DIY Crib Mobile Arm

7 Materials
$5
4 Hours
Easy

Hi there! I found the cutest mobile ever on Etsy for our nursery that I am so excited about, but it required us building a mobile arm to hang it from (shocker!). We could have purchased a mobile arm, but since we built a custom crib, I didn’t think any of them would fit quite right or be the right color. Anyway, this was a super easy project and I’m so glad we took the extra time to do it!

We started with a 7/8” dowel and a 1/2” dowel that we just purchased from our local Walmart in the craft section and a scrap piece of a 2x3.

My husband cut a 3.5” chunk off the 2x3 and then used a 7/8” paddle drill bit to make a hole for our 7/8” dowel to sit in. Then he cut another 2.5” chunk off the 2x3, since the actual dimensions of a 2x3 are 1.5”x2.5”, he had a 2.5”x2.5” square piece. He just eyeballed the corners and made a hexagon with our miter saw set to a 45 degree angle.

He used the said 7/8” paddle drill bit to make a hole for our 7/8” dowel on one end of the hexagon.

Then he used a 1/2” drill bit to make a hole in the side of the hexagon for our other dowel, which is 1/2”.

Next, I sanded everything really good with 240 grit! I love this Milwaukee Orbital Sander because it has power settings, so the lowest setting was perfect for this small hexagon that I had to hold in my hand without feeling like I was going to vibrate my hand off.

I made sure to round all the edges of the hexagon really good, so it didn't look like he just eyeballed it.

Then I stained all the pieces to match our crib, which is Minwax Special Walnut.

When everything was dry, we screwed the ‘bracket’ to our crib with two 1.5” screws. It’s still easily removable this way and we could fill the holes later if we chose to or just leave them there for our next babe.

We didn’t want anything on the inside of the crib, so this worked out perfectly!

Next, we cut the dowels down to the size we thought looked best. The dowels fit in the holes super tight, so we didn’t end up adding any wood glue when fitting the pieces together, but it can easily be added later.

I thought the 1/2” dowel looked plain at the end, so I found these little finials in my shop that I purchased from Hobby Lobby at some point and they were the perfect addition to the end of the dowel.

Then I just added a brown screw-in hook we had in our junk drawer to the end of the finial to hold the mobile. Be sure to visit my Instagram to see the finished nursery!

Ahh, so cute!!! I got this mobile made to the look like our dogs, Blake and Copper. Copper is no longer with us - he was 16 and had liver failure, so we had to let him go last year. My husband got him when he was 12, so it was a super hard decision and I was so happy to be able to surprise him with this special piece for our baby!

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