Jane fully realizes that she may be the object of envy for reporting that she found this play kitchen abandoned on a roadside (sorry Jane, you've used up your good luck and will never win the lotto now). She also knows that her judgment may be called into question when she reports that she painted over this beautiful wood&hellip
Jane insists that the wood was covered with crayon and marker marks and the coat of white paint is so refreshing that we've nearly forgotten what it looked like before. It looks good as new...perhaps even better!
Jane recounts the story of how she found this play kitchen on her blog Simsbury Skirt where she writes about family life in Connecticut.
Thanks Jane!
(Images: Jane Berling)

Sprout Side Table
Not all wood is attractive or worth keeping. I think it looks loads better with the fresh, glossy paint. I say great job!
I actually didn't like how it looked before. Good call with the paint...what a great find.
Why can't I ever happen upon gems like this along the roadside???
Agreed, the wood wasn't very nice. As a furniture maker, I agree with what nellymom said, "not all wood is attractive or worth keeping." The white paint looks fantastic. Nice job!
I agree that paint looks much nicer! Great work Jane!
Fab find, and so cute. My OCD wants to paint the burner grills black too... but it would probably be a pain to tape it off.
So lucky! And so lovely!
Boring to darling - well done (lucky kids)!
Thank you all for your kind words! DahliaCactus, my OCD wants to paint the burners too AND paint little Hi/Med/Low on the knobs. Wait.... who is this kitchen for again?
The white paint looks fabulous! As much as I love the aesthetics of the natural wood/Waldorf style of toys, my kids always prefer the highly colored, and often plastic versions. This is a wonderful compromise-- nice aesthetics for you, not Waldorf-y for the kids.
(And I agree that the wood wasn't all that nice to begin with).
Great job! I don't understand all the plain wood love here on AT. A lot of unfinished/unpainted wood is just hideous, reminds me of gawdawful things I grew up with. Cheap pine in particular when it gets dinged and dingy, ew. This looks fabulous!
I love natural wood but I agree with the others that some things just need a beautiful coat of paint. To each their own! Be creative & do what you love. That's all that matters.
Looks fantastic! Great job. I never see anything but fast food wrappers and dead raccoons on the side of the road. (Poor raccoons.)
I also frequently prefer painted surfaces to wood grain. I just had our stained (ugly, orangey stain) fireplace painted white and it looks amazing now.
BTW, that's a really cute toy pitcher & tumblers, where are they from? I'm currently outfitting a toy kitchen.
Love the paint job! The wood wasn't that great anyway, and white is a bit more realistic for kitchen appliances.