house design » diy projects » wooden cot

Inspired by the Stokke Sleepi, but incorporating several improvements of my own devising, I came up with the following (including the mattress) for our impending arrival ...

topside

underside

top

Once the little one outgrew the small version, above, it was time for the expansion kit ...

expansion kit installed

expansion kit installed

expansion kit installed

To plan some of the wood cutting I mocked up a scale plan in Macromedia Flash. Click on the image below to grab a copy of the 'cot.fla' file (blue frames = vertical grain, red frames = horizontal grain). Most of the dimensions for the cot can be obtained from the web sites of various cot suppliers (isn't it great that they have to publish these to demonstrate compliance with local safety standards?).

.success? failure?

Pros: Looks great; expandable.

Cons: Can not lower the side of the cot to get baby in and out (only an issue once the base is lowered); wider than a standard door frame once the expansion kit is installed (i.e. needs to be disassembled to extract it from the room).

Enhancement Suggestions: None.