Children's Playpen with Sliding Door Made from Old Cribs! 2026

Children's Playpen with Sliding Door Made from Old Cribs, they are injection molded plastic in primary colors, and cost over a hundred dollars for a small 6-piece pen. There was no way I was going to have a garish piece of plastic in the middle of my living room.

So I looked for wooden playpens, which exist, but cost a lot more!

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Well, I realized I had 2 IKEA Gulliver cribs that would be perfect for the job.

They are solid birch, beautifully sanded and finished, obviously already pre-approved for children's use (to satisfy the wife's concerns about toxicity and such).

If you don't have them yet, I'm sure they are available secondhand in your neighborhood or online for very little money.

The challenge:

Turn these 2 cribs into the largest playpen, without drilling new holes in the cribs that would ruin the future assembly of the pieces into cribs or children's beds.

The result: the 2 cribs were originally 60x120 cm (2'x4'), which produced a 120x180 cm (4'x6') playpen, which is approximately the size of an adult bed.

Plenty of space for my toddler to play and nap.

Step 1: Start with a plan

Crib to be used:

So I enlisted my baby's help to make some plans.

I was originally thinking about all kinds of 3D printed clips and tracks to hold it together without making extra holes for screws.

But in the end I ended up going the easier route: Zip-ties!

Step 2: Assemble 3 sides of the playpen

Each of the 2 cribs is made of 2 short ends (60 cm long) and 2 long sides (120 cm long). To begin, assemble the 2 short ends and 1 long side of each IKEA layer into a 'C' shape, as shown. Simply follow the original instructions and use the original IKEA equipment.

The crib pieces are turned face up so that the original top rail is on the floor.

This leaves the original crib legs sticking out in the air.

They look like turrets, so I was planning to top them off with castle turret roofs or something later.

These 3-sided assemblies were slightly unstable when built without the 4th side, so I added some plastic shelf brackets (also from IKEA) to stabilize them.

Yes, I know this required some new screw holes, but that's okay because these are added to the original "bottom" of the crib, so they will never be seen if I use them again as a crib or toddler bed.

One of the remaining long pieces (120 cm) is fixed to close the space on one side. I used zip ties as shown, but you could screw it all together if you don't mind the holes.

Step 3: Version 1: Folding Fence [Failed]

To close off the remaining open side of the playpen, my first attempt was to create a hinged door of some kind, without adding hinges! (Yes, I'm crazy)

I tried using zip ties in a loop to let this front door slope down to the floor like a drawbridge.

The top was secured with some baby safety latches that are used to prevent children from opening the refrigerator.

This was a total failure. Firstly, it was impractical to swing a door downwards as it blocked access to the entrance.

Second, the sticky latches fell off one day after my son shook the door.

Step 4: Version 2: Closing sliding doorbird

So I pulled out two soft-close drawer slides that I had purchased but never used, and realized that these were perfect for creating a sliding door.

These had a travel of 60 cm, which is a lot of space to get in and out.

Assembling this was tricky, mainly due to my no holes rule. I ended up adding a strip of pine wood to the bottom of the playpen, so I could screw the drawer track in with as many screws as necessary.

This strip of wood was attached to the playpen through the existing holes in the playard legs, plus additional zippers for reinforcement.

This strip of wood was made into a threshold across the open side of the playpen, giving it the necessary strength and rigidity.

The top drawer track was installed offset compared to the bottom one, so that it does not obstruct the opening. Again I used an extra pine board to screw the track together.

It's hard to describe, so take a good look at the photos.

Finally, I added a sliding bolt to the outside of the door, to close the playard.

I added foam padding to the grip side of the bolt after it gave my mother a nasty scratch.

This sliding latch was sufficient for about a year, but the child has already figured out how to open the sliding door, so we have had to add additional security measures!

Step 5: Play time, sleep time, growth time

It is large enough to become a mini game room.

We have had up to 3 children there, and we often hang out with our toddler for story time and other games.

Step 6: Video

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