Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make A Clock

This week I was actually inspired by a request from Clara, which came by way of John’s mom. She was laughing as she told me that she overheard Clara telling her cousin that she didn’t have a clock in her room. Random, right? So I thought: I’ve never made a clock… but I bet I can make her something fun – maybe even something that she can interact with somehow. They sell those clock kits, so it can’t be too hard, right?

So here’s where I ended up…

Clock Straight Close

And here it is living it up on the wall in Clara’s room.

Clock After Full

I originally thought it could be fun to use a birdhouse and add the clock hands to it, but a lot of them jutted too far away from the wall and didn’t have enough of a “face” for a clock kit to complete full rotations without hitting some part of the birdhouse and getting caught. Then I came across this DIY cuckoo clock, and I loved it! She has awesome directions and even offers a free downloadable template for anyone who’d like to get exactly the same look, but I was looking to adapt it, so I just used the house-like concept as a jumping off point and decided to add some fun little 3D details that I thought Clara would appreciate.

Clock Dog Detail

So I hit up JoAnn and grabbed a small 12 x 12″ sheet of quarter inch plywood for $3 (thanks to a 40% off coupon), that I came home and cut down to be the shape of a house with the miter saw (if you don’t have access to a saw, this wood was so thin and light that I bet you could have scored it over and over again with an exacto knife and cracked off the corners to get the same affect).

Clock3

I had also grabbed a few little objects at the craft store when I grabbed my board for the background, like a small picket fence ($2.99), a little bag of variously sized disks of wood ($2), and a thin trim piece (90 cents) that I could use to add a little roofline. Here they are all disassembled…

Clock4

And here they are all put together. I just used craft glue to create a little ledge along the bottom as well as a smaller shelf about 3″ below the roof (that wood was leftover from my board that I used to create the house-shaped background) and also glued the little trim pieces along the top to create a little roof-like detail with a round disk of wood under it to mimic a cute little round window.

Clock7

The tiny picket fence was one of my favorite details, which I just glued and nailed with some small picture nails, so that it wrapped around the entire ledge on the bottom.

Clock5

Then I marked the center of where I wanted my clock hands and drilled a hole big enough for the clock mechanism to slip through.

Clock8

Next was painting time. I asked Clara what color she wanted (fully expecting her to say pink) and she said blue! Go figure. Thankfully, I had an old test pot of Embellished Blue by Behr leftover from this project, so I applied two coats for some nice even coverage.

Clock9

After that had fully dried, I moved onto the sketching part of the project. First I used an old coaster to trace a circle for my clock face with a white paint pen.

Clock10

Then I free-handed some cute other details, like a window frame around the round piece of wood I had glued on under the roof, and a few other windows with stems coming up from some window boxes (my inspiration cuckoo clock gave me courage since her sketchy/imperfect drawings were so charming to me). I also added stems along the bottom behind the picket fence and in both windows so I could use a red sharpie to add some flowers in those spots.

Clock11

Here’s everything all sketched out. Once that dried (the paint pen only took about 10 minutes to be fully dry) I moved onto my clock assembly. I had grabbed a clock kit from JoAnn for $6 (you know I used a 50% off coupon, right?) and originally considered painting it, but ended up liking the vintage-y gold finish. It just felt sort of cuckoo-clock-ish to me, I guess.

Clock12

It’s pretty simple to snap the clock together. You just put the mechanism in the back, slide the spire through the pre-drilled hole, and then slip on the hands and the nuts and bolts they provide in the recommended order.

Clock13

It probably helps to see the back of the clock too, so here’s how that looks. The black thing with the battery is of course the clock kit, and since that sticks out from the wall, I glued three pieces of scrap wood back there to make it more stable (so it sticks out from the wall the same amount along the top and bottom. Then I added one of those little metal hangers on the top block to hold the whole thing on the wall.

Back Clock

I also drilled a little hole in the base of the shelf and inserted a 4″ piece of trim leftover from the roof with a larger disk of wood, which I painted blue like the clock. It doesn’t swing back and forth, but I love that it adds to the quaint cuckoo clock feeling.

Clock Rooster Detail

Overall, it probably took me two hours to shop for it, cut, glue, drill, paint, sketch on it, and add the clock. And my total cost was under $15 ($6 for the clock kit, $3 for the wood backing, and $5.90 for the accessories like the roof pieces, the round disks of wood, and the picket fence.

Clock Angled With Raindrops

I think it ended up being another one of those crafty projects (like this one and this one) that could make a really cute holiday gift. Even if you just go simple and paint the clock white with gold or silver paint pen details. Without the extra shelves and the fence it could even be an under $10 project.

