Decorate the kid's room

A baby cradle is one of the most useful items because it can keep your baby busy while you cook or clean the house. You can achieve one for your baby from a specialized store but you should know that ready-made baby cradles are not cheap at all.

If you have some free time and you want to save money, you can try to build a baby cradle with your own hands.

All you need is a combination of plywood and oak hardwood and a few tools such as:

– different wood screws; straight groove router bit; router, varnish, sandpaper,  2 top rail boards 1x5x28 ; 2 bottom rocker boards 1×4½x29 ; 2 end panels of  ¾x22x15; pieces of plywood; 2 center rail boards 1×3-1/4×20; 2 upper top rails 3/4x2x36-1/2;  32 inner slats ¼x1x7-1/4; 2 lower rail cleats ¾x¾x36½; 4 upright pieces 1×1½x29¼; 68 slat spacers ¼x5/16×1¼;     2 cleat pieces 3/4×3/4×16½; 2 lower side rails 3/4×3-1/4×36½; 1 cradle bottom ½x18¼x36-7/16 piece of plywood.

How to do it?

  •  Prepare the wood by cutting all the wood pieces to the sizes indicated. The rocker boards, the plywood end panels and the top rail boards will also need some other modifications.
  •  Shape the pieces by sticking  the first bottom rocker board with the second one using double-sided masking tape. Draw and mark an arch on the length of the bottom rocker boards, by using a pencil and a 1/8 inch bowed piece of wood. Then saw out the rocker boards to remove the bottom. Do the same thing with the two top rail boards.
  •  The most difficult part is to attach the two upright pieces with one center rail and the curved bottom rails in order to make the two end frames. When you succeeded this, tighten them togheter with glue and clams. After the glue has dried, make a ¾ inches groove in the upper inside frame where you will place the fitted plywood end panel and secure it with glue.
  •  Now is time to create the railings by by applying spacers and slats to the router grooves in lower and upper side rails.
  •  Tack on cleats and screws to the bottom of the side panels and end frames. The plywood bottom must be tighten with cleats. Is better not to use glue or screws for the bottom piece because you might want to change it in the future.
  •  At the end use sandpaper to finish the cradle. Remove the dust with a wiper and apply a first hand of 25 to 75 percent solution os varnish, fallowed by a second hand of 100 percent varnish.
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