5 amazing hacks for kid’s furniture

My dad Brian decided
to make my daughter
Ivy an outdoor kitchen.
He recycled the doors and the back from an
old cabinet. Then, he
cut the bits of wood
into shape and joined
them together. He used
some spare paint to
give it a splash of colour. It took my dad three days to make 'Ivy's Mud Kitchen'. She's given it the thumbs up. Michelle Lander, Chesterfield, Derbys

My daughter Frankie, seven, loves using her desk for arts and crafts. But over time it became stained with pen marks that I couldn't shift. To cover them up, we cut some pictures out from her magazines and stuck them to the desktop. Then, we covered the whole thing in sticky back plastic. Now we can clean up any messes really easily. Claire Stroud, Swindon, Wiltshire

My daughter Amber, six, was set homework to make a castle, so we decided to use materials we had lying around the house. We found a cardboard box for the base, then glued mini cereal boxes to it. Then we attached plastic bottles as turrets. We painted it pink and added some decoration too. As you can see, it looked incredible, and Amber's teacher was so impressed with her resourcefulness! Jackie Wilson, Basingstoke, Hants

My grandson Archie, four, was visiting and I wanted to make my spare room extra special for him. I decorated one wall with jungle wallpaper and painted the rest green, then I added some second-hand fake plants, a green canopy and lots of stuffed animals. Archie loves his new jungle room, and can't wait to show his little brother Rupert, four months, when he's older. Mandy Rayner, Stourport-on- Severn, WorcsSwindon, Wilts

My son Dexter, two, had grown out of his cot, but I didn't want to get rid of it. So, I kept the base, which had some handy drawers in it, and cut a play mat to the right size, before gluing it on the top. Now, Dexter has the perfect table for his toy train and some drawers to pack his toys into when he's finished playing. Tina Coltraro, Dudley, West Mids