DIY Water Table and Mudpie Kitchen

Hello, friends! I'm super excited to share with you a project that I started last summer, and finally finished - Goose and I are both loving her new mudpie kitchen complete with a water table!  When I saw this Mud Pie Kitchen on Frugal Family Fun Blog (now Inner Child Fun), I knew it would be an awesome addition to our yard.

 I would guess that most of you are not lucky enough to have relatives who toss their junk out in the trees behind the farmstead, so if you hear of someone remodeling their kitchen and replacing their sink, jump on it! I tried calling plumbers to get old drains and didn't get much luck, but by keeping my eyes open, I was able to find sink drains for about $7.50 each (thank you Ace Hardware!)

Our sink came from hubs's grandma's, and she had it full of dirt for flowers.  Goose and I gave it a good scrubbing to get off all the dirt and gunk that we could.





Here it is, all clean and shiny!  Well, all clean, anyway...  A true DIY-er might have done something about the rust spots in the bottom; I just used Rustoleum and didn't worry about it.

(Note: it seems that particular brand of spray paint has problems with the nozzle - of the two colors I bought, one didn't have a nozzle and the other one didn't work.  I wrote the company and complained, and they sent me a package with about fifty nozzles. I think they were being kind of sarcastic about it, but I was able to use my spray paint so I didn't care!)

As an aside, I'm sure I used some awesome spray paint tips from Like Merchant Ships, but I can't find the post now...





Two coats of sunny yellow later, I was pleased with the results.

I called my sweet, now-retired dad with the measurements of the sink and he built a neat little drop-in stand for the sink.

Unfortunately, at this point, it sat sad and lonely in the garage for another year while I looked for cheap drains... but I found them and while my dad was here this spring, he installed them for me.  Turns out one of them leaks a little bit, but no matter.







Here it is in action! I have been collecting various items and kitchen things for a couple of years.  Every time I found something that was cheap and looked like it would be fun, I picked it up.

Muffin tins, sillicone muffin cups, spoons, bowls, old egg beaters, small saucepans, strainers, old spice containers (love the vintage metal!), whisks, all sorts of things!









Last weekend was the city-wide garage sale, and I picked up this set of shelves for $5.  I also got the big teal basket and the light teal tub (bottom left) for 50 cents each, the other baskets I had picked up for our camper but ended up not needing.

There is a water faucet about six feet in the grass from where her mudpie kitchen is, and this summer Goose has figured out how to turn it on and off, so she is set!

One thing I really like is how this area stays in the shade for most of the day.  Also, there is a window right above her shelves, so I can peek out at her and check on what she's doing.  This morning, we made a batch of flubber as suggested by Money Saving Mom and Goose had a great time out there.

See what everybody else is making at Skip to My Lou's Made by You Monday!