We got a cradle from my mom, which was used by my sister (1971), myself (1977), my niece (1995) and soon to be used by Calista. I originally wanted to re-stain it, but the project turned into the ultimate nightmare. Everything that could have gone wrong did, from gauging the wood while sanding, not being able to get the stain off of the spindles, trying to spray paint it (which didn’t take), painting it white, not having the bottom fit and needing a new bottom piece cut, messing up the paint, etc, etc.
However, after several weeks, a lot of swearing and a few tears shed, it turned out great, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s nowhere near what I had in mind, but perfect nonetheless.
I started to sand the cradle, thinking I’d just be staining it an oak color.
After I couldn’t get the stain off of the spindles, I had tried to spray paint it. It went badly enough that I chose not to remember the incident with photographs.
Then we moved on to white latex enamel. That’s when I conned Skip into doing some of the work.
Then I decided to be really ambitious and paint some stars on the cradle to match the bedding. I only intended to paint stars on the outside of the end pieces, but I accidentally painted a blue star on the INSIDE of one of those pieces, which is what led me to write ‘Good Night’ and ‘Sleep Tight’ on the insides. It was a lucky mistake, because it really made it look cute.
After I had the new bottom piece cut and put in, I assembled it and put the bedding in. Taa daa!
(Click the images for the full-size photo)