So it’s November already and we’ve been umming and ahhing over what to get Tiny for Christmas for a while now. This dilemma has not been helped by the fact that it’s her birthday in February and the Grandparents want us to pick presents from them too. One set of Grandparents are buying her a wooden playhouse for the garden so no doubt giving that a make-over will be another post…
Eventually we decided to get Tiny a kitchen. She always enjoys playing with them at baby groups and she’s really getting into roleplay and having tea parties. She also loves helping me to decorate cakes and roll pastry. I think her kitchen will eventually live in our kitchen so hopefully this will be something she’ll enjoy playing with when I’m making her dinner too.
We were given a hand-me-down Disney kitchen but it’s really past its best not to mention the fact that it utters delightful phrases straight out of the patriarchy handbook such “Would you like to help Snow White make dinner for the seven dwarves?” No, no she wouldn’t.
Once we’d decided on a kitchen we then had to decide where to buy one from. Ikea seemed the most logical decision. What’s not to love about the Ikea Duktig?
It’s really well priced at £59. It has a sink, a hob that lights up, two cupboards (or a cupboard and an oven depending on how you decide to use the space), a microwave, two shelves and a hanging rail for utensils etc. It grows with your child as the height of the legs can be adjusted to 3 positions. Ikea also sell lots of reasonably priced accessories to go with the kitchen such as pans, utensils and food.
Another thing I love about the Duktig is that it’s a blank canvas for a make-over or an upcycle which is perfect as I wanted to try and create something unique for Tiny. This is when my genius Christmas plan started to get really complicated. I’m a creative person but most of my creativity happens when Tiny is asleep so I mostly focus small projects like Halloween and Christmas decorations. And despite being quite a creative person I was still hugely intimidated by the range of incredible Duktig make-overs on Pinterest and Instagram.
I just didn’t know where to start. I couldn’t decide on a colour scheme or a theme and I was worried about trying to spray paint all the different bits without a garage in the middle of winter and all the while trying to keep it a secret!
Then as luck would have it I was gifted an Ikea Duktig Hack decal from Modern Little People.
I chose the Deano Dino (green) decal as I wanted something fun and gender neutral. Tiny also loves dinosaurs – it was one of the first signs she learnt. There is a great range of 35 different decals so there’s something for every child. You also have the option of having the decals personalised with your small human’s name which is a really nice touch.
I love the idea of these decals because they take a lot of the stress and hassle out of doing a make-over and help to create a unique look without the need for an interior designer! I’m going to use the decals as the starting point for a bigger rainbow dinosaur themed make-over. But if you’re not particularly creative you could stop after adding the decals and still having something much more individual. The decals would also be ideal for revamping a tired kitchen for a younger sibling.
The decal set includes 1 sticker for the back board of the kitchen, 1 sticker for the front door and 2 stickers for the back boards of the shelves which means that there’s now much less to worry about painting! The decal sets are £16 which is really reasonable.
So far I’ve sourced some handmade dinosaur knobs which I’m going to drill holes for above the oven and I’m making some felt bunting in similar colours to the dinosaur decal. I bought some copper spray paint from Lidl for the door handles and the sink. I just need to make a decision about whether or not to spray paint the oven and microwave doors, and pick a colour!
If you’ve done a make-over on a Duktig kitchen I’d love some advice on the best type of paint to use and how you went about it. Links to blog posts welcome! Updates to follow as hubby and I start on our project…
diaryofazombiemum 