Mission: Mud Kitchen

It took longer than I would have liked to get the mud kitchen up and running, but it's done and I'm so happy with the end result. It's beautiful, sleek, minimalist and MUDDY. But it started as a rusty, industrial metal cart, two stained enamel bowls, and a metal sieve. All of the components were bought at my new favorite thrift/salvage shop, Givits, for a mere $30.

The cart needed a bit of TLC. I sanded it, washed it, sanded it again, and washed it again. Luckily it was still structurally sound, just rusty. Then I painted it a beautiful blue to match the teeter totter. My handy husband cut me a piece of plywood for the top, and cut holes in it to sink the bowls down in to. I sanded the wood and painted it light gray. The bowls just needed a bit of elbow grease to come clean. Some baking soda and water scrubbed the rust stains and dirt away and they looked beautiful again...for now!

The kids were ready to dig in, so they transferred some nice soft dirt from their digging bed into their new mud kitchen, added some water and "blueberry" pebbles from the patio, and made blueberry soup and blueberry pie. I'd say this project is a hit!

Recycling our playscape

Back to reality. My handy husband has been on vacation for a week so a lot of projects got finished! But now he's back to work and I can enjoy the fruits of our labor. This week was all about recycling and rehabbing. We love vintage and recycled items, so fixing up and reusing old, discarded pieces fits perfectly in our plans for a greener, more playful yard. We visited Givits, a local antique/salvage/recycle center/thrift store and found quite a few gems there! First up we picked up this rusty old teeter totter from the '40s.

This old guy needed a lot of work. It is made of tubular steel and the bottom was completely rusted through. We had to patch it with steel patching, and take apart and sand the whole thing. Then we needed to replace the cross-braces, hardware, and make new seats for it. Then we repainted it and put it all back together.

Then came the chairs. More for the adults than the kids I suppose, but places to sit are important around any playscape. We assume they are from the '70s. They were in great shape for their age, but the paint was peeling, and the painter didn't do a very good job taping them off before spraying them fire-engine red. So after some much-needed attention from a paint scraper and a wire brush we repainted them bright green to match the trim and accents around our house. 

The last great find was a length of telephone pole. All that needed was some blocks screwed to the underside to make an awesome balance beam for the kiddos!