Before and after

The first step in this project is to find a suitable table. Check the size with suit the user and make sure it has a few drawers or doors. In this case, we used a small table with long legs, and multiple drawers. We don’t have a ton of space, so we wanted to go small. The key to this project is working with the piece you have. Figure out how to use the lines and details of the piece to your advantage.

Modify as necessary: In our case, the table had long legs, which weren’t what we were looking for in a kids stove. So we measured 1 ½ to 2 inches, and cut the legs off, using a circular saw (you could also use a handsaw for this).

Sand/prime/paint: We took the drawers out, and sanded everything down enough that it had a ‘tooth’ to take paint. Then primed the whole thing with white primer. If you’re lucky enough to have a piece in a light color, then less primer will be required, but for us, several coats were necessary. Lesson learned, for this one, we should have done more coats of primer to cover the dark green. If there is anything you want to leave the original color, tape off before priming.

We had taped off anything we wanted to stay green, in our case the panels on the drawer fronts. The rest was painted yellow. Allow to dry thoroughly, multiple coats if necessary.

Make the knobs: We cut 3 circles out of ½ in thick MDF (we had three knobs in the current top drawer, modify per the number of knobs you have/want). Paint the circles yellow. (While this dries you can put more coats on the base piece if necessary.) For the black centers of the knobs, cut scrap wood into triangle or trapezoid shapes, and paint black.

{For the less carpentry inclined, you have multiple options with the knobs. Ours were circles cut out of MDF, but if you want, you can buy disks from the craft store, or even easier, find some flat round drawer knobs a second hand store or the hardware and paint on the details.}

The top: Tape off the bottom (yellow) and spray the top with a metallic paint (we used a hammered aluminum). Let it dry. After it’s dry, tape off the top with painters tape. Use a circle cutter (or a saucer or something else round) to cut out circles that will become the burners. Peel out the circles, leaving the remainder masked. Paint the interior of the circles Red. Let dry.

Attaching the knobs: Remove the original knobs. In our case, there were three drawer pulls which we were replacing with burner knobs. For Homemade knobs: You’ll need for each knob, a washer, your disk, a screw, and the triangle/trapezoid shape. Additionally, you’ll need some scrap MDF to screw into, inside the drawer.

Place a washer, then the disk, then slip the screw through. Screw into the scrap MDF, leaving it loose enough to turn. Then glue the black triangle to the top, covering the screw.

{For Store Bought Knobs: Simply attach the knob as you would to any drawer, but leave loose enough to turn easily. No extra MDF backing is required.}

Now to finish off the top of the stove: Peel off the paper you were masking with, to reveal the red circles. The size of your burners will depend on the size of your circles, so estimate accordingly.

To make the burners: Take about a 1 inch wide piece of MDF, about 7 inches long in our case, and cut at a 10 degree angle on each side. Do this 3 times. Sand edges, paint tops and sides black. Glue to top of stove, as shown, using wood glue. Put something heavy on top until it dries.

Send the Chef in!

About the makers: Dameion is a handy husband who is excellent at turning his wife’s visions into reality. Despite his day job as a programmer, he’s managed to find time to build a new deck and various kid toys.

Dot is an artist and crafter, that is when she’s not busy with her day job or her adorable two year old. She always has too many half finished projects cluttering the house, most of which can be found on Dabbled. The idea of Dabbled is to just try something new, and see what comes out–check out the new “April Fool” contest!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 7:26 am and is filed under ceramics+wood+glass, toys+plush+fun. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.