Rustic Crate

We are all about cozy blankets and throws in our house, but it bugs me that there isn't a place for them.  They're usually just thrown about in an unruly manner on the couch.  In the spirit of being organized and getting more use of our power tools, I decided to build a rustic looking crate to contain this messy dilemma.  I loved House of Smith's version here: Vintage Crates, but I changed mine up just a bit.  I wanted to keep it pretty cheap so I just went to Lowe's and purchased the cheapest wood I could find. Which ended up being 4 1" x 4" x 8' pieces of Furring strips and 1 2" x 2" x 8'.

I started by figuring out a basic size that I wanted and cut a few pieces that were 24" long. Then I put them together to see if I liked the size... which I didn't, so I modified it to what I wanted. I just wanted the crate to fit a couple pillows, blankets, and a few magazines.  I ended up liking the size 13" x 22".

After the Hubs gave me a quick lesson on the nail gun (don't point it at the dog!), I started nailing away (at which point the pup ran out of the room).  Not really hard at this point, just nail the side pieces to the 2" x 2". I didn't want to see the top of the 2" x 2" so I cut it a but shorter than the 3 1" x 4"s.

Here is your bottomless crate.

I placed the crate on a piece of plywood for the bottom and just traced it. Then, since I'm still a bit scared of the circular saw, the Hubs cut the bottom piece for me.  After which I just nailed it to the crate.  

I loved the rope handles HOUSE OF SMITH's did for her crate so I drilled some holes for ours and then sanded everything.

I chose a miniwax stain but it would look super cute with a distressed paint job as well.  I don't have a photo of the staining, but all I did was brush it on and used a cloth to wipe of any drips.  I did two coats of staining.

Our rope was too thick to knot on the inside, so we just added some gear clamps to the end and covered it in electrical tape so that the sharp edges are covered.   

I decided that I wanted a more vintage look to it so I got a print out of some French Topography from the The Graphics Fairy.  I printed it on wax paper (a reversed image).  Then I dampened the wood with a cloth and laid the paper on the wood and pressed it on with a credit card. NOTE that once you lay the wax paper on, it can't move or your image will smudge.  In hindsight, I should've done this before I stained as it would have transferred better to the untreated wood. But I don't mind if it smudges off as that makes it look even more vintage. 

Here it is!

Total cost is around  $15 plus $10 for the stain.  Love it! 

~Bri~