Kids' Kitchen Station

The last project I finished in our kitchen, just after doing our phone niche, is a kids' station.  It has all the things we need to communicate as a family, and a few fun things for the kids to do and play with when the little ones toddle in.  I had planned on making this since we completed the kitchen in 2019, and with other project leftovers, I was able to do it without much more than a piece of trim and things already on hand.  It was a quick project that took about two half-days (welcome to kid-life and paint drying time, after all) to complete.

​This kids' station has really given our family another great way to stay organized and engaged.  I love that we incorporated this Moon Picnic weather station, and reused other objects from around the house.  The magnetic board came with our house, and I've been wanting to incorporate it somewhere for six years.  I love how the spray paint from owners-past accents it against the black.  The weekly planner gets used every week!  It helps us so much to be able to communicate what is pertinent throughout the week.  And the magnetic eraser and marker holder fits right in on the magnet board.  

How It's Made

This was shockingly easy to make!  And I was able to do it with things I largely had on-hand from other projects.  The main board is just plywood that I screwed to the wall.  Since I made a huge hole in the wall doing the phone niche, I knew exactly where the studs were and that this is sheetrock on plaster on lath for this wall.  I wasn't super worried about missing studs, since the wainscoting is also mounted directly over them.  If I ever need to take this board down, it'll be really easy! 
I mixed some chalkboard paint by combining some of my black paint with baking soda to coat the surface.  After two coats, it was ready for framing. 

The frame was one of the more picky parts of this set up, since I knew it needed to wrap around the edges of the plywood.  I measured the inside of the edging, and used a speed square to draw exactly where the cut needed to be all the way around the wood.  Then I used a scrap of lumber to make sure the wood was sitting straight in my saw before I did my cuts.  

I secured the bottom rail of the frame first with a brad nailer.  I lined up the two stiles with their bottom corners, secured the bottom of the two stiles allowing me to have a little play with the top corners.  Then I nailed in the top rail and continued securing the sides.  

Once all the pieces were in, I taped them off (something I don't often do with paint) and finished the wood with shellac and stain.  I used the same finish that I used on the telephone niche, and it matches the niche and the kitchen cabinets very well!  

Then I started with mounting everything else to the board.  This was fairly easy since it's just plywood, and I can change where things are to fit our needs easily. I started with two nails so I can take down our white board every week to fill out our schedule.  I bent the nails up so they act more like flat hooks, and I repeated that with the magnetic board since it is surprisingly heavy.  I wanted to make sure it had a strong cleat instead of just relying on construction adhesive.  

How It's Working

As we've lived with the board, we've found that this already works well for us.  We can communicate clearly about what is going on, the big kids have a spot for encouraging messages, and the little kids are constantly spinning dials and pulling off the pieces of the weather station.  

Since putting this in, I've moved the calendar, started adding art, and put in a little propagation station.  This is a great spot for all of us to check in with each other and make sure we have what we need.  I'm surprised with how well it works in tandem with the phone niche to keep us all organized and connected.