Crib to Toddler Bed Renovation
Hey Everyone! Today we're going to talk about our new toddler bed. Turin is now almost two and a half years old and we figured it was time for his new toddler bed but didn't like the idea of those expensive toddler rails you can get at BabysRUs. We made ours and it cost $0, yep that's right, $0!!! Now let me explain Turin's bed. My amazing in-laws got us Turin's bed. When we found out we were pregnant with Turin, Nycole was only 7 months old. Surprise! Anyhoot, we knew we needed a new crib for Turin since Nycki was going to keep hers since it's a convertible crib. So when we got the amazing crib from my in-laws it was a blessing beyond belief! Nycki's bed turns from a crib into a toddler bed with rails, into a daybed, and into a full size bed with headboard and footboard. Turin's on the other hand just turned from a crib into a full size bed headboard. Originally the bed was one of those ones that the front went up and down, we called the company and they sent us attachments to make it not do that (since it wasn't legal anymore). Now that it's time for the toddler bed we decided to make some alterations to the crib. This is what we started with.
We liked how Nycki's bed was with the railings on the end. First we decided which crib slats were staying and which would be the middle. We decided to keep four slats at each end and get rid of the four in the middle. Then we needed to decide how high we wanted the rails to go. We decided for this bed that 13 inches was the right height. We marked all of the ones we needed to cut at the appropriate height. Also don't forget to measure the distance on each side how far it is from the side of the last slat in the middle to the side. This was one problem we had and had do redo a major portion of it be not measuring right in the first place because we didn't account for the attachments on the bottom.
Next we took the front piece off with L wrenches and took it to be jig sawed. I used my handy little jig saw and cut the slats at the appropriate areas marked. The four slats in the middle were also jig sawed out at the bottom since they were glued in. On the inside I used my handy dandy kreg jig and drilled 1/2 inch holes into the back.
I took a 1x2 and curved the end so little man wouldn't hurt himself getting in and out of bed. The 1x2s were sanded and then attached using the kreg jig pocket holes. At the end where the 1x2 would connect to the side of the bed we drilled 2 pocket holes. Once the 1x2 was attached to the crib front (not onto the sides yet) it was time to paint. I used a sample paint that I got for free using a coupon I got from my Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Here is what it should look like after everything is dry and waiting for install.
Now it's time for install. Using the attachments I screwed the bottom back on using the L wrenches. Then crawling inside the crib, screw the 1x2 into the sides by the two pocket holes. I used some Old English to clean up the crib edges near where I had jig sawed and where I had to sand where we had removed the slats. Here's how that turned out. The Old English kind of acted like a stain to the sanded wood.
And that's it!
Little man is so happy with his new bed! He has rolled out of it a couple times. It'll take a little while for him to adjust to it, but we have pillows and blankets underneath right now for safety.
What do you think of this transformation? You can do it too!
Have fun!
We liked how Nycki's bed was with the railings on the end. First we decided which crib slats were staying and which would be the middle. We decided to keep four slats at each end and get rid of the four in the middle. Then we needed to decide how high we wanted the rails to go. We decided for this bed that 13 inches was the right height. We marked all of the ones we needed to cut at the appropriate height. Also don't forget to measure the distance on each side how far it is from the side of the last slat in the middle to the side. This was one problem we had and had do redo a major portion of it be not measuring right in the first place because we didn't account for the attachments on the bottom.
Next we took the front piece off with L wrenches and took it to be jig sawed. I used my handy little jig saw and cut the slats at the appropriate areas marked. The four slats in the middle were also jig sawed out at the bottom since they were glued in. On the inside I used my handy dandy kreg jig and drilled 1/2 inch holes into the back.
I took a 1x2 and curved the end so little man wouldn't hurt himself getting in and out of bed. The 1x2s were sanded and then attached using the kreg jig pocket holes. At the end where the 1x2 would connect to the side of the bed we drilled 2 pocket holes. Once the 1x2 was attached to the crib front (not onto the sides yet) it was time to paint. I used a sample paint that I got for free using a coupon I got from my Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Here is what it should look like after everything is dry and waiting for install.
Now it's time for install. Using the attachments I screwed the bottom back on using the L wrenches. Then crawling inside the crib, screw the 1x2 into the sides by the two pocket holes. I used some Old English to clean up the crib edges near where I had jig sawed and where I had to sand where we had removed the slats. Here's how that turned out. The Old English kind of acted like a stain to the sanded wood.
And that's it!
Little man is so happy with his new bed! He has rolled out of it a couple times. It'll take a little while for him to adjust to it, but we have pillows and blankets underneath right now for safety.
What do you think of this transformation? You can do it too!
Have fun!
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