Old Crib Turned Farmhouse Bench

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HOW TO MAKE A FARMHOUSE BENCH USING AN OLD BABY CRIB: IT’S SO SIMPLE YOU’LL WANT ONE TO USE IN YOUR HOME AS WELL AS IN YOUR GARDEN SPACE!

Wow the projects kept stacking up around our place as we neared late summer and I knew I needed to get my rear in gear to get them all accomplished before the weather no longer permitted what had to be done. Since this Crib turned Bench required it be warm enough to still paint outside I figured it had better move to the top of my list.

Do you remember that old baby crib I picked up at the thrift store for $5? Well the only part I really want of it was the springs to do this project with, but for some reason the rest of it never seemed to make it into our burn pile and I’m so glad it didn’t. Once we finished the concrete patio I felt like the space needed another element to soften up all the hard edges of the retainer wall and patio, and what better way than to recycle what we had.

I gathered up the crib frame and headed out back with my miter saw to start cutting and building. Hubby seen what I was doing and decided to come out and help me. I have no idea why I have my own tools if I’m never going to use them, but I was grateful for his help. Two heads are always better than one and between us we had some pretty good ideas and the project moved along swiftly. 

We didn’t have to buy a single item to make the bench between the bed and leftover lumber I had from trimming out the windows it was truly a leftover recycled project. Score, free is always fantastic in my book and it felt good to reuse the frame rather than burn it. 

Of course when I wanted to take pictures of it we were in our second day of nonstop rain. Somehow it stopped just long enough for me to run outside and snap a few pics before the sky let loose and the downpour started again. We’ve had no rain all summer long and desperately needed it so I couldn’t complain. 

Next I have a slide show that has step by step photo instructions on who we hubby made the cuts and put the farmhouse bench together. If you have any questions just leave me a comment below and I’ll try and answer them to the best of my ability. It really wasn’t complicated at all!

• Parts of the crib you’ll need – both ends (the short sides, the curved portion on my bench) and the front portion (the long side of the crib).
• Cut the front portion into two 18″ lengths one from each end and discard the middle (these will be your arms).
• Lay both ends on your work surface.
• Build a box from 2X4’s ours is 18″ wide and the length of the crib ends put together minus the thickness of the arms (this may change depending on the structure of the crib you’re using)
• Determine how high you’d like the seat portion (ours is 18″ off the ground).
• Attach the box you just built to the now bench back and the arms.
• To keep the two portions that make up the back sturdy we reused the brackets that hold the springs in place. One across the top and one across where the seat hits (slide #10).
• Add 1X4 or 1X6 boards to the seat and let them hang over the box you built by 2″.
• Sand and paint.