This week I was inspired by a request from Clara, relayed through John’s mom. She laughed as she told me she’d overheard Clara telling her cousin that she didn’t have a clock in her room. It was a random comment, but I thought it would be fun to try making a clock—something playful that Clara could interact with. Clock kits are sold in craft stores, so how hard could it be?
Here’s how it turned out.
And here it is, hanging on the wall in Clara’s room.
I originally considered using a birdhouse and attaching clock hands, but many birdhouses stick out too far from the wall or don’t have a flat enough face for the hands to rotate freely. Then I found a DIY cuckoo clock tutorial that I loved for its house-like concept and charming sketchy details. Rather than copying it exactly, I used the idea as a starting point and added some three-dimensional accents and personal touches I thought Clara would enjoy.
I went to JoAnn and bought a 12 x 12″ sheet of quarter-inch plywood for about $3 (with a coupon). I cut it into a simple house shape with a miter saw. If you don’t have a saw, this thin plywood can probably be scored repeatedly with an X-Acto knife and snapped along the scored lines for a similar effect.
At the craft store I also picked up a small picket fence, a bag of wooden disk shapes, and a thin trim piece to suggest a roofline. I used craft glue to create a bottom ledge and a smaller shelf below the roof. I glued the trim pieces along the top to form a roof detail and placed a round wooden disk underneath to mimic a small circular window.
The little picket fence was one of my favorite details. I glued it in place and secured it with small picture nails so it wrapped around the entire bottom ledge. It adds a quaint, playful element that Clara immediately liked.
I marked the center for the clock hands and drilled a hole large enough for the clock mechanism’s spindle to pass through.
Next came the painting. I asked Clara what color she wanted; she surprised me by choosing blue instead of the pink I expected. I had a leftover test pot of Embellished Blue by Behr from a previous project, so I applied two coats for even coverage.
After the paint dried, I began the decorative sketching. I traced a circle for the clock face using an old coaster and a white paint pen. Then I freehanded a small window frame around the round wooden disk under the roof and drew a few other windows with stems rising from imaginary window boxes. The slightly imperfect, hand-drawn look felt charming and suited the whimsical feel of the piece. I added stems and windowbox details behind the picket fence, leaving space to add small flowers with a red marker.
Once the paint pen dried—only about ten minutes—I assembled the clock mechanism. I bought a basic clock kit for about $6 and liked the vintage gold finish, which complemented the cuckoo-clock vibe. Assembly was straightforward: insert the mechanism in the back, thread the spindle through the pre-drilled hole, and attach the hands and hardware in the recommended order.
To stabilize the clock mechanism, which protrudes from the back, I glued three pieces of scrap wood behind the clock so the thickness at the top and bottom matched. I added a small metal hanger to the top block so the whole piece could be hung securely on the wall.
I also drilled a small hole in the base of the lower shelf and inserted a 4″ piece of trim with a larger wooden disk to create a little perch. It doesn’t swing, but it enhances the cuckoo-clock feel and gives Clara a place to set small figurines.
The whole project—from shopping and cutting to gluing, drilling, painting, sketching, and assembling—took me about two hours. My total cost was under $15: roughly $6 for the clock kit, $3 for the plywood backing, and about $6 for accessories like trim, wooden disks, and the picket fence. It’s a budget-friendly DIY clock idea that makes a great gift; simplified versions painted white with metallic pen details can be even cheaper and quicker to make.
The best part is how much Clara loves her clock. She enjoys arranging small animals, dragons, and fairies on the shelves—tiny figures that add personality and play value. We avoid hanging the clock too low since the hands are somewhat delicate, so our nightly routine now includes asking Clara who she wants on the top and bottom shelves before we tuck her in. She chooses a little lineup each night, and it’s become a sweet part of bedtime.
Have you ever built a clock from a kit? For me, the trickiest part was drilling a large enough hole to accommodate the spindle, but taking the hole wider gradually with progressively larger drill bits made the process easy and precise.