Playroom Update: Floor Cushions and Play Kitchen

I've been hard at work putting together Jackson's playroom and I have a few recent additions I want to share. I have been eyeing some cute floor cushions from Land of Nod for a while, but I wasn't thrilled with their pastel colors and, of course, their price tag. I was then thrilled when I found a tutorial for floor cushions over at Living with Punks. With my beginner sewing skills, I was a bit nervous but the end result is pretty awesome, and Jackson even likes them too!

The first cushion was made exactly as the tutorial instructed. I liked the dimensions, but it was a bit too tall for Jackson right now, and I wanted to have another one be a little larger so they could stack. For the second cushion, I lowered the height by 2" and increased the diameter by 3". For both cushions I used an indoor/outdoor fabric since I figured these would get a lot of wear. Overall, I was able to complete the project over the course of 2 1/2 naps.


He loves it, and I like that it gives both of us something soft to lay on when we play together.

I've also been working on a fun play kitchen for Jackson. A few weeks ago Josh and I found this sweet little children's china cabinet at a flea market.

I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. I've seen a lot of DIY play kitchens on the internet that seemed to involve a little too much woodworking skills for my experience level, so it took me some time to figure out an easy way to do the project. In all honesty, Josh put everything together. I was the designer and he was my handyman, but once we started it only look him about an hour to complete (not including glue drying time).

Here is the finished product:

The stove burners were made from wooden plaques from the craft store. I painted them silver and then painted a free form swirl (not perfect, but charming). The sink is a plastic bowl from Target that was glued down. If that doesn't stay we will look into cutting out a hole and using a bowl with a lip. For now, its nice that drawer underneath still works. We also added a drawer pull on the side to use as a dishtowel rack and a hook for a future apron. The most difficult part was making the faucet. I looked for mini faucets at Home Depot and Lowes, but either they were too tall to fit under the shelf, or they involved cutting into the top of the cabinet.

My solution was from the craft store - I bought a wooden letter "J." We cut off the top of the letter, then fastened it back on perpendicularly.
We then attached replacement faucet knobs from Home Depot. Its the perfect size, and I love that the knobs turn. The only thing missing are knobs for the stove, but the ones I had purchased didn't look right. Over all, we spent no more than $50 on the kitchen, which I'm happy about. Jackson is having a blast with his kitchen, and of course had figured other was to play with it...