Building a Wooden Baby Crib

Copyright Randy Melton 2005

Section 1 - The Design

Soon after my wife and I discovered she was pregnant someone commented that I would probably want to make the crib. I started thinking about it and decided it was a great idea! It would be a wonderful gift for my first child, maybe something that would be cherished by future generations. Before I started I told my wife that I would probably spend more building it than if we bought it (not counting my time.) But I enjoy building things and she supported the idea. It helped that she was excited about being able to decorate it.

I started paying attention to the details of cribs belonging to friends and family and making several visits to local furniture stores. I carried a digital camera to the stores and took pictures of anything we liked. My wife pointed out a crib she loved, and another she hated. She was amazed when I showed her they were identical but had different finishes. (She liked an antique crackle finish on a crib with spindles, and didn't like an off-white plain paint finish on an identical frame.)

We live in a townhouse and I don't have much of a shop so I have to drag tools out to the yard, work then move everything back into a basement storeroom. I started the process 5 months before the baby was due and didn't plan on rushing through. There were times when I made a part, wasn't happy with the results and started over.

We identified design aspects of several cribs that we liked:

Spindle sides rather than slats
Non-solid ends that we could see through, but not spindles on the end
High corner posts that could be decorated with finials (carved animals)
A large drawer for storage beneath the mattress

We loved the selection at "BuyBuy Baby" and got a lot of our ideas from things we saw there. They have a fantastic selection. We bought most of our baby stuff there including a changing table and armoire. We loved their selection and prices.


We liked the general style of the ends of this crib. Notice that the bottom portion is a panel while the upright section has vertical access.	We liked the general style of this crib. It was the only one we saw with corner posts. (we don't want a canopy, but the decorations on the post tops can be fun.) I liked the painting as well.	My wife loved the crackle paint job on this crib as well as the spindles. You can see me getting an idea of the spacing. I'd love to know where to buy this spindle style.

Crib Design / Crib Components / Crib Frame Construction / Crib Drawer Construction / Crib Painting & Finishing / Crib Picture Gallery
Back to Woodworking Projects / Sawbee Home page

I can be contacted at: