How I painted our crib PINK

You guys know that Pinterest has been like crack to me since we bought our house, right? When I saw this pin of a hot pink crib combined with blue walls I was totally sold on painting our old crib. We got our crib on Craigslist for a whopping $40 and I never even had to repaint it for Truman. But after he used it for almost 2 years, the white paint was chipping a bit and even before I settled on pink I knew I'd need to repaint it for baby 2.0. But oh, I was dreading the process. But the results? In love.

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So does that inspire anyone out there to paint a crib? Would you like to know how I did ours?

The supplies:
-sandpaper
-tack cloth
-Krud Kutter (or some other cleaner--we also like Goop Gone)
-spray primer
-paint of your choice--spray or brush by hand, if you dare
-polyurethane or some other protectant
-drill to remove and then assemble all hardware

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Step 1:
I took our already disassembled crib and removed all of the hardware. Totally took pictures of each piece BEFORE I took the hardware off because I knew I'd forget how it was supposed to fit together. Drilling is not my specialty but I'm proud of myself for doing this.
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Step 2:
Sand all of the old paint. You don't have to go crazy and sand it all the way off, but just rough it up pretty good and I focused on the chipping parts the most. You are just getting the old paint ready for primer anyway.
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Step 3:
Use a tack cloth to remove all of your dust from sanding.

Step 4:
Clean the heck out of the crib. I just rubbed Krud Kutter all over the parts, let it set a bit, then used a damp cloth full of Lysol after that to remove the KK. Then I went over it all once more with a plain damp cloth and allowed it to dry fully. This prep stuff sort of sucked since our Jenny Lind style spindle crib has a lot of nooks and crannies.

Step 5:
Prime the crib. I chose to use a spray paint that claimed it had 'great' coverage. I needed two cans just to prime this baby. And it was a flat primer which actually looked kind of cool when it was finished. Let the primer dry for 24 hours before moving on, as hard as it is to be patient.
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Step 6:
Time to paint! I chose a Behr interior paint in semi-gloss finish (Fuschia Kiss, if you must know the color). I simply could NOT fathom painting it all by hand and so I used our Wagner HVLP paint gun like a boss. Nate had to show me how to use it but once he did, I was all over this part. I only got a quart of paint and the lady at Home Depot assured me that would be more than enough for a crib. But alas, it was BARELY enough because sprayers use a lot more paint than doing it by hand. I ended up spraying one entire coat with the gun, flipping each piece over after the front would dry. Then I went back over it for a second coat with my brush, unfortch. There were just so many angles and round parts that the gun couldn't totally handle it all. In fact, there were parts that needed a third coat of pink paint, done by hand with a brush. I'm never very good at waiting for the paint to totally dry between coats, but I forced myself to wait about 2 hours before I started at it again. The gun did help a lot and is SO fast, but just by doing 1-2 coats by hand it did end up taking me much longer than I thought.


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Step 7:
Because this is a crib and therefore something that I anticipate my child gnawing on as she ages, I wanted to do an extra step to protect my paint job. At first, I splurged on buying the spray can version of water-based polyurethane. But maybe it was too cold in the garage the day I did this but it did not work. It was all bubbly and gross and nearly ruined my beautiful brush strokes on the crib! So I returned those three cans and settled for doing the poly by hand. Sigh. I ended up doing 3 coats on the tops and side pieces, but I skipped the vertical spindles. I figure that if the pink paint chips a bit, oh well. But the bars on top I did go the extra mile to keep pink and pretty. Since my Behr paint was already in semi-gloss, the poly didn't really make it a lot shinier or anything. But I'm hoping it does help protect it from scratches. We shall see.
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Step 8:
Add all of the hardware back to the dry crib. We waited 48 hours for the poly to totally dry before doing this and I did ask my husband for help this time around with the drill. Then he assembled the crib for me in the nursery, and voila!!
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We have ourselves a pink, shiny, new-ish crib. Iloveitsomuch. Thank you, Pinterest, yet again.

32 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh...I'm exhausted after just reading that! Major kudos to you for taking on that project WHILE pregnant. It looks awesome so it was totally worth it :)

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  2. Thank you so much for posting this!! After seeing your gorgeous painted crib, I know I need that in my someday nursery! :)

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  3. Gr...I just typed a response and it disappeared.

    Seiously!? Gorgeous! I'm loving Miss C's entire nursery but the pink crib? I'm dying. I'm so impressed by all of your prego painting! This post will most definitely end up on pinterest.

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  4. What a great idea and thank
    You for not overdoing the decorating the
    Crib...And putting the bumpers up!!

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  5. Darling! So, I saw this pin (http://pinterest.com/pin/123637952240417341/)that got me thinking that I can paint our crib for baby #2. Here is my potentially dumb question. How do you know that the primer/paint/seal is safe for a gnawing baby? We painted Ethan's highchair for his party and I didn't really care too much to look into safety since he was only in it for 10 minutes. Thanks!

