screwing in the two closet pole sockets ($5) to hold the pole in place (make sure it is kid safe – meaning they will try and hang on it, pull it and whatever else they can think of).

Last but not least, I had a few leftover cabinet knobs ($5) from another project. These two cute knobs were on clearance at JoAnns.  It just helped pull it altogether.

In all, this piece cost us around $65.  Well worth it in my eyes, especially since some of the items purchased will be used on other products.  This is also an item I’d like to put in my future tearoom when I have enough room for a children’s tea area.  I look forward to the day when I can watch parents play pretend with their children at my tearoom 🙂

 

I am NOT receiving compensation for any of the materials suggested here.

Thanks for reading,

Katie

Please feel free to share any re-purposed items you’ve had the pleasure of completing. Also share any special tips or tricks for staying below your spending budget 😉