DIY Wood Crates: Vintage Makeover

Heather Olinde
by Heather Olinde
7 Materials
$60
3 Hours
Easy
Hi there friends! Who’s getting settled back in to the school routine? I’ll be honest, last week was rough! I went back work after being off for six weeks and it wasn’t easy. All the kids are back in school so that made it a little less depressing. We are slowly transitioning back into our much despised school-time routine. For those of you that have been around for a little while and are wondering if I managed to get my youngest in his own bed before school started. Nope. It didn’t happen. And I’m not that mad about it. Mama is not quite ready to stop snuggling him yet. Anywho, his room stays nice and cute ’cause he’s rarely in it. And as promised, I’m about to show you all how I did the DIY wood crates in his room.

I picked up some plain, raw wooden crates to use for storage in my son’s room. I wasn’t really feeling the vibe of the raw wood so I decided to give them a vintage-inspired makeover. Imagine that, right. icon
First, I stained the inside and outside of both crates with Minwax Stain in Special Walnut. I applied the stain with a paint brush, let it sit a few minutes, then wiped it with an old cloth.
After the stain was dry, I used 1″ stencils to paint the number 01 on the crates because that is my son’s favorite number. It would also be cute to paint words such as toys, misc., books, etc. I used black acrylic paint and a spouncer to do this. When painting stencils, it’s best to use a spouncer with a dabbing motion. If you use a paint brush with a brushing motion, it can get paint underneath the stencil. It’s also a good idea to tape your stencil down so it doesn’t move on you.
Once I painted on the number, it was time to add the caster wheels. We realized that the heads of the screws were a little too small for the spaces on the wheels. To save a trip to the store, my husband found these little rubber washers in his shop and used those to place between the screw and the caster wheel. He is the king of improvising! It worked perfect.
The boards on the crate are fairly thin so you want to make sure your screws are short enough so they don’t go through the other side of the wood. We used 3/8″ screws and attached a wheel on each bottom corner of the crate.
That’s it! How easy peasy was that!! And look how much vintage charm it adds. We placed the crates under each of his night stands and store extra pillows in them.
These wood crates add so much more character to the space, plus they are functional. That’s what I call a win-win!
Suggested materials:
  • 2 Wooden Crates   (Amazon)
  • 8 Caster Wheels   (Amazon)
  • 16 - 38" screws   (Home Depot)
See all materials
Heather Olinde
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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 1 comment
  • Abigail Ellis Abigail Ellis on Sep 17, 2018

    Im obsessed with everything in that picture!! (And kudos on the crates! Such a simple yet super impactful change!)

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