The best part of all is that Clara is SO INTO HER CLOCK. It’s adorable. I knew when I added the shelf along the bottom and the smaller shelf along the top that she’d get a kick out of seeing various little animals and dragons and fairies on those ledges (you’ve seen her playing with her pretty extensive collection of those here). We didn’t want to hang the clock too low since it’s somewhat delicate and the clock hands can easily get poked into the wrong “time” – so now our ritual is that every night before bed she tells us who she wants on the top shelf (like “Burger Statue!”) and who she wants on the bottom shelf (“Red Rooster and Kitty!”) and we put them up there for her and tuck her in.

Clock After Clara

Have you guys ever made a clock with one of those kits? Honestly the hardest part was probably drilling a big enough hole to slide the spire though, but that wasn’t even that hard (I just used a few different drill bits, gradually getting bigger, until the hole was the right size).

Comments

  2. AnnMarie says

    Not sure if you mentioned this somewhere else but just curious if Clara is sleeping in her bed yet? Just looking at how tall she’s getting…I can’t even imagine that she still fits in a crib!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      She’s sort of half & half right now! Oddly enough her long legs still fit in the crib and she sleeps comfortably whenever she’s in there without waking up prematurely or anything, but we’re sure by the time the baby’s here she’ll have fully transitioned with time to spare!

      xo
      s

  5. Jessica says

    Oh man, that’s so cute. My favorite part is the red flowers against the blue house. And the fence, of course.

    On a side note, I was doing some Googling for a project I had in mind and read that test paints are formulated differently and shouldn’t be used for furniture and whatnot. I know you use the test pots a lot. Have you ever noticed anything different or had any problems? Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve used test pots for a bunch of small projects and have never had it crack/chip/fade or anything (even for outside projects that get a ton of wear, like painting a utility box, which held up for years through rain/snow) but I’d love to hear back from others if they have had issues! I’ve talked to two different people who manufacture paint and work at plants (not distributors who sell it at stores) and they have both said they think that “lower quality” thing is just a rumor. They also told me that those test pots of paint actually lose companies money (they cost more to make than they sell them for) but they take that hit in the hope that they inspire people to come back and buy the gallon (where they make their money) so one guy said he thinks stores encourage their customers to buy the larger quantities in stores by saying that about the test pots. The other person just said he never heard that, but he believes it’s the same paint and it’s tinted with the same machines right in the store that they use for the big cans, so that isn’t going to vary either.

      xo,
      s

  7. Jessica says

    Love that clock it’s so cheerful! And she looks so very happy to have it in her room. Would you mind sharing what blocks/legos those are on her table. I love the castle like components.

    Reply

  9. laura says

    My soon to be four year old daughter was looking over my shoulder while I was looking at this post. She excitedly asked, “Can I have that clock for my birthday?” I may need to take a trip to the craft store.

    Reply

  10. Josie says

    Hi Sherry and John,
    This is totally unrelated to your crafty post but I thought you’d get to my comment faster than if I posted somewhere else.
    As frequent charity donors that you guys are, have you seen this?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GznAli633yA

    It explains how Goodwill exploits disabled people by paying them waaay below minimum wage (as low as 22 CENTS an hour in some parts of the country) and subjecting them to skill agility tests where their pay can be lowered even more.
    I urge you to please look into this.

    Reply

    • Linda says

      Thank you for mentioning that. Even Forbes had an article about this. I had no idea. Well, no more Goodwill donations for me!

  13. AnnaP says

    I am so in love with that clock! We got a simple one from Target for my younger daughter but the ticking is SO loud it dries me crazy. Would love to make this and have a place for a few of the little “creatures” they collect. I’m scared about doing it myself and having it not show the correct time because of my numbers being off. Is it hard to get it accurate? I had no idea they had clock kits! This just opened up a whole new world of ideas for me. :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The numbers weren’t too bad. I just laid the hands out and spun them so I could see where they’d go as they swung around and I held household items up to it to see which ones were too big or too small for the hands (ex: a bowl was too big, and a lid for a pasta can was too small). Then I found the coaster, which worked well, and I just laid it down where I wanted the clock face to be and drew it on with my paint pen. One tip would be to do 12, 3, 6, and 9 first (those are easy since they’re at the top, side, bottom, and other side) and then space out the other numbers evenly between them by eye (it’s not too hard, and you can practice on a piece of paper first and then use that as a reference if you’re nervous). Good luck!

      xo
      s

    • Lucia says

      I imagine you could print a clock face template from the internet to help you out with that. Print out a smaller template and then write your own numbers just outside of your template lining up with each number!

