Well welcome to the grand opening of Harry’s Hardware, Gas & Auto! I’m sure you’ll agree it’s about time this small e-neighbourhood had a one-stop shop where you can refuel, choose a can of flamingo-pink paint for your kitchen and have a cup of the kind of coffee that makes your hair stand on end. We thought so, anyway….
This was Harry’s main Christmas present, and is based on an old bookcase I found on ebay for a few pounds. Like many 3yr old boys, Harry is a devoted petrol-head and delights in all things auto. Given the domestic backdrop of our home renovation, he’s also a big fan of power tools, screwdrivers, hammers and all other dangerous hardware. Thus, a hardware store and garage seemed like a good idea, and is proving a hit so far. I was lucky enough to find a second-hand wooden kids’ cupboard in the style of a gas pump, but everything else is customised and made from household junk and recycled bits and bobs. So park at the rear, would you, and come on inside for the tour. Let’s start you with a cup of coffee…
Not just any coffee, but Harry’s Coffee, the brand that knocked Starbucks out of town and became a rapid hit with truckers. The coffee ‘machine’ is an black cardboard jewellery box that housed my Christmas necklace (thank you, Santa!), with two cheap pump dispensers glued onto it (from pound-store pump bottles). I made branded signage for the coffee machine and cups on my home printer, and then simply glued a sheet of black card stock behind to form the back and tray. Because the jewellery box is hollow, the pumps do actually press in and out, making for some convincing pretend play and the addition of so many caffeine shots that you’ll be bouncing off the ceiling if Harry has his way. Tiny wooden donuts appropriated from Harry’s play kitchen offer an additional hazard to your teeth.
Whilst you drink your coffee – carefully – come browse our paint selection, made from portion-sized bean cans covered in a paper wrapper. Some of these are empty cans, used and washed out, others are still full; my domestic skills are haphazard so it’s quite foreseeable that I’ll be visiting Harry’s hardware store for dinner ingredients before the month is out..
Alongside the paints are cans of brushes and ‘wallpaper’ – rolled up offcuts of gift wrap and decorative paper. Whilst it’s fun to look at, it’s also helping with naming colours, identifying letters and words, and counting. I fear that Harry is not born to be a customer services professional though; dithering over your choices is not encouraged, and if Harry disapproves of what you’ve chosen, you’ll be given something else entirely and sent on your way. Such is life.
Crime can be a problem in any neighbourhood, even one as lovely as ours, so there’s a section of the store dedicated to discouraging robbers. Harry is passionate about law enforcement, having recently fallen under the spell of Lego City, so most of our games involve Policeman and Naughty Men. I’m quick to assure callers to the house that the various sets of handcuffs left lying around are all from Harry’s toy box and absolutely nothing to do with me or the global phenomenon of Fifty Shades of Grey. The store offers sliding locks to try out, and a set of devilishly small padlocks and keys that test Harry’s dexterity and patience to their limit and beyond. They do also bounce, when hurled to the floor dismissively. The glued-on keys come from an embarrassingly large bowl in our house which stores all unidentifiable keys from our last 5 house moves and the myriad of lost bicycle locks and chains – no doubt one of them will prove to be crucial, and I will have to chip it off from the board – but until then, they serve a more decorative purpose.
I used a jumble of small cardboard boxes to make these faux wooden draws – most are boxes from candles or the lids of various things. I found a graphic of an old shop chest and simply printed and glued the images to the front of each box, adding text for the contents. Once again, the contents have simply been borrowed from elsewhere in our house, but are satisfying to play with and count out. A small set of nesting zinc boxes from our shed completes the selection of handyman bits ‘n bobs.
In other parts of the store you can buy birdseed, choosing amongst varieties depending on which birds you want to attract to your garden, and even find pocket-sized birdhouses to house them (these came straight from the Christmas tree…).
Budding gardeners can choose real seeds from our store list, and Harry’s own tools hang alongside. Pint-sized bundles of firewood and a couple of Halloween-costume prop brooms complete the outdoor maintenance section.
The ‘Parking’ sign rests on two miniature tyres which are actually dog chew toys, found cheap at our local DIY store – we’ll use these in all kinds of projects come the Summertime, I’m sure.
I made the main store sign using off-cuts of skirting board and pasting on home-printed signs. If you look closely, you can see the joins where I’ve pasted pieces of regular-sized paper together to make the super-sized storefront sign.
And finally of course, you can fill up with gas from the pump. Harry’s pedal car has been regularly topped up, as has everything that moves in the household, and many things which do not.
So, a Christmas hit, for now at least, appealing to all of Harry’s manly instincts and providing lots of opportunity for play and interaction – and when the attraction begins to fade, I can simply return the bookcase to its component parts and reinvent it again. Or maybe – and here’s a novel thought – actually place some books on it, who knows?
