Beautifying a Wooden Crate

I found this wooden crate at a thrift store quite a few months ago, and it’s been sitting in my bathtub waiting for me to do something with it. (Yes, the bathtub! You know, the jetted tub that you want to use but don’t have time for. And since I don’t have any closets or shelves anywhere yet, the bathtub seems like a pretty good storage spot!)

First step was painting it inside and out. I was lucky enough to have leftover paint from my laundry room (Grey Evening by Behr).

Now my plan for this crate was to sit in the living room and look pretty, while serving the very important duty of holding our scriptures. So when we all gather in the morning for family scripture study, our books are right there! Brilliant!!!

Since it was going to always be in plain sight, I wanted to put a special message on the side of the crate. I chose our family motto which comes from Mosiah 4:15 “Love one another and serve one another.”

I used the carbon paper method to get the letters on the crate. Print the words you want, put a piece of carbon paper between the crate and your paper and then trace the letters. Then comes the fun part of hand painting the letters. Use a fine tip brush and have a steady hand! Oh, and I lightly sanded first before tracing the letters.

I wanted my message to be visible, but not overpowering, which is why I used a light paint colour. Using a sanding sponge I sanded the rest of the crate, being sure to let wood show through on the edges. Then I went and hid out in the mechanical room and stained the whole thing (garage was too cold and I didn’t want to stink up the house with the delightful smell of stain). I used Minwax Dark Walnut because that’s what I had on hand. I would stain one side and then rub it off – didn’t want it getting too dark.

Recently I did something I’d never done before . . . bought coffee filters! Apparently they’re a pretty handy crafting material. My seven year old thought they were large muffin wrappers! So I played around making flowers today in home school while doing math with her.

And this is what I ended up with . . .

Close up of burlap bow, coffee filter flowers and babies breath.

I glued a strip of burlap all around the crate. I used a glue gun to quickly hold the burlap in place and then craft glue to secure it all over. This burlap has a wide weave so it frays easily and it has too many holes to deal with hot wax! (I know what you’re wondering, and yes, I burned my fingers!)

I made the dark shadows (or antiquing) by rubbing Burnt Umber oil paint in strategic places. It’s one of my favourite ways to distress things.

Lacie’s pretty impressed! (the dog)

This is the backside – with just a cute little strip of burlap all the way around.

This is where it goes, and there’s four of my girls in the background playing “Sorry” (no my two-year can’t actually play “Sorry”, which makes me wonder how she managed to win!).