Repurposed Baby Bed to Entryway Bench

14 Materials
$40
1 Day
Medium
The baby bed was used by our children and we placed a considerable amount of sentimental value on it; therefore, upcycled this baby bed to something we needed in our new house - an Entryway Bench.
The scraps were used to make a bed for our daughter's American Girl Doll.
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Baby Bed to Entryway Bench
The bed was one of those overpriced 3-in-1 type beds (crib, toddler, twin) from one of the big box baby stores.  It is noteworthy to mention the bed was purchased before I started building things, which is ashame b/c I could have built this bed for 1/10th of the price we paid for it.  
Anyhoo, this repurposed baby bed to entryway bench would be a perfect project for our new house.
Baby Bed Parts
The baby bed broke down into 6 main parts:  Headboard, right side rail, left side rail, front rail (only used for crib), and 2 runner boards (only used for twin bed).  
The headboard (in the front of this pic) was the perfect size for the back of the bench.  
I did not have any structured plan going into this project - I just stared at the bed for an unordinary amount of time and the bed sort of transformed into a bench in my mind.
Build Bench Seat
I built the seat with 2x4s & attaching the legs from the front rail.  
Next, I cut off the legs from the front rail using my table saw & attached them to the 2x4s using pocket holes with my Kreg K5 and glue.  
Then, I removed the hardware on the bed and filled the threaded holes with wood putty.
Attach Seat
I missed a few pictures leading to the picture below (thank you icloud photo migration).  I'll explain the steps I took in the following paragraphs.
I attached the bench frame to the bed headboard using pocket holes.  The top of the bench is 19 1/4" from the ground in order to make sure the top of the bench seat is 20".  
Next, I secured 4-1x6 pine boards to the top of the seat, but ripped each board down with my table saw from 5 1/2" to 4 3/4".  This made the bench 19" from back to front.
Then, I used brad nails and wood glue to attach the boards to the brace.  The dimensions of the bench seat ended up being 56"x19"x20" (LxWxH).
Skirt and Arm Rest
I took the front rail/panel piece of the bed (this is the piece that would be used for the front of the crip) and ran it through my table saw about 8 inches from the top.  This left me with an 10" piece and a 15" piece with both being 50" wide.  
Next, I used the 15" piece for the bottom skirt of the bench.  The 10" pieces were cut down to 20" for each arm rest.  
Then, I attached the arm rests using brad nails and wood glue.  
I attached the bottom skirt with pocket holes to the front legs and brad nails at the top on the spindles.  
Finally, I used the original bed rail boards as a bottom brace from the head board to the back of the front legs at the bottom.
Baby Bed Local Charm
The bed already had nice trim work, but I added a few trim pieces around the front/side bench seat.
My wife and I were both born in New Orleans and live close to the city presently.
So, I added the 2 fleur de lis blocks I bought from a big box store on each side of the bench skirt to add a bit of local charm.
Priming
I was satisfied with the results once the bench was assembled.  
Next, I primed the bench with this Zinsser primer.  The baby bed had a very glossy finish and it was important that I applied a solid coat of primer to ensure the paint had something to stick to.  
I applied 2 coats of primer with my Graco Truecoat Plus II.
Painting
After applying the primer, I started painting the following day.  
I used Sherwin Williams Essential Gray (SW6002) in a satin finish.  
The paint station in my workshop was setup by hanging a white painter's cloth on the garage door runners on the sides of the bench.  
Next, I used another painter's cloth behind the bench on the garage door itself.  
Then, I used my paint sprayer to apply 2 coats of paint spaced about 6 hours apart.
My daughter is a frequent visitor (& helper) in my shop when I'm working on projects.  
As she was helping me pick up the scraps from this project, I thought of a way to put these scraps to good use.  
Santa brought my daughter an American Girl Doll about a month earlier for Christmas.  
Since Tiffany (the name my daughter gave to her American Girl Doll) needs more accessories than most humans, an American Girl Doll bed is an absolute necessity!
So, I cut a few pieces of scraps I needed to make the headboard/footboard of the bed.  
I had a few pieces of 2x4s laying around, so I used those to make the side rails.  
The bottom of the bed was made with scrap 1x4s.  I attached everything with pocket holes and glue.
Next, I cut some of the thin middle pieces from a leftover side rail of the baby bed and used them to cover the 1x4s at the bottom.
Homemade Chalk Paint
I took this opportunity to use my homemade chalkpaint, which was 1/3 white latex paint, 1/3 calcium carbonate, and 1/3 plasters of paris.  
The mixture turned out well and went on very easily - I only needed 1 coat.  
Next, I sanded it down a tiny bit with 220 grit sandpaper for a distressed look.  
Then, I applied clear finish wax after the paint dried.
Completed Pieces
Here is a picture of both completed pieces.


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Jeremy Hoffpauir
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  • Karen Karen on Apr 19, 2020

    I loved this project!!!!!! I was born and lived in Bossier City/Shreveport, La. until I was 46 and we moved to Salem, Oregon area

  • Eag99062347 Eag99062347 on Feb 18, 2024

    Yes, I've been asked to transform a bench from a crib. This seems pretty straight forward. Thank you.

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