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DIY Mid-Century Crib – PDF Plans

If you’re looking to build a crib for your soon-to-be child or grandchild, this midcentury style crib is a great DIY project that your child will look great in!

If you’re a DIY-loving, eager beaver, soon-to-be parent that has the crazy idea that you want to build your child’s crib, you’ve come to the right place.

We created a DIY mid-century crib with our own two hands. If you think you can do this, I know you can.

We thought building our son’s crib would be very special, so we tried to do it ourselves. While it wasn’t quick, it wasn’t that hard either.

This was one of our first big builds, so we weren’t experts at the time and I bet our plans can get you through this and help you make a special memory too.

This post will show you how we built our DIY mid-century modern crib and you can also grab our woodworking plans to make it yourself!

Be sure to click over and check out our Jungle Theme Nursery Reveal!

jungle theme nursery

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DIY Mid-Century Crib

This DIY mid-century crib meets the appropriate regulations that we found for what a crib has to be, however, make sure you check the regulations for your state.

If you want a more traditional looking crib, check out our plans for a DIY traditional style crib!

The big things were to make sure that the space between the slats is no more than 2 3/8″, that there’s no gap between the mattress and the sides, and that the railing height is at least 26 inches.

DIY mid century modern crib

In creating our plans for our crib, we used inspiration from this West Elm mid-century crib and the blog post written by DIYstinctly Made. These were a good jumping off point for us.

We also used the same legs that we built for our IKEA Hemnes dresser hack.

CLICK HERE to purchase the Printable PDF Woodworking Plans Modern Crib

Modern Crib Plans

Here’s all the supplies and the general steps for how to make our DIY midcentury modern crib.

You can get the full cut list, material list and step-by-step instructions in our downloadable PDF woodworking plans!

Supply List

  • 110′ of your choice of hardwood. I purchased approximately 24 feet of poplar 1x12s and used a table saw to trim down all the slats and lengths needed
  • One 8’x8′ sheet of plywood
  • 16′ of 2x4s
  • Lots of pocket screws

Step one: Build the Open Sides

I started out by setting my table saw to 1 1/2″ and created 28 slats that were 29″ long. Then I cut four slats at 52 1/4″ long.

I drilled one pocket hole on each end of each slat and sanded everything down. Each side needs 14 short slats and two long slats.

I started with the first short slat 1″ in from the ends of the long slats and used wood glue and a pocket screw to attach them.

Repeat 13 more times with 2 1/4″ of space in between each and finish with another 1″ gap on the other end. Repeat for the other side.

DIY Mid-Century Crib - Charleston Crafted

Step two: Build the Solid Sides

For each of the two sides, I cut a square of plywood 32 7/8″ tall by 30 1/4″ wide.

I then used a router to make a fancy edge on strips of poplar that were 1″ wide with mitered edges and the same dimensions as the plywood sheets.

I used wood glue and a nail gun to attach the strips around the outer face of the plywood.

Then attach a 28 1/2″ long by 2 1/2″ wide board to the inside base of each side where your moveable base will sit on.

Step three: Build the Moveable Base

I cut two long boards 52 1/4″ by 2 1/2″ and seven shorter boards at 24 5/8″ by 2 1/2″.

These I just used pocket holes to join together evenly spaced apart. This base will be used as an adjustable base for the mattress that can be started higher in the crib and then lower to base level.

One note is that we ended up not even needing to use the mobile base because by the time we moved our son out of the bassinet, we were able to get him in and out of the crib easily. However, you still need this base as the base of the crib even if you don’t move it.

DIY Mid-Century Crib - Charleston Crafted

Step four: Construct the Crib Body

Use pocket screws to attach the open sides to the inside of the solid sides. Add another 28″x2 1/2″ board to solidify the to open sides to each other in the middle at the bottom of the crib.

Step five: Build the Legs

I did this same leg system for our IKEA Hemnes Dresser Makeover.

Start out by cutting four legs out of 2x4s. These should be 8″ long with a 7 degree parallel miter on the two short ends.

Next mark a spot 2 1/2″ down from the top on one side and a spot 1″ in from the bottom on the other side. Draw a straight line between those points and cut that triangle out.

