New Uses For An Old Crib

Q.    I have an old crib. The wood is stripped where the screws screw in and It is unsafe e for a baby. I hate to just throw it out. I was looking at it trying to figure out if I could make some kind of bench with it or something. Any suggestions?

I was just reading in a magazine about a woman who removed one side of an old crib. She strengthened the joints, refinished it, and made a nice thick cushion. It now sits in her foyer.  Janet S.

We took our daughters old crib and removed one side. My husband then added steel corner braces to the sides and we put back her mattress and made a little "daybed/couch" to hang out on. A knit crib sheet fit over the top or end rails to form a great tent or hideout and it held many fun times! Use your imagination to find a use for older kids not just babies!

Make the needed repairs….Remove one side and secure the remaining three sides (you can use the discarded side as a decorative trellis in the garden) …paint….make a cover for the mattress and throw numerous pillows with coordinating fabrics and of different sizes and voila you have a new love seat or spare day bed.

I don’t think I can explain it in an email, but sometimes you can find instructions, or how to order the show/transcript from HGTV.  Robin

1. Remove the side pieces (with rails) and use them as baby gates. Attach a cleat to both sides of the doorway, and attach the crib sides to the cleats with a piano hinge on one side and backyard gate hardware on the other.  2. Separate the 4 sides from each other and use as garden fencing.  3. Cut the legs down so the frame sits on the ground. Use as a playpen.  4. Remove one end side (without rails), turn the crib on end with the open end up, slide boards through the rail parts, and presto ! Instant shelving  unit. Heidi

I recently saw on a home improvement television show that a crib was used to make a bench by using one headboard as the back of the bench, sawing the other headboard in half and using these halves as the sides (arms) of the bench and then using a piece of wood to make the seat. If the two headboards are the same height, you can saw the legs of one headboard down to make the "arms" shorter than the back which adds to the attractiveness of the item. It looked like a very easy project.  Good luck.  O’Donnell

Old cribs and any old wooden items make great trellis’s for the garden.  Either take the crib apart and nail the longest pieces to a fence and let honeysuckle, clematis, etc. climb up them. For a more creative idea, take apart your crib and nail it back together as a shape– a miniature arbor, a small upside-down "V" — you can grown any climbing plant on these as well.  And don’t worry if your trellis doesn’t look real nice at first, in a summer or 2 it will be completely covered and you won’t see it at all.  Kelli

Use that old crib as a flower bed in the yard!  It would be so cute with tall flowers blooming in it!  Linda

When my youngest graduated the crib, we put the mattress on her toddler bed, covered the spring with some cardboard and a sheet, and it became home for all the stuffed animals and rag dolls clogging up the toy box.  If you’re a gardener, I have also seen (and considered doing myself when I move next month to a home that has garden space!) flower "beds". You imbed the old bed (or crib) frame in the garden to make a "bed" for your flowers.  I’ve seen some plant their petunias in a pattern resembling a quilt, or plant a cover that flows over the edge like a big comforter. If it were me, I’d plant baby’s breath (of course!), bachelor buttons, and other things with a little height to complement the crib rails. I’d run morning glory up the rails and plant a low border around the outside.   Gette

If the rails are still in good shape, sand them, seal and paint it a complementary color and hang  with black chain and I bolts, and hang from ceiling in kitchen for pots, or hand in garage for extra storage with a suspended shelf.  Good luck  Carolyn

We used the sides of the crib for a gate in our backyard and garden. Also, we used the crib sides in second story windows to prevent our small children from falling out.  Jeani