  20. Jenny N. says

    I LOVE this clock! I’m determined now to make one for my six-month-old’s nursery. And kids love clocks – I purchased a small one for my 4-year-old, and though he can’t tell time to save his live, he loves it. He especially loves to climb up and turn the little arms around while no one is watching, making it almost the least practical thing in his room.

    Reply

  21. Emily says

    Love! My dad has a real German cuckoo clock and I think it’ll be so fun to style a DIY version like it.

    One suggestion, my dad made lots of cool stuff for me when I was a kid and one thing he always did was sign it on the back. I love looking back and seeing how he wrote that it was for me, from him, and the year.

    Reply

  25. Julianne says

    Very cute & creative! I didn’t know you could buy clock kits like this and make your own. You guys teach me something new all the time! The absolute best part is seeing the sheer joy & pride on Clara’s face….love it!! :0)

    Reply

  27. Felicia says

    What a quick and easy personalized touch for Clara’s room! I like how the color matches the little pom poms on her canopy. I especially like the input she had in the project. People-centered crafts are the best.

    DISCLAMIER Former pre-school teacher opinion: It doesn’t surprise me at all that clocks would be a topic of conversation for Clara and her cousin. “Time” is a magical and powerful concept, especially for little ones who are learning the rules and power balance in the world around them. So much of their little lives are controlled by time and time related language. Learning to decode that language and have a greater command of their universe is a huge victory at that age.

    Reply

  30. Katie says

    Am I coo coo (har har) or do you guys usually post twice on Wednesdays? Just wondering if you took a much deserved break or if it didn’t show up on my end.

    Reply

  31. Andrea says

    I love it! I’ve been saying I need a clock in the master bathroom for ages so I won’t have to keep turning on my phone to check the time while I’m getting ready in the morning. I love the little Burger statue. That’s probably my favorite part!

    Reply

  32. Suzy says

    Absolutely adorable….glad Clara loves it too! The colors are so clean & your handy work on the clock face is perfect.
    Fav craft so far…..

    Reply

  34. Joanna says

    I’ve searched and searched and am admitting defeat. Where are those sheer curtains with the blue dots from? I feel like I had seen a link for them in a previous post but cannot find it. Thank you!

    Reply

  35. Evie says

    So adorable! your very first photo in the post drew an involuntary “WOW, LOOK AT *THAT*!” out of me! Big “Awwwwwwwwwwww!!” today came when I got to Clara’s photo. Love her! Oh, and “Awwwwwwww!” (only slightly less excited) when I realized that the dog on top was a bitty Burger! :-)

    Reply

  37. Colleen says

    Unbelievably awesome! My favorite weekly craft thus far. Very much enjoying your craft projects and the change in gears. Don’t get me wrong, banishing wallpaper and blue trim still makes my skirt fly up, but you’ve got some great creative juices flowing with these side projects. Keep them coming!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That was actually from a site called numsi.com. They make the cutest signs with names and sayings on them! Got it way back when we did Clara’s first nursery.

      xo
      s

  41. Sarah says

    Love the clock! So whimsical and cute!

    I couldn’t help noticing the artwork with her name above the clock. Did you make that as well? (It might be on the blog and I totally missed it…) I love it!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Sarah! That was actually from a site called numsi.com. They make the cutest signs with names and sayings on them! Got it way back when we did Clara’s first nursery.

      xo
      s

  43. laura says

    Love the clock. I may have to make one as a Christmas gift for my daughter.

    Just wondering, do you guys do Elf on the Shelf? I’m sure you have some pretty creative ideas.

    Reply

  47. Plein Jane says

    I’ve seen these clock kits before, but all of them seem to have the same-style parts — a little old-fashioned looking. That’s good for some projects, but at the time I was looking for something a little more chunky, modern or easier to see from across a room. Have you seen other styles, too?

    So cute!

    Reply

  49. Robyn in Chicago says

    omg – I literally typed “cuckoo clock” on Everly’s xmas idea list today as she is obsessed with clocks. this is amazing inspiration! I love it! timely, as usual too :) xo

    Reply

  50. Bek Howard says

    Um… This is soooo adorable. I am blown away at how great it looks, yet how simple it was to do!! I think you have made a better clock than what you could buy new! You are such an awesome mom! I can imagine Clara showing off her clock to her friends one day and saying my mom made that!

    Reply

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