If you’re new-ish to the blog and like this project, you might also enjoy Harry’s kitchen and shop (note to self: stop buying junk furniture on ebay…).
This is great… I’m sure he will enjoy it very much…
Love It ! I want to go there and shop around.LOL !
Love it ! I want to go there and shop around,LOL !
Amazing Kate! And it is the best kind of hardware store- full of useful stuff mixed with vintage treasures. The paint cans are brilliant. Love it!
-Jeanne, http://www.domesticspace.com
Harry is one lucky boy. I would have loved something like this as a child. So creative!
As ever Brilliant brilliant …. we can dream of playing in it …
Wow! Really pretty looking and well thought out! Love it! xx
That’s absolutely amazing! I would have loved something like that when I was little.
Love your blogs! Your projects are unique and you humor is funny!!
You are ridiculously talented, Kate! Your son is such a lucky little guy to have you as a mom. Wish I could come over and play!
This is the most adorable thing I have seen in a long time. It looks better than my house! I wish I had your talent for decorating. You are extremely skilled!
Seriously Kate this is spectacular! The details that went into it all warm my heart! What a lucky little boy to have such a talented mommy!
This makes me want to have kids. So much detail, and so lovingly “curated”. You are the greatest!
Amazing as always. Seriously, there is so much creativity going in here I can’t handle it!
Incredible Kate! Seriously, I want to hop on a plane to England and come get lost in Harry’s little world. The hardware store, the kitchen, the grocery – all of it is so very creative and overflowing with a parent’s love. Beautiful!
What a fantastic job you did! I love it!
You have blown my mind with your creativity. Brava to you!
That is amazing! I want one! My favorite part is the coffee dispensers….so creative.
I’ll take 3 Thingamajigs, 6 Doo-Dabs, a frosted donut and a cup of your strongest coffee. And fill ‘er up, while you’re at it.
Truly amazing! You are incredibly creative and Harry is one lucky little boy
)
Wow!! So creative!! Very, very amazing! Lucky Harry!
Oh! I wish I had a quarter of your talent!! That’s wonderful! Félicitations
Spectacular!! What a lucky little boy! I wish I had half your imagination when it comes to creating this kind of thing. That said, not having any kids, it would be slightly odd for me to make myself a garage, but hey, it does look like fun!! Which software do you use to produce all your personalised bits and pieces please? Hope you don’t mind me asking. Happy New Year to you all and so glad you’ve decided to carry on with the blog.
Bex.x
PS. Four candles?
Hi Bex, thank you! I have to confess that my IT skills lag far behind my ideas, and so I do all my graphics in MS Powerpoint. Learning Photoshop et al is on my eternal long list of things to do, so in the meantime I do everything in .ppt which I know inside out having done business presentations on it for years. I play a lot with different fonts (and often download free ones from the web to add to the default Powerpoint library), and also take photos of interesting textures and surfaces to upload and use as backgrounds as I’ve done here. So, a somewhat ramshackle and homespun approach!
Well that is fabulous as I thought you were going to say Photoshop or Illustrator or something, but I can manage Powerpoint myself and hadn’t really thought that anything so sophisticated was possible – guess I just haven’t played enough and my work presentations are probably a bit more basic than yours! Thanks for letting me know!
Ah, a kindred soul! Yes it’s surprisingly versatile if you waste enough hours playing with it
I’ll send you the file I created to make Harry’s shop signs so you can have a play and deconstruct it to see what I did, if that’s useful… x
That would be great thanks – much easier to work backwards from the end result than try and work it out from scratch. I’m just back to work after a years sabbatical, so i’m going to have to be very strict with myself not to get carried away working it out in work hours before the weekend! Must. Stay. Focussed!
Kate, this looks great! I love the coffee station, and I never would have guessed that the wooden drawers weren’t real! Harry is one lucky boy.
Awesome!!! You are super creative!
Absolutely amazing, well done!
This is just awesome Kate !
you’re amazing ! Thanks for sharing all this
Audrey
So great!! Love it!! Such fabulous ideas…any thoughts on creating a stationary fire truck, race car or mechanics shop? I’d be appreciative of any suggestions you may have…your aesthetic is beautiful, fun and natural – the perfect match for little ones eyes, hearts and hands…thanks for sharing your creativity! Well done.
Oooh, what a great idea! Love the thought of a fire truck… I think I’d look for a cheap second hand cot/crib to use as the frame (chop the legs off, and take advantage of the fact that most have openable or drop-down sides you could turn into a door). Paint it red, add simple ply panels to paint on feature areas, then visit the dollar store for lengths of hose, anything with a dial or clock face for the dashboard, and add a hanging bell to be rung when emergency calls come in. A couple of chunky bicycle types would be the right size for pretend wheels. Add a couple of hooks to the back to hang the crucial fire helmets on, and then have fun with accessories… maybe some empty pump-action cosmetic bottles for fire extinguishers, foil blankets for those whose lives you save, and some walkie talkies made from little cereal boxes or similar to keep in contact with HQ and with each other during major rescues.. Ok, I’ll stop now, I promise
OMG – thank you thank you!! How fun – what brilliant ideas!! Yeah!! It must be so fun to go shopping/treasure hunting with you! Thank you again – I will start collecting and amassing all things fire related…how exciting!
