DIY Baby Doll Crib

So my Daughter has a lot of baby dolls lying around the house and she was asking for a doll crib. We priced some of them online and I decided this would be a fun project to design and build. So I came up with a design based on inspiration from ones that i could buy and other DIY ones from Pinterest and such. When I came up with the first design of this I made it so large that in order to make the sides I had to glue up two 12 inch boards to get the desired width, I redesigned them to be slightly smaller so that I could make one of these out of one of the 12 dollar 12"x8'x3/4inch common white boards from Home Depot. This works out much better and means that these are in the 10 - 20 dollar range to build! I hope if you build this your little one gets as much enjoyment out of it as my daughter has. This can also be a hand-me-down or heirloom for years to come!

What you'll need:

1 - 3/4" x 12" x 6 foot boards

Circular Saw and Table Saw (Can make the whole thing with just Circular saw angles would be harder)

Drill and drill bits

1 5/8" drywall screws

Jigsaw

Bandsaw (Optional)

Sander

stain/paint and brushes

To make both of the sides even I made a template. I just drew out my design on a folded piece of card-stock and made sure that it would fit inside of a 12 inch wide board. Folding the paper in half and then unfolding helps to keep the symmetry.

I traced out the template onto the wood so i have a clear reference.

Next I cut the boards to rough size just past the width of the template so that I can take a much more manageable piece over to the band saw. If you are going to use a Jig Saw for this part you can probably skip this so you have a larger piece to clamp down.

So this part you can either do with a bandsaw or a jig saw

All I did here was cut out the shape of the sides staying on the outside of the line knowing that I was going to come back and give the edges a good sanding!

Next I sanded the edges of the sides getting it down to the line. Just take your time here and be patient you don't want to blow past the line and have a strange shape.

4" x 36" Belt 6" Disc Sander Belt/Disc

Once you have the piece down to a good shape you can take a router with a round over bit and round over all the edges.

MLCS 8384 Round Over-Beading Router Bit 4-Piece Boxed Set

If you don't have these you can EASILY round over the edges by just hand sanding or even using a sander.

So if you want the crib to look like this one I cut out the shape of a heart from the side.

To do this I drilled a hole inside of the hear to accept the jigsaw blade and then I just chipped away at each edge of the heart and then finalized the shape. I couldn't get the heart perfect so I got as close as I could and used a mix of

1. A Dremel with a sanding head Dremel 7300-N/8 MiniMite 4.8-Volt Cordless Two-Speed Rotary Tool
2. Hand sanding
3. Using files and rasps Fatmingo 5x180mm Mini Assorted Wood Rasp File Set Metal Needle Rasps Files with Rubber Handle 6 Shapes Bastard files for Wood and Soft Stuffs Carving

and in about 20 minutes I had some nicely shaped hearts cut out.

Next I took the rest of the board I had and added a 7 degree angle to both sides. For the bottom this means that both sides will sit up against the bottom and be angled out.

So if you put this 7 degree angle on both sides of the bottom and you sit the board down flat the top will be wider than the bottom.

And the sides will sit up against the bottom and be angled to be flat against the table.

Then I took the sides and clamped them to the bottom so I could drill some pilot holes and screw it all together. I added three screws on either side and I am just using some rough thread 1 5/8" drywall screws. These work perfectly and it has held together for a long time now.

So next I took one of the faces and set it on the table. I put the sides and bottom on top of the face so that I could measure and center them. I just get a consistent measure on all sides to see how I want it all to fit together and when I'm ready I mark where its all going to go.

I then use hot glue to hold the bottom and sides to the face while I flip it over and drill and screw it all together. Once again I am using the 1 5/8" rough thread drywall screws here.

Next I used some wood filler to cover up the screw holes ( I love this plastic wood from DAP Products because it stays purple while it is wet and turns wood colored when it's dry and ready to be sanded.

Then I sanded it all down working my way up to 320 grit.

DAP 543 Qt Natural Plastic Wood-X w/Drydex

So this is where you can get as creative as you want.

I stained one of these and painted the other. I thought the white was the best here but I can totally see other people using all different colors and adding stenciling and names and getting very creative with it. And I want to see any variations of this you do!

Also for added protection here I put a coat of wipe on polyurethane on it to finish it all off!

Hopefully you're baby doll enjoys his or her new cradle and your little one gets years of enjoyment out of it as my daughter has. THANKYOU!