The Completed but Unfinished Crib

We spent last weekend in NC working on the baby crib.  We left Thursday night after Ben got off of work, and we drove to Kenny’s new house in Newland, NC.  We stayed with Kenny and commuted an hour and a half into Shelby everyday.  During college Ben worked with Mike Greene, a custom furniture maker in Shelby, NC.  Mr. Greene graciously allowed us to use the shop this weekend to complete the crib.  (In May when we attended Kenny’s graduation Ben had cut out all of the spindles & parts of the crib).

On Friday we had a short day at the shop.  We slept in since we had driven through the night and arrived at Kenny’s at 3 am.   We also had a dinner engagement with Ben & Carrissa Stalcup – our friends from college.  Ben routed the edges of the spindles and finished drilling holes.  I sanded.  And sanded.  And sanded.  I think that Ben secretly enjoyed delegated most of the sanding to me because during college Ben did a lot of sanding.

Saturday morning found us at the shop bright and early.  We  finished up some sanding and then tested all of the holes to make sure they were deep enough for the spindles.  Then we glued the four sides together, checked to be sure they were square, and left them overnight to dry.  It’s a short sentence to describe a day’s worth of work.

On Monday we experienced some setbacks, but we were still able to finish the crib before heading back to Virginia Beach.  Ben had to install the hardware to hold the crib together, and there was more sanding to remove excess glue.  The hardware installation was difficult and ended up taking us five hours.   I had not planned to be needed in the shop on Monday, but I ended up spending most of the day there helping Ben.  We had to put the crib together and make sure that all of the screws were set in the proper place.  We experienced some more difficulties, and ended up repairing a crack, but it all came out okay.  Mr. Greene suggested that Ben install stoppers for the folding rail.  Since Ben had not anticipated doing that it took us extra time.  Then we had to cut the board to hold the mattress and install side rails.  It is incredible how many times I had to sand those pieces!  I definitely had no concept of what “sanding” really means!

We completed the crib and left it for Mr. Greene to “finish” and stain.  We were given the curly maple wood, and the grain is very beautiful.  We are going to have it stained a mahogany color, but light enough to allow the grain to show through.  Ben asked to see the pictures of the crib several times on the way home, so I know he is happy with the finished product.  Next step…a baby to go into the crib!

This is the completed crib.  The top rail folds down to allow easy access to baby.

 

I think the grain is so beautiful on the crib!  And after all of that sanding…it was very soft too!