Simple Wood Changing Table

This is a very simple bricolage project: a woodden changing table that uses Ikea’s vädra mattress. I designed this changing table to fit over a standard crib, but of course it can also work over tables, drawers or beds.  The initial idea was a simple box open on the top, certainly something even beginners can build without much drama.

Building the changing table

The two long sides are just as tall as the mattress, (just remember that there is the height of the bottom”floor” to add to this measure), while the front has a recess that follow the shape of the mattress. The Idea is not having any hard surface sticking out of the mattress shape, as you don’t want your baby to hit any of it in his/hers fussy moment during the change. The “back” of the box can be as tall as the sides, I decided to make it a bit taller to have an handle integrated in it. In this case it’s not that necessary to respect the mattress height, as there is supposed to be a wall behind it anyway. 

Weight problems

To give a nice look, consinstent with the style of the crib, i chose to make the changing table out of 18mm wood (pine in this case). While this ensured a very strong structure, the final result was a bit too heavy to be easily moved in the moment of need. So before assembling the box with the glue, I took it apart and drew some lightening holes on the bottom and the walls. At the end it saved almost half of the weight, and I gained two extra handles on the long sides. After sanding down the whole table, I just painted with an atossic, water based paint found in the local hardware store.

Conclusions

It took only a couple of afternoons after work to complete this project, so it could be definitely completed in a day of work. Depending on the material chosen, no special tools are required either. I used a band saw, an orbirtal sander, a router to shape the corners and a drill, but on a project of this scale you can probably do just fine with hand tools.