You’re so creative I can hardly stand it! : ) Thanks for the inspiration!!!!
That is just gorgeous. You really are talented and I do have to admit to some lifestyle envy thrown in ere for good measure! Harry is a very lucky young man indeed.
You are one awesome mama! What a lucky little boy. This is really neat!
I’ve just made my 19 year old son come look at this and he’s wondering why I couldn’t have made him something like it when he was younger! It’s brilliant.
This is absolutely incredible! The vintage gas pump and the coffee spouts are my favorite touches. So inspiring!
I have been wanting to transform my son’s play kitchen into something bigger and better with more details and seeing this is a great motivator.
Wow, so well done. Reminded me of my son who could spend hours playing with old locks and keys. You are very talented!
Kate, it’s just wonderful! It really is. Lucky Harry, My three year old son would LOVE to get his sticky hands on that petrol pump…
Gillian x
brilliant and stunning. your little one is lucky to have a momma like you!
In my next life, I am coming back as your child.
Kate, this is absolutely fabulous. I would LOVE to see a follow-up photo after Harry has played with it… my children would have all of those beautiful things strewn around the room in minutes. What does the hardware shop look like at the end of the day?
Ha! Exactly the same as it would in your house, I can assure you! Curtain rings everywhere, paint cans balanced precariously in unlikely places, toy animals handcuffed to chair legs; you can imagine the scene. I find that a stopwatch is the best way of restoring general order – racing the clock to get the store back in order at the end of the day seems to appeal to boyish competitive instincts
Another adorable creation! I am sure Harry really loves it! Where did you get the petrol pump – it is amazing!
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I am new here, and having a good old snoop around! This is F A N T A S T I C! Such attention to detail and the efforts you’ve gone to, it’s amazing! What a lucky little boy!
Jones x
This is quite possibly the coolest thing I have seen on the internet ever. I wish I knew someone I could make this for!
This is really quite amazing…….. how did you think of all this??? When did you find time to make all this? So terribly impressed. I’m sure your son is having a blast with it.
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Amazing!! Beautiful errr Handsome? Astounding! Inspiring! Where do you find the time!?
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Love, love this! Would love something like
This in my Kindergaeten class!! Great Job!!
Harry’s Hardware is so cute! I love it! When my son is old enough I’m going to have to do something like this! It is so precious.
Your son is one lucky guy! I would have killed for this when I was a kid! Your are so talented!
Your son is one lucky guy! I would have loved to have something like this when I was a kid!
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It is just beautiful – so much work went into it! My parents made me a little corner shop when I was a child and reading this post brings back memories
Awesome! And thanks for following my blog. I hope you enjoy it.
That is such a fabulous present for your son, and so beautifully done! It brings back happy memories of a play cooker I made for my children using a small bed-side cabinet years ago. Upcycling rules!
Kate- I just pinned several of your ideas and started reading your blog. Your ideas are truly amazing and an inspiration! I showed the hardware store and market to my husband and he is completely inspired! We have a question on the petrol pump, did you make it or find it as a unit?
Thank you for sharing and I look forward to reading more. Your son is very fortunate to have such a talented mom! Thanks again.
I’m a little behind in my blog post reading, but I’ve saved every one of yours as I don’t want to miss a thing. Not only are your projects top notch, but your writing makes me laugh out loud and shoot coffee out my nose.
Great Images. Great subject. Top notch!
Wow!!!!! This is amazing!!!!
I have loved following your blog and reading about the inspiring projects for Henry! It has helped keep my motivation up to continue to unleash my creativity alongside my own two little ones. Just a quick question- could you please tell me what brand printer you use for your projects? I have muddled through 4 (!!) and still can’t find one that prints out all our dreamy goodness to their just credit. Thanks and I look forward to reading about more Henry-starring adventures!
Hi Genevieve, I use an Epson Photosmart 1400 printer – I chose it primarily because it prints upto A3 and has great colour vividity. For special projects, I use HP photo-quality inkjet matt paper, which makes a big difference to the brightness and intensity. Because the Epson ink is not cheap I also have a very inexpensive small printer that I use for day to day b&w printing and household stuff. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! Great info on the paper too. Yes, after going through a Brother, a Lexmark, a Canon and an HP, I will definitely look into the Epson. Our main BW laser Brother has been a soldier through all my printing, but I just couldn’t seem to find a comparable color printer. Fingers crossed on the Epson! =)