Crib Installation

My husband is very handy. Putting together the crib took all of 45 minutes. I was very worried that this experience would be stressful and frustrating, but it definitely was not! Originally, I thought that we would go ahead and put up the new headboard for the bed this weekend as well. However, I didn't realize that the crib would be in so soon- and we are without a frame for the headboard. That will have to wait for another weekend, after we find a frame in the shed, attic, storage, or basement of one of our relatives (hopefully).

The project started like this:

Frank figured out what went where, and arranged them accordingly before the screws were tightened to hold the parts in place:

Next, the sides were put on (I did help hold the back side in place while Frank tightened the screws):

Then the bottom railing went on:

And Frank and I tried to figure out why the bottom rail on one side would need to be able to swing back and forth. I just figured they wanted to make sure if you were storing anything under the crib that you could get to it. Frank disagreed, and asserted that there had to be a mechanical reason for it.

Then Lola decided to come see what was going on.

And Bebe couldn't be left out of the action either.

And Lola kept looking at Frank and me like, "Is this for me?!"

Then Frank tried to figure out which part came next.

And he did, because he read the directions like you're supposed to. Almost done:

And when he put the final side on, I realized that instead of sending me the new model of the crib that no longer has a drop side mechanism, I had received the older model that still has a drop side. I was rather excited that the crib was not a drop side crib, as a large number of the less well-made cribs have had issues with infant injuries due to a failure of the mechanics of the drop side mechanism. Our crib does have a dual drop side hand and foot lever, and we discovered the reason the lower rail on one side swings back and forth. I still am not a fan of the drop side, and we decided that we won't use the mechanism - so the side that drops down faces the wall, and hopefully our baby boy will never know that it even moves at all.

Here's the finished product:

I was also very pleased that my calculations on the size of the room were pretty accurate. We'll have plenty of room once the iron bed becomes merely a frame and headboard, and we should have enough extra space for the glider and additional baby items as well. The glider should be here in a few weeks, and hopefully by then the room will look more like a nursery. Installing the crib in there is a good first step!