IKEA Hemnes Dresser Mid Century Modern Hack

Next cut your beams. You’re going to want to cut your 2×4 down to 2 1/2″ wide to match up with the part of the leg you just cut off.

Then, cut two pieces the length of the diagonal from your corners. Use pocket holes and wood glue to connect a beam to two legs.

DIY Changing Table Topper

Now comes the tricky part. Lay one of the diagonal beams where you want it on the base.

Then, lay another one in an X pattern and mark where you need to cut out a gap. Then attach your two shorter pieces to the longer piece using wood glue and pocket screws.

DIY Mid-Century Crib - Charleston Crafted

Attach the whole leg system to the base of your crib in the corners and in the middle.

If you need to build a bed for a toddler or grown human, check out our plans for a modern platform bed you can build for $50!

Step six: Finishing Touches

Fill in all your holes with wood filler and sand smooth. Choose a stain or paint color that matches your decor.

We chose Rust-Oleum Varathane in Early American to match the other wood pieces in our home.

Read our full review of Early American wood stain by Varathane!

DIY midcentury modern crib

How incredibly awesome does this DIY mid-century crib look? And I built it with my own two hands!

I can’t wait for our child to start sleeping in this homemade crib and then pass it down to our future children or someone who needs a crib.

DIY Mid-Century Crib - Charleston Crafted

Click here to pin this project to your Pinterest board!

Midcentury modern crib woodworking plans

Love the look of this project and want to make one for yourself, make sure you grab our woodworking plans!

CLICK HERE to purchase the Printable PDF Woodworking Plans Modern Crib

Our woodworking plans come with a full material list, cut list, and step-by-step instructions with computer model imagery to help you along.

Our plans will offer more in depth information and you can reach out with any questions!

Before you go…

After you’ve built the crib, here’s a couple other kids woodworking projects you should take next!

Looking for something?

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Search stuff like: Ceiling Projects | DIY Plant Stands | Thrift Flips

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27 Homemade DIY Crib Plans To Build For Your Baby - Blitsy

Monday 13th of September 2021

[…] Has it been a while since you are looking to buy a new modern crib for your baby, something exquisite that looks good wherever you have it but could not find anything suitable yet? If your answer is yes, then let’s plan and build this DIY mid-century crib that would not take you a lot of time. Gather brad nails, power drill, plywood sheets, pocket hole screws, level, miter saw, etc. charlestoncraft […]

Travis Neil

Wednesday 9th of June 2021

Just checking in some measurements. The end boards that hold the movable base are listed at 28 1/2”, the center board you have written as 28” and the width of the movable base itself ends up being 29 5/8”. That doesn’t seem to add up to me. Please help.

Sean

Thursday 10th of June 2021

Hey Travis, could you email me at Sean@CharlestonCrafted.com and I can help with your questions. Thanks!

Amber

Wednesday 12th of May 2021

Thanks for sharing, I'm going to have my father-in-law build for us!! What size mattress did you use in here? I want to go ahead and register for the mattress/sheets/etc.

Sean

Thursday 13th of May 2021

Great to hear! It fits a standard crib mattress! If I remember right, that's about 52"x28".

Taylor

Friday 2nd of April 2021

Do the plans go more in depth than the blog post does? Just wondering if I need to buy the plans since the plan is pretty much laid out on the post...

Morgan

Friday 2nd of April 2021

Hey Taylor - our plans have a bullet list shopping list & cut list as well as step by step directions with computer-drawn diagrams for each step. We aim to make it so you can make our builds completely off the blog post. The plans for sale are what we considered a content upgrade and have the benefit of being PDF (printable or easy to reference on your phone or wherever), advertisement-free, and laid out as I said with the shopping list, cut list, and then a diagram and text for each step. Hope that helps!

Andy

Saturday 16th of January 2021

How did you attach the base lip to the inside of the solid base boards with pocket screws? Seems like an awkward orientation to get them on. And those lips are centered at the bottom of them as well correct?

Sean

Sunday 17th of January 2021

Hey Andy - I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to. The lips on the solid sides? They are screwed straight in. I'm not sure what awkward orientation you mean, I'd be glad to discuss if you can show me more what you are referring to.

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