Project #4: Build a Play Stove

Can I share my favorite Internet pasttime with you? It's perusing the pages of http://www.ana-white.com/, home to a fabulous build-it-yourself blogging empress. I'm constantly finding new building ideas, writing them down, figuring out where I'll put them in the house, and then reprioritizing my list when I find a new treasure.

One of the earliest decisions I made upon visiting Ana was to MAKE, not BUILD, my daughter her very own kitchen set. I didn't want something plastic and cheap. I wanted something sturdy and solid. But I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for it, either. I wanted it to come from the heart--to have meaning. So I decided to build Ana's classic kitchen collection.

I started with the Cutest Play Stove Ever plans. Ana's plans were easy to follow and precise. (Disclaimer: I made a deal with my husband. If he'd build the "shell" of the stove, I'd decorate, paint, and accessorize. After all, we wanted it to be a joint effort!) My husband and I altered the plan slightly because we wanted to model it after a retro-style stove, many of which have a solid door without a window. We accomplished the solid door with the help of a Mini Kreg Jig. (Fabulous tool!)

After a coat of primer and a few coats of paint from the oops display at my local home improvement store, it was time to start accessorizing. I grabbed a curvy handle at the home improvement store, which gives the oven a whimsical feel. My mom found a mirror ("candle plate") at the local dollar store to put up front. I picked up a few round wood shapes and dowels from the craft store. I constructed knobs with some 2" round wood shapes and some square dowel pieces. I made the grill from the square dowels, too. I even pieced together the grates of the gas stove from larger square dowel pieces, glued together. I painted large 4" wooden circles for underneath the grates. I drilled a slightly larger hole in the stove top than the width of the screw, and then screwed the tip of the screw into the knobs, which allow them to turn freely. A few more coats of oops paint, and here's what I came up with.

I'm loving the results, and so is my daughter. She cooks for us al the time, thanks to her Ikea pots and pans (from a dear friend) and felt food. I'm making more felt and wooden food, so maybe in a future post, I'll comment on that. We even created our own logo to strap onto the back of the stove. Handmade for sure!

We've gotten a lot of attention on our stove from our friends and family who have visited. Of course, we refer them over to Ana's site. We can't wait to do the next project!

This project was relatively easy, if you're comfortable using a miter saw. There's no limit to how creative you can be with customizing your own stove, so I hope you'll try it. Depending on how elaborate you get, and what kind of deals you can cut with your local retailers, costs will hover around the $50 mark, give or take a few bucks. I had to buy paint, wood, accessories, hinges, etc., so things were a little pricey. Now we have a good store of small scrap pieces and coordinating paint, so we will likely save on future pieces. Now, it did take several nights to complete, simply because I wanted it just right. So, all in all, I probably spent about 10 nights on this one--mainly because I had a lot of paint to dry!

This project is very rewarding. Won't you give it a try, too? How are you going to accessorize your play stove?