When my son, James, and his wife, Melanie, announced the upcoming birth of Nancy’s and my first grandchild last spring, James immediately suggested we build a crib for the baby.

We installed this a couple of weeks ago when she was 2 weeks old.  She’s sleeping in a bassinet beside their bed right now, but we couldn’t resist putting her in the crib to try it out.

The walnut spindles in the ends have captive rings that she can play with when she’s bored.

It happens that the length of a crib mattress is roughly equal to the width of a double bed mattress, so when she can climb out of the crib the ends can be discarded and the sides can become the head and foot boards of a full-sized bed.

To read a photo essay and see a video of the making of this crib click here.