Vintage Doll Cradle Renovation

About a year ago a friend gave a little vintage doll cradle to my grand-daughter, Jillian.  It was missing the bottom board, as well as looking pretty ragged.  Jillian played with it daily, even though her dolls would fall through since there was no bottom to it.  One day recently I stole it from her playroom, took it home with me and proceeded to make it over!

These were the before pictures.  Someone had decoupaged some stickers on one end.  They were peeling and looked quite ugly. 

I used a little Mouse sander to sand the stickers off.  I had to be very careful because the wood here was very thin and damaged.  Now, the fun part begins.  I don't pretend to know ANYTHING about painting furniture.  As a matter of fact, I have done very little of it in my life time.  But, I've seen so many marvelous things done with old furniture and I've read so much about the Annie Sloan chalk paint that I was really excited to give it a try. 

I chose to paint a first coat of Annie Sloan Old White and then cover that with the Emporer's Silk  Red.  I had the idea in my mind (not sure if this was accurate thinking)  that I would sand the red and then the white would show through and would give it a nice aged look.  My pictures get a little sketchy at this point.  (Here's a side note:  my husband and I are building a house and I had this great idea that in between helping him I would work on this project - which was fine, except for one very big flaw:  I was running back and forth and at some point forgot to take pictures!)

I was very happy with the way, after just very light sanding, the white came through.  I then used the clear Annie Sloan soft wax and I was so happy with the way the red came alive.   

One thing I do know how to do, and I love, is sew.  This was the part of the project that I was the most excited about:  sewing the bedding!  I loved this flannel fabric I purchased at my local quilt shop.  It was expensive and I hesitated since this is just a doll cradle.  But, I have learned in my years of sewing that if you are going to spend the time to sew something and you want it to hold up with numerous washings and the wear and tear of little children, use quality fabric.  High quality fabric is also much more pleasant to sew on!

I made the crib skirt, mattress cover, quilt and pillow.  It was such a fun project to insert special little details and try to use up every little square of fabric!  I was very happy with how it came out and love seeing it right next to my grand-daughter's bed where she tucks her baby in at nap time and at night!

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