Scott and I gave Ada and Ellie each one “big” gift for Christmas this year.  Ada’s gift was a bike – which, incidentally, she insists she needs to be five years old to ride and hasn’t gone near since Christmas morning – and Ellie’s was this wooden crib I made for her dolls.

She’s recently started on a big baby doll kick and so I thought this would be great for her to keep in her room so she can put her babies to bed.  And it doubles as baby doll storage, so an extra little bonus when we’re tidying up at the end of the day!

I essentially followed this plan by Ana White, but omitted the finials and used 1×2’s for the side bars instead of dowels.  If you want to replicate this version, you can follow Ana’s plan but omit the dowels from your shopping list and add an additional 6-foot long 1×2 to your shopping list.  I cut the side bars 7″ just like the dowels in her plan.

I used a Kreg jig for all the joints, which I just bought, and am honestly not sure how I ever did any woodworking without it!  It is really, really easy to use and makes super strong joints.

For the mattress, I cut a piece of 3″thick high density foam to 12″ x 18 1/2″ to fit the inside of the crib.  I used a spare envelope closure pillowcase for the “sheet,” flipping it inside out and sewing straight seams to make a 15″ x 21 1/2″ square (the extra 3″ are to account for the width of the foam.  I trimmed the extra fabric from the edges, flipped it right side out, and inserted the foam.

I painted the crib white and stenciled a Fleur-de-lys on each end in navy blue.  I also marked off a horizontal stripe with Frog tape and painted that navy as well.