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  6. Love it. I saw a yellow one and wanted to do it, but Nate wouldn't let me :(. And I love that our nurseries have almost the same wall color. Good choice :)

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  7. Good question, LC--I figured that using a water based polyurethane would seal the paint off well enough, hopefully making it harder and therefore keep the paint from chipping into her mouth. I think any painted crib (store bought or DIY) runs the risk of babies eating the paint. As long as its not lead based, I figure it's not worth stressing over too much. Could always put up crib protectors if needed?

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  8. Thanks for this post Julia! I know this is going to be in my future too, as Lizzy gnawed off almost all the paint from the rail of her crib...oye vey!

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  9. So so so gorgeous. Love the pom pom's up top.

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  10. Seriously Im in LOVE with your crib!! Its so adorable! We are painting our crib/changer combo for baby #3 and my question is since our wood is like faux wood what steps would I have to take like would I need to sand it? and since its only 5 years old do I need to use a primer??

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  11. Samantha--If the table isn't real wood it will be totally different than my crib, since it IS real wood. I'd research a little bit more on types of paint that work well on faux wood first. There wouldn't be a need to sand it since there isn't wood to go into. The spray primers out there are sometimes good on 'all surfaces' though, so look into that a bit more. I'd just be worried that if I painted something that was faux wood that the paint job would chip fast. Best of luck!

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  12. Sorry for this dumb question but do you need an air compressor with that sprayer?

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    Replies
    1. The sprayer came with all of the parts it needed.

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  13. Oh and what color are your walls? :)

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    1. All of my wall colors are listed in my "our house" tab on the right side of the blog---definitely in the nursery reveal post and also under the main home button too. I can't remember off the top of my head!

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    2. Thanks!! I'll take a peek over there!

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  14. I love what you did to this crib! It's adorable. And I love the quilt. Where did you find that beautiful quilt, please?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! My mom made the quilt and we found the pattern on Pinterest. :)

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  15. Your crib is gorgeous, as is the whole nursery! Do you recall what brand/type of polyurethane you ended up using to seal with?
    My husband is currently working on refinishing the crib and dresser for our nursery and the sealant gave the dresser a yellowish tint and isn't as glossy as we expected. thanks in advance!

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  16. This is just the post I was looking for! We got a free black crib that needs some work. I am going to give this a try!

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  17. Thank you so much for sharing this!!! I've been wanting to paint a crib and had no idea where to start. This has helped me out so much!

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  18. I am so in love! Amazeballs. Pardon. :)

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  19. I just bought this same style crib off of Craigslist with the intent to paint it blue! Beautiful job!

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  20. I LOVE this. However I still have some doubts about the little ones gnawing at the crib. I'm about to paint mine and was wondering if the paint and sealers aren't dangerous for a baby that constantly tries to eat the crib?? I was going to do mine with homemade chalk paint and seal it with wax but not sure. My little guy is actually one year old and put EVERYTHING in his mouth. We just bought a house and I am super inspired to give the crib a new look that will make it the center piece of my little guy's room, but I am so worried about this issue.

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    1. I hear you, Jennifer!! I'm sure there are other paints and protectants out there that are very 'green' and although not PERFECT, I bet they'd be less risky than regular old paint like I used. I am probably just lucky that my kids have not been chewers. What about a clear rail cover on top of the paint? Would that work?

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  21. I'm in the process of repainting a hand-me-down crib and we already spent a whole day sanding off the glossy dark wood stain and then tried painting it white but it ended up leaving it with a rough surface that almost felt like sand paper... so then I sanded it again and tried a different paint with the same result! Did that happen at all with you or is your surface perfectly smooth?? I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm about to go get some of that Behr paint from home depot to see if that works!

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  22. Hi!

    I just bought a Jenny Lind crib second hand. It's white and it has a few scuff marks here and there I would like to fix. I want to keep the crib the same white. Do you have any suggestions on how to paint it?

    I was thinking:

    1. Sanding down the chipped off paint
    2. Then spray painting with a white primer
    3. Then should I just get some standard spray paint in a gloss (to match original paint) or should I go and do Behr paint?'

    Thank you soo much!

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    Replies
    1. I would probably just sand, prime, and use any white paint. Then possibly polyurethane to keep it better sealed. Shouldn't matter about matching white paint to the original since you will be priming anyway. Good luck!

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  23. I have the same crib I bought second hand and repainted, but I am looking online for a manual. Can you tell me what make and/or model you have here? There weren't any identifying marks on the one I bought. Thanks!

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    1. This looks exactly like my old crib that I'm repainting, it's a Lullabye crib model 04530. Hope this helps!

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  24. This is the most lovely spray paint project I've ever seen!

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  25. OMG Thank you so much I have a crib I wanted to finish To be honest I am so nervous. You made it look so easy Thank you for that. I cant wait to get started.

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