Yesterday, I talked about jars. Today, I’m going to talk about wooden crates.
Now, I tried to find wooden crates for this project, but to no avail…I had to break down and buy them. None of the restaurants were throwing any out…just boxes. The wine shop never had any crates coming in with their wine shipments…just boxes.
So I decided to buy them. Luckily, I found a few wooden crates at Daffy’s in Times Square. With their current going out of business discount of 20% off the lowest price in the home department, the three wooden crates came to $32.
I contemplated buying all three sets I found, but decided to go with one set for now. Ends up, that’s all I needed for this project.
I’ve had this problem wall under the window sill in my living room that just wasn’t working for me at all. This area is where I keep plants and has become the cat’s little spot where she drinks water and eats her treats. She likes to lie around in that area because it keeps her out of the way from the foot traffic in the apartment. This is also her spot where she likes to look out the window, so she needs a little stool to get up to the window because she’s a big girl and getting along in her years.
This spot has become a problem because it makes the living room feel cluttered. The plants are on the floor or sitting on top of books. There’s just too much stuff going on in that corner…or is there?
With the three crates I purchased in varying sizes, I was able to create a look similar to the picture in the bottom left corner.
I was able to put the cat’s drinking bowl in one box, the big art books in another, the tree on top of one of the boxes, a Venetian mask in another (for display) and tea light votives on top.
The plant, dish and art books were already in that spot. After I put the items in the crates, it provided an extra 6 inches of foot traffic space to my living room! I couldn’t believe it!
The cat adapted well to her turquoise blue water dish being moved into the crate. There was extra storage open, so I put the Venetian mask I picked up in Venice in one box and put the votives on top. The key to the arrangement was seeing that LESS IS MORE!
There’s no more clutter in that space. All of the same items are still there, they are just arranged differently.
Since I’m really loving what wooden crates can do in the home, here are a few more ideas I plan on putting together…
You see…there are endless possibilities to create furniture and storage out of wooden crates.
Now…how to acquire wooden crates. I’ve been researching this for a couple of weeks before breaking down and buying the crates at Daffy’s. I’ve read tales of bloggers finding them at wine warehouse stores. {I don’t know of any where I live.} They were able to get the crates for nothing. All they had to do was ask.
I heard of one person getting the crates at Costco or BJ’s Wholesale by asking nicely (they were throwing them out). Once again, I don’t shop at these places. If I had a vehicle…I might consider becoming a member of one.
I researched online and found a distributor all the way in Idaho.
Some DIYers talked about getting them at JoAnn’s Fabric Stores or Michael’s for anywhere between $9-$15 per box.
So there are plenty of different places to pick these wooden crates up from. You can even find them in places like Home Goods, TJ Maxx and Marshalls…just like I found mine in the Daffy’s home department.
But of all places, even after I got my crates on clearance…I think Save On Crafts has the best deal to make any of the above projects. Just use the term “crate” in the search box on their site or click on the link on the left (on their site) for “Boxes, Trays, Crates, Luggage.” There’s a lot of really cute stuff on their site.
If anything, crates give you a new way to store items in your home. I’ve even seen crates nailed to walls like shelves and people have put their shoes in them…or towels and other toiletries in the bathroom. It’s a good way to help storage come off the floor and climb up the walls without being so bulky!
Like I said…I have 6 more inches of foot traffic space after moving the items that were in that same spot and putting them into the crates.
So if you see crates being thrown out…grab them! You may have just found an easy storage/furniture solution for your home!
{All photos found on Pinterest}
