A Play Cupboard

I’ve mentioned before my father was a carpenter by trade. In addition to his work projects he built a lot of miscellaneous items including (but not limited to): a wooden camping trailer, a corner cupboard for my mom for their 25th wedding anniversary, a cedar chest, a cradle for my dolls, a canopy frame for my twin bed…(I sure wish I had a picture of that canopy bed. He made it out of wood and it had flair to it.)

Rough sketch of my canopy bed.

He also made a small cupboard for me in the 1950’s, which I played with when I was a little girl, and then acquired it again after many years and basically used it for garden tools and supplies.

The play cupboard from the 1950’s, before the remodel.

Recently I decided it would be fun to clean it up and let my grandchildren play with it. There were two linoleum surfaces with spills, stains and ground-in dirt so I wanted to have the linoleum removed and replaced with vinyl or something fresh and clean. I asked a friend, who is a wonderful woodworker and has a wonderful woodworking shop, if he would fix it.

The old grubby linoleum.

He said yes. He took off the old linoleum and replaced both surfaces with plywood and applied three coats of polyurethane to them… it looks beautiful!

Eldy, the woodworker, and the cupboard.

Next, my husband and I sanded the doors and sides and added a coat of polyurethane so the whole cupboard looks bright and shiny and ready for playtime…

Restored play cupboard.

I know my dad would be thrilled knowing his great-grandchildren will play with the cupboard he made for his daughter so many years ago.

16 thoughts on “A Play Cupboard”

  2. How fun! I know my granddaughters would love it! The grandsons would too, but might find a different use. 🙂

  4. “Wow”… just wow, a treasure.
    A way for hands to touch across generations. Wonder if your dad might have ever imagined that great grandchildren would enjoy his work. A lesson that what do and create and care for could be larger than we know.

    1. Yes, that’s true…what we do and create could be larger than we will ever know. Thanks for sharing that.

  5. What a wonderful keepsake! It will bring you such pleasure to watch your grandchildren playing with a cupboard that your dad built for you!

    1. Yes, it will bring joy watching the grand-kids play with it…and it already brought joy just fixing it up! 🙂

  6. I am so glad you put the finishing touches on it.
    As the BIBLE says –
    “ For your children’s children…”
    In the BIBLE reference it talked about how we should tell them about God’s love for them and their acceptance of His love, but I think there are many additional things He provides as well, like kitchen cabinets we can play with too. Kay

    1. A lovely thought Kay. Thanks for sharing it, and thanks for Eldy’s part in this process! 😉

  7. Wow, that is so lovely, knowing your grandchildren will be playing with a cupboard your father made for you. As MR said, “A way for hands to touch across generations.”

    I was lucky to actually see the finished cupboard, and it is wonderful! I will look forward to seeing photos of your grandkids at play with the cupboard, Valerie!

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