I don’t know about you but I’ve been missing our monthly blog challenges. A lot!
Emily and I decided when everyone was ordered to stay at home for this whole Corona virus situation, that it wouldn’t be fair to be having challenges where the participants have to go thrifting. We didn’t want to be responsible for encouraging something that might not be an option for some and might be uncomfortable for others.
So we basically put the challenges on hold until this is all over with. But we’ve been missing them. And we said that maybe, just maybe, we could come up with a challenge or two that would work during this time.
So we put our heads together and here is what we came up with.
The Rules
So for this challenge, the participants had to take an item(s) they already had in their homes, and give it a complete makeover, new look, new purpose or new function using ONLY materials we already had on hand. Talk about time to drag out all those almost empty paint cans and things like that!
I thought and I thought and then I knew…
The old crib/toddler bed that has been sitting in the rafters of my garage for years, needed to find some new purpose.
I had just the purpose in mind!
First I took what had been either end of the crib and I cut the legs off quite a bit.
Then I took those same end pieces and I cut the top rail and the bottom rail to make them narrower.
I removed any and all hardware that had been on there relating to the function of the crib.
And then after carefully pre-drilling my holes, I screwed the end pieces into the back piece.
At this point I got excited and I told The MR to come quick and see my masterpiece.
He didn’t get excited.
He said “what is it supposed to be?”
When I finally gave up on him ever guessing, I told him it was a bench. Couldn’t he see that?
He said no. He said it looked nothing like a bench. He doubted me.
Those were fighting words! I set back to work to show him a thing or three!
I used the rails that used to hold the mattress frame in place and I made a frame for the seat and I pre-drilled all my holes and I screwed this frame into every one of those vertical supports.
Then I took the piece of plywood that had been the final piece of the puzzle for the crib which actually held the mattress, and I ran it through my tablesaw to make it narrower from front to back.
And then I got some old cans of spray paint I had laying around and I set to work again.
And I showed him!
So in the end I did not buy a single thing to build this bench with. I even dug out screws I had on hand and used a few that I took out of the crib hardware when I took it all apart.
I did buy the cushions for the seat and I did buy the throw pillows but I was going to buy new cushions and new throw pillows anyways for the old swing bench that I used to have. I didn’t like the color of that one though and this spring it decided it didn’t want to live here anymore and it started to fall apart.
And besides, I had to show The MR that I could make a crib into a bench!
Who’s laughing now?
Fellow Bloggers
Click on any of the photos to go straight to the blog posts.
I’m so glad you stopped by today and I hope you enjoyed checking out how we managed to get creative.
Are you inspired to dig something out that you have laying around and give it new life?
I know you can do it!
Until next time…
HI Tara! I LOVE how your crib-now-bench turned out!!! The curves of the original bed are pretty and you did a great job making it. The Mr. should be proud… 🙂
Happy to pin your project to my DIY Projects board for you. <3 Please come add your post to Share Your Style so I can feature! <3
Happy belated Mother's Day to you,
Barb 🙂
Thank you so much, Barb. I am very pleased with it and perhaps more pleased that the old crib isn’t taking up space in my rafters anymore! lol Thanks so much for pinning the post. I’ll drop by “Share Your Style” for sure…
I love how the bench turned out!!! I can’t believe that your husband couldn’t see the vision! You surely showed him! Does he love it now?
Well he sits on it. He doesn’t particularly fuss over any of my projects so it’s hard to know what he thinks of them. I like to think that I showed him though. lol
What? How could he not see a bench? I totally saw it and LOVE how it came out. Nice work, Tara!
I know, right? I give up with this man. I have to have every project completely finished before he can see what it will be….because it is! 🤣😂🤣
great bench. Love re-purposing items.
Thank you, Terrie
Tara this turned out great. Maybe I need to start looking for an old crib to make a swing. Hum.. Love it!
Hey – Why not? 🙂
How cute is this, who would think that a crib could turn out so stunning and functional!! Love the colours and love the detail of the crib/ seat!! Makes me want to run out and buy a crib lol!! Great project Tara!!
Teresa
Well I bet if you kept your eyes open, you might run across a crib at a garage sale
Or something for super cheap and you could make your own. I’m certainly glad to have the crib out of my rafters collecting dust
This is such a creative idea! And I love how it turned out. Beautiful!!
Thank you so much, Michelle. I’m glad I was able to put the crib to good use rather than just collecting dust. I needed a new bench anyways….thanks for stopping by.
Incredible! I’m going to share this will my kids.
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you were inspired by it. Thanks for stopping by
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