Do you want to add instant farmhouse or rustic charm to your home? Do you want more storage space? Then inexpensive wooden crates are your friend! Here are a ton of wooden crate decorating ideas.
In this post I’ll go into detail about ALL the