In Our Back Yard: A Mud Pie Kitchen!

When a neighbor had to cut down a dead tree a couple of months back, I didn't waste any time claiming several of the big, beefy chunks of wood. I knew I wanted them for a few different projects around the yard, because, well, they're so darned pretty! 

I've seen so many ideas out there for mud pie kitchens, thanks to Pinterest, but nothing really presented itself that would allow me the opportunity to use some of the pieces from the tree. So I sat out in the yard one day scheming about how I might use the pieces... and this is what came to mind.

The plans almost didn't work out. My husband was so frustrated with the uneven nature of the stumps and was worried about stability. Thanks to a friend with a passion for chain saws, we remedied the issue and were back in business!

We visited our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and look at this red faucet we found! The little guy was so thrilled to bring this home. We also purchased a small porcelain sink, and the window above his sink, "just like mama's!"

I sent my hubby out to the hardware store for a couple of beefy, two-by-eight, pressure-treated boards measuring six feet in length. With the help of a friend, he cut a hole to drop the sink into. He also attached the boards to the stumps at each end with large screws, for stability. 

Providing running water was pretty high on my list of priorities. I hadn't seen many mud pie kitchens with that option, but I knew it would be easy to accomplish. When he went to the hardware store, I had my husband take the red faucet along. He bought two fittings. The first, pictured above, is threaded on one end to fit one side of the faucet water supply. The other end is threaded to fit a garden hose.

The second fitting is simply a cap. This keeps the water from running out the other side of the faucet water supply, since we weren't attaching both hot and cold water supply lines.

Finally, a short {six foot} garden hose attaches to the fitting and runs behind the large tree stump on the left {see the first image in this post} to make hooking up the garden hose a bit easier.

A drain plug allows the sink to be filled. Water from the faucet drains into a bucket placed under the sink {see the first image in this post}, and is then used to water plants around the garden. 

The drain plug has since been attached to the 'counter top' using a screw and that small, metal loop to prevent it from being lost in the yard.

Another thrift store turned up a whole crate full of fun, vintage kitchen supplies. I was careful to choose items made from materials {tin, etc.} that would stand up to lots of use and to being outside for long periods of time.

So far, this kitchen space has been a BIG hit! The most unexpected, but "aha!" use so far has been the toddler-friendly access to running water outdoors. He uses his sink to fill squirt guns, or to rinse his sticky fingers after a Popsicle.