Living in West Australia’s Pilbara region Skye Hearnshaw knew that an outdoor cubby for her daughter Darcie just wouldn’t work.
“Because we live quite north it’s very hot most of the year,” she told news.com.au.
“So I didn’t want to have the cubby house outside and then she not be able to use it as much, so that’s why it’s inside.”
But rather than let Darcie miss out on having a special place to play, the 34-year-old decided to bring the bring the cubby inside, creating a chic place space that cost just $400 and looks more stylish than most people’s actual houses.
“We live in a complex and we don’t have a big-ish backyard anyway,” she said.
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“I thought if I put it outside one it’s white so it will get dirty, and I want her to be able to play with everything and not have it all sitting outside.”
The nurse purchased an Ikea kid’s play kitchen for $129 and Darcie was gifted a $199 cubby house from Kmart for her first birthday.
Ms Hearnshaw upgraded the kitchen first using pastel paint from Bunnings and metallic spray paint for the handles and sink.
She added cute finishing touches with Minnie and Me Interiors wallpaper for the kitchen splashback and rattan inserts from eBay for the microwave and oven.
Ms Hearnshaw completed the kitchen look with wooden kitchen toys from Kmart, which she coated with leftover paint matching them to the play station’s theme.
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Next she moved onto the cubby, using leftover paints to paint it white with a terracotta coloured door.
Ms Hearnshaw used fake Kmart flowers leftover from Darcie’s birthday party for the flower boxes and added a $59 Ikea kids’ picnic table to complete the look.
With the Kmart cubby a gift, Ms Hearnshaw estimates she only spent $400 on the project, with it taking her one day to complete the kitchen, while she broke up the painting of the cubby over two weeks.
The kitchen and cubby has won Ms Hearnshaw plenty of praise from family and friends after she shared photos of it on Instagram.
“This is so cute, what a beautiful playroom,” one person commented. “Incredible job.”
“This is sensational! Go you!!” another wrote.
“They all want me to go do their kid's cubby houses, I don’t know if I could do it as a job as it’s a bit time consuming,” Ms Hearnshaw said with a laugh.
But most importantly the project got the tick of approval from Darcie who loves the play space and spends hours each day in it.
“I can be in the kitchen, I can be watching TV and she just goes backwards and forwards, she sits in the cubby and plays,” Ms Hearnshaw said.
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