My Upcycled Week

This is the crib my babies used. We finally packed it away last January, when we bought the kids bunk beds.

I got this crib from a second hand store for about $10.00. It's a drop-side crib, and has since been outlawed for use. At first I intended to save this crib for my little sis, in case she didn't want to spend hundreds on a brand new crib. But, with the new safety regulations surrounding cribs, that was not going to happen. So I had another brilliant idea to upcycle this old crib to something we could definitely use now; a couple of toy boxes!

I just had to wait for good weather.

Last Saturday I was all set to get started on my weekend project. I got the wood, borrowed a skill saw from my dad, had the nail gun ready to go ... I was prepared! And how hard could a skill saw really be to operate? You hold it like so, take the safety off, and pull the trigger. Easy Peasy!
Except, I wasn't expecting the blade to shift on an angle, making it so the blade was barely scratching through the top the wood. Not too mention, completely missing my mark.

With my apparent misknowledge of how to successfully operate this machinery, not to mention, how to fix the blade to the position where I needed it, I called my dad. He was helping some neighbors move, so I had to wait. Being as anxious as I was to get going on this project, it was a long day of waiting. My dad finally showed up, and although he was better with the saw, it still didn't turn out very well. The cut was choppy and not at all even. With out a sander (or sand paper for that matter), this was not going to work.

Luckily my brother-in-law was willing to lend me his chop saw once again. The chop saw worked much better and in no time, all my pieces were cut! With a little extra help from Home Depot for the bigger pieces.

I got the boxes assembled, and the tops fitted .

My little handy man helping me with screw in the hinges.

Next morning, the kids beat me outside to start helping me. They found the sharpie.

This day I had a few more problems. Not really sure how/why this even happened, but I had just used to the nail gun, set it down and went to get the railing ready. All of a sudden, the metal part that connects the air compressor to what ever you're using, shot out from the air compressor hose. I tried to put it back, but apparently couldn't get it to stay very well; because a couple minutes later the hose to the nail gun disconnected from the metal connector. another minute later, the air compressor again, threw up the metal part, sending it 10 feet across the yard. Yep. I was done for the day until husband could come home and really fix it. 

When it was finally fixed, I tried to use the nail gun, only to find it had jammed. Again, had to wait for husband to fix that one too. Luckily it didn't take too long, and I was able to finish up the assembly. 

Now it was time to paint! 

Here is one of the boxes primed and ready for Its new color.

I let the kids pick out the colors they wanted for their boxes.

I used painter's tape to help as a guide; but it was so hot outside, the tape didn't stick well, so a couple of leaks happened (please don't look to closely)

I love them! The kids love them! They are so excited to have their own benches for sitting. I'm excited to have a place for all their toys, and what I hope will be a clean room :)