I have to say I absolutely love storage containers. I love baskets, totes, shelves, etc. Wooden crates are no exception. They’re extremely useful for storing things such as throw pillows and extra blankets! If you’ve shopped around for one you know that you really can only find 12-15″ crates in the stores. That will not hold many pillows. You can easily make a much larger one for much less than the small ones in the stores.
My crate measures 15″x14″x24″ and cost around $5 to make. I used stain that I already had on hand. Here’s what you need to make one.
6- 1×4″ cut to 22″ (side slates)
3- 1×4″ cut to 24″ (bottom slates)
6- 1×4″ cut to 15″ (small side slates)
4- 1×1″ cut to 12″ (inner supports – we ripped ours from 2×2’s.)
After you make all your cuts, get started nailing it together! I started by gluing and nailing the long sides to the 1×1’s first.
Make sure to place the 1×1 flush with the bottom of your 1×4 so that it will not be as noticeable from the top.
After both longer sides are together, nail on the 1x4s on each end. You may have to trim a little off of each board before nailing in place to make sure that they sit flush on the corners.
After we nailed the bottom slates on, we added feet made from round dowels that we had. This step is completely optional. I just like the cuteness that they added!
Before staining, I sanded and sanded and sanded some more! It can be a little difficult to get into all the cracks. You might do better to sand before putting it together. It’s completely up to you. Once I finished sanding the crate I stained it with a dark walnut stain by Rust Oleum. I used a q-tip to get the stain into all the little grooves.
Let it dry over night before putting anything in it.
The next day I added the word “Pillows” on white vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo. You could easily paint this on your crate if you don’t own a Silhouette or Cricket.
I couldn’t be happier with mine! It’s the perfect size to hold all those extra pillows on our bed. I’m already looking for another reason to build a second one as my storage obsession continues.
-Amanda
Always feel free to share and pin for a later project!
