Stop, Shop, & Roll - A Kid-Sized Grocery Store

Guess what our little one got for Christmas???  That's right...a super cool DIY project from Mom (yours truly) & Dad - her very own Grocery Store.  I've gotta admit, though, we're still patting ourselves on the back for this one...

Here's what we started with:

A beautiful antique mahogany wardrobe found for $20 on Craig's List - SCORE!

And, here's what Addie saw on Christmas morning:

Doesn't it make you want to be a kid again?!?  I must admit that I haven't minded stocking the shelves (a.k.a. stacking items back on the shelves at the end of the night after a day o' play).  And, do you see that additional storage on top?  That makes a neat-nick Momma happy.

We left the outside finish as it was because we really liked the pretty stained wood, but we added some glam-fun brass polka dot knobs found at Anthropologie.

I surprised myself a bit on this project for a couple of reasons...1) I didn't want to sand and paint the wardrobe like I always seem to do to furniture we find, and 2) I was happy with the brass hinges (brass is so back!) and opted to go with brass hardware all around with the fabulous knobs and hooks inside (also from Anthropologie)!

We wrapped up the cash register seen on the counter above, and let that be the gift that fit under the tree.  It has turned out to be the perfect choice - it has a cool coin slot that counts how many coins you drop in, a scanner with 5 food items that the register recognizes, a credit card swiper, and all sorts of learning settings.

We picked this baby up at Costco for only $19!  He's so cute, I feel like we need to name him...maybe Clark the Cash Register?  (Found him on Amazon too - Learning Journey Shop and Learn Cash Register)

A majority of the food items on the shelves are wooden Melissa & Doug Pantry Food that I found online at One King's Lane for a steal a few weeks ago.  The cardboard boxes seen under the red counter are also Melissa & Doug, a gift from Addie's Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins who were in on the surprise.  And, the super-realistic shopping cart was a birthday gift from Nonna and Go-Pa.  The Melissa & Doug items can be found on Amazon at the following links - Wooden Pantry Products, Wooden Fridge Food, Grocery Boxes, and Shopping Cart.  The brand is beyond phenomenal when it comes to durability and classic design.

Finally, a comprehensive list of all our little projects to make this into one little gem of a store:

1) Painted interior surfaces (the doors and back of wardrobe) with Chalkboard paint
2) Installed new knobs on the outside and hooks on the inside of the doors
3) Installed a magnetic door-stop
4) Cut shelving from plywood (we splurged for the expensive stuff, and it was a good smooth choice!)
5) Painted shelving in vibrant red and turquoise hues (colors we already had on the shelf)
6) Installed shelving with our neighbors' super cool new Kreg Jig - Google it, if you don't know what this cool contraption is (it provides a super durable wood-to-wood connection with a seemingly screw-less finish)
7) Sewed a little cafe curtain from scrap fabric for an extra pop of (yellow!) color and hung it from a little tension rod with ring clips

When we add it all up - we likely spent around $125 on the "build" (minus the food, cash register, and such).  It was a labor of love that hopefully will keep our little girl and her friends entertained for a long time!

If you have any questions about how we did parts of it, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment and I'll get right back to you.  Have a happy weekend!