How to convert a Jenny Lind Crib to a Bench or a Daybed

Everyone has hobbies, right?  Some women like to shop, my hubby likes to hunt, etc.  I guess I’ve finally realized what my hobby is; recreating old pieces! So when I stumbled upon a post from Pinterest about converting a JENNY LIND CRIB TO A BENCH or DAYBED, I knew my next project.

I had an old Jenny Lind crib that has been sitting in my  moms attic for the past 5 years.

It was time to repurpose this antique piece and convert this Jenny Lind crib to a bench or a daybed.

In the next few days I brainstormed how I would cut down, fasten, saw, refinish and recreate my old crib.

After about a month of trying to wrap my mind around a real simple way to do this, I started getting discouraged because this project looked like it would be a little more labor intensive than I realized.

With two active toddlers, my time is VERY valuable, and there isn’t much of it. I decided that this project might have to move to the back burner.

And then a light when off in my head (yes, sometimes this happens). I had an idea; I had two sets of oversized outdoor cushions that I really wanted to get rid of, but I thought they might just be the perfect size for my crib.

This was perfect because now I didn’t have to cut the crib down.

My vintage Jenny Lind Crib would serve as an oversized OUTDOOR BENCH. I was so thrilled.  Since the cushions were not my style, I decided to paint them, and you can see that post on painting outdoor cushions how to paint fabric.

After much thought and deliberation, I decided NOT to make the sides of this bench lower than the back. I might change my mind soon, but for now I decided to leave the sides alone.  So if you’re wondering if I really had to do anything to create this bench other than remove the front piece, well the answer is no.

The one thing I did do to create this Jenny Lind crib to a bench is to reinforce it.

After all, I don’t know that a crib was made for  a 300 LB man to sit on.

Converting a Jenny Lind crib to a bench

Here are a few quick things I did to reinforce it:

In the picture above you can see where I screwed 3 pieces of wood to the crib. Refer to the picture below to see the placement of the screws.

You can see where I used two screws per piece of wood and screwed them into the “bed” of the crib.

I screwed another piece of scrap wood to the bottom of the front of the crib to stabilize the sides.

Now that it was safe for a large human to sit on, I was ready to convert my new bench from a crib!

Because I have a furniture rearranging problem (at least I can admit it), my CRIB TURNED BENCH did not sit outside for long. I decided to keep it one of our side rooms for extra seating. Here are a few pics of my new “seating arrangement.”

My vintage CRIB TURNED BENCH or DAYBED!

What do y’all think?  Daybed or outdoor bench?

Isn’t it funny how we can recreate and repurpose something like a Jenny Lind Crib into adult seating. Now if I can just figure  out what type of seating…:)

Lindsey**