A devoted mother has made her son a miniature street of shops from the popular Kmart cubby houses, and she spent less than $800 on the whole project.
Kymberleigh Krzysztofiak, 28, from Perth, spent just $763 on the dream toy for her one-year-old son, Timmy, and the street encompasses a fire station, police station and a café in between them.
‘We have both firemen and policemen in our little man’s life so it was only fitting to create both in his town’s Main Street,’ Kymberleigh told FEMAIL.
‘I had always wanted to try a cubby hack, and so when I became pregnant with my son, I had already started planning it.’
A devoted mother has made her son a miniature street of shops from the popular Kmart cubby houses, and she spent less than $800 on the whole project (the street of shops pictured)
Kymberleigh Krzysztofiak, 28, from Perth, spent just $763 on the dream toy for her one-year-old son, Timmy, and the street encompasses a fire station, police station and a café in between them (buildings pictured)
To make the street of shops, Kymberleigh first of all bought two cubby houses at $199 each from Kmart.
She then spent $365 on a mixture of paint, decorations, interior furniture and Kmart play sets, totalling $763.
‘My son adores being outside and is so energetic,’ she said.
‘He doesn’t own many toys so I thought an outdoor play space would be a great opportunity to encourage his passion for adventure and the outdoors.’
To make the street of shops, Kymberleigh first of all bought two cubby houses at $199 each from Kmart (pictured) – and she then attached them together with extra wood
The 28-year-old mum explained that she ‘took inspiration from the old main streets you see in Disneyland’ (the police station pictured)
The 28-year-old mum explained that she ‘took inspiration from the old main streets you see in Disneyland’ and started dreaming up how she could make the most of two cubby houses for her son.
‘I didn’t really have any idea how I was going to join them together, however I’ve always loved a DIY project and I’m quite handy after watching my dad build things as a kid and watched my mum sew,’ Kymberleigh said.
‘I like to just throw myself in and have a go.’
Kymberleigh explained that she is incredibly ‘savvy’ and so made as many of the interiors as possible by hand, and bought a lot of it off Facebook Marketplace and budget sites (pictured)
The first step of the transformation was to build the first cubby excluding one side wall.
Kymberleigh then turned this side wall inside out and attached it beside the front of the already built cubby, so it could later become the front panel for the café.
‘I then constructed the second cubby only this time using one side wall as the back panel for the café,’ Kymberleigh said.
‘By this stage I had a long rectangular shaped cubby consisting of three front panels, three back panels and one panel at each end.’
Kymberleigh said the hardest part was the roof, as while she had two parts for the rooves of the two cubby houses she had bought, there was still a large gap in the centre.
Because she didn’t want to spend money on expensive wood, she got her hands on some old floorboards from Facebook Marketplace, cut them to size and nailed them on to the roof.
When Kymberleigh shared the results of her cubby on Facebook, more than five thousand people were impressed with her handiwork (interiors pictured)
When it came to decoration, Kymberleigh said she did two full coats of $25 undercoat from Bunnings Warehouse.
She then painted the outside with Taubmans exterior white and blue paint, before adding in the details with other areas.
‘Once the painting was done, the interiors fun began,’ Kymberleigh said.
‘I’m a savvy shopper and hate paying full price. I got the fire house and door handles from Ali Express, the brackets, bell and awning from Bunnings and then made the fire hydrant using random PVC pipe fittings, a plastic plate for the base and a plastic bowl for the top.’
Finally, she used grass table runners from Kmart to create the grass at the front, before finishing off the interiors.
When Kymberleigh shared the results of her cubby on Facebook, more than five thousand people were impressed with her handiwork.
‘Love it – it’s beautiful. I’m almost 70 and I want one,’ one commenter wrote.
‘Wow this is absolutely amazing, well done and what an incredible play space. His imagination can go wild,’ another woman added.