My Grandson's Crib

When my daughter announced her pregnancy, the second thing she asked me was if I would build a crib and dresser. She wasn’t happy with cribs she had seen at the furniture stores, and, well, who am I to refuse my daughter. All the solid wood came from a local guy, Paul, who recycles fallen trees in the area and works with a local mill. He allowed my daughter to select each board from his stock. All the wood selected was 4/4 and 5/4 thickness. Most of the dimensional lumber is red oak and the upper doors and drawer fronts are “mineralized” cherry. That is the description Paul gave us for the darkened “veined” areas. The cherry finish is natural, while the oak has a water based English oak stain and everything is covered with water based polyurethane finish.

The original design is based on the U-Bild Nursery set. We changed the drawer layout from two drawers to four drawers (3” on top, 4” on the bottom) and shortened them to 22” deep. This left some 13” at the back and we weren’t letting that go to waste. Two small storage areas were created there using oak plywood doors for access.
The upper cabinet was originally 30” deep and we decided to divide it into two sections. The side door towards the front has a piece of whiteboard installed for messages; trying to make use of all the space. The entire crib separates into five sections for moving, and can be used as a toddler bed later on.

This was truly a learning experience. Since I removed as little wood as possible while planing and jointing, all the pieces are true 1” thick or greater. This explains the 235 pound net weight for this piece. The only thing left to install is the hardware; as soon as she decides on a style.
And I still have three more weeks until the baby is due! Now on to the dresser… (Do I sound excited??)