DIY

Kids Modern Play Kitchen Makeover

I was so excited to do this play kitchen makeover using just paint and some peel and stick wallpaper! Now this play kitchen has a beautiful budget-friendly modern update, and I’m loving how it turned out!

Kids Play Kitchen Makeover - such a budget friendly way to update a kids play kitchen! from A Heart Filled Home

While scouring Pinterest for DIY inspiration, I found some beautiful modern play kitchen makeovers like this one! My girls have used and loved our play kitchen for years and I thought it could use some love with a DIY makeover!

I was so excited to use my Country Chic Paint in the color Hope (Hope is not available right now, but it is very close to the color Darling) to give this play kitchen a modern makeover. My girls love everything pink – so this muted pink was the perfect choice for them!

Materials Needed

Country Chic Paint I used Vanilla Frosting and Hope (Darling is a close match)
Medium Paintbrush (I love using angled ones like this paintbrush)
Artist’s Paintbrush (for the marbled details)
Black Acrylic Paint
Spray Paint in Warm Gold
Sealer (I used a combination of Tough Coat & this spray poly)
Sanding Block
Paper plate
Peel & Stick Wallpaper for the backsplash

Modern Play Kitchen Makeover

I started this play kitchen makeover by adding some peel & stick wallpaper for the backsplash. After I used some peel & stick wallpaper on my bathroom makeover, I had some extra and used it on this play kitchen! I measured the openings with a tape measure, and then cut each piece to size using scissors. This worked pretty well, although I did have some trimming to do to get each piece the right size.

Then I gave the kitchen a light sanding with a sanding block. This helps paint adhesion and makes sure that your paint sticks to the surface. There are some surfaces that really do benefit from sanding, even if just a little light sanding to roughen up the surface a bit.

Then I made sure to give it a good dusting and cleaning to make sure the surface was clean. If you have dust or dirt on your piece the paint will not adhere well and you don’t want dirt mixed into your beautiful paint.

I gave the kitchen 1 coat of this primer because I was painting over a darker color. I wanted to save on the amount of coats I needed to apply, and using primer will help you do that. Primer also really sticks to the surface and provides a good base for the paint to stick to.

Then I gave the kitchen 2 coats of Hope from Country Chic Paint. I painted the bottom section, middle section with the knobs, and the countertop with 2 coats of Vanilla Frosting. This is a creamy white color that almost exactly matched the color of the bottom and middle section. Those areas had quite a few scratches and imperfections, so I covered those up with just 1-2 coats of Vanilla Frosting.

For the burners, knobs and sink I decided to paint them black with some acrylic paint that I had on hand. Using a small artists brush I was able to get into all the nooks and crannies. I LOVE how they turned out and contrast against the white countertop!

How to paint the countertops to look like marble

Then I created a faux marble look by using some light grey paint to do some veining with a small artist’s paintbrush. To do this I dipped my brush in a little bit of grey paint and very lightly painted on the vein lines while twisting the brush as I went.

After that was dry I took an angled brush and tapped it in the white color, and tapped it onto a paper plate. (You only want a small amount of paint on your brush for this step.) Then I tapped the brush on top of the grey lines over and over to lighten the contrast and give it dimension. (You can see this technique in action over on my Instagram in my highlights!) I used this same technique when I painted our countertops for the One Room Challenge last spring!

If you’re having trouble getting the vein lines right, I would encourage you to google images of marble countertops to get a feel for the look you want to achieve. This helped me figure out the look I was going for and gave me a visual of how to paint the lines. I really wanted to get a natural look that was subtle and low contrast.

TIP: If you mess up or make a mistake you can simply wait for the lines to dry, and then paint over them with your base color – in my case I would use Vanilla Frosting to cover them up. I make mistakes all the time – so don’t worry if you have to try again!

For the handles I used this gold spray paint to change the color – I love how the color turned out! The light gold color is beautiful against the light pink and cream color on the play kitchen.

How do you add spray paint without getting overspray?

Because the faucet was already attached and I couldn’t figure out how to take it off, I used a trick to paint it with a small artist’s brush. I took the spray paint and sprayed a few sprays into the cap (until I could see a small pool of paint in it) and then dipped a small artist’s brush into the cap to coat it with paint. Then I painted it onto the faucet with small strokes. It took 2-3 coats to get the same coverage as the handles, but it totally worked!

And FYI you’ll probably need to throw out your brush after painting the spray paint on, because it really sticks to the brush! I would use a cheap brush for this step so you don’t feel bad tossing your brush when you’re done. Or you could use a cheap foam brush!

How do you protect it from scratches?

I used a two step process to protect my paint job. First I used a medium angled paintbrush to apply this tough coat onto the flat surfaces. This stuff really does a great job at protecting paint! Then I used some spray polycrylic to seal the tricky hard-to-reach parts – like the handles, faucet, and burners. I really wanted to make sure that my paint job would stay put and not chip off easily!

What do you think of my finished modern play kitchen makeover? I love how using paint completely transformed the look and feel of the kitchen and gave it new life!