Repairing and updating a family keepsake

When my daughter was very young, my dad built her a baby doll cradle. My daughter never really played with dolls much, so the baby doll cradle was eventually shoved into a cabinet for storage. Unaware to me, the top section was broken off and the whole thing needed to be repaired. To me, this baby doll cradle is a family keepsake and needs to be repaired and updated for the next generation.

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I recently found the doll cradle while cleaning out for a rummage sale. Even though my daughter never played with dolls, who is to say that her daughter or my son’s daughter won’t love using this cradle, so I decided to repair it and update it a little.

My sisters and I joke that even though daddy was very good at building furniture and toys, he struggled with one thing and that was stain color selection.

He even admitted that he just couldn’t seem to pick the right shade of stain for a project and usually hated his choice afterwards.

Repairing and updating a family keepsake for the next generation.

The doll cradle is just an example of a too reddish colored stain for a small piece. My goal for this project was not only to accent the curved details on the cradle, but to also to give it a more antique aged look than the dark red colored stain.

I also wanted to try using chalk paint for the first time. The chalk paint should camouflage the repairs needed on the cradle.

After the glue dried overnight I then applied my first choice of color in chalk paint by FolkArt in 34167 Parisian Grey. I didn’t like it!

I went back to the store and bought the next darkest gray paint color in 34168 Castle. I like the outcome much better.

Chalk paint easily covers the old stain.

I applied two layers of the chalk paint, one layer of clear wax coating, and again I thought it still needed something. So I applied a light layer of Minwax stain in Early American 230 color to create a more aged look to the cradle.

After sanding down some areas to give it a distressed look, I think I have finally found a better look for the cradle. No it is not perfect, but definitely better than the red stain and a broken headboard.

Since this doll cradle is going to remain in my family forever, I’m sure it may go through some other updates and transformations again over time. For now, it makes me smile to remember daddy. And to know I have repaired and updated it for the next generation of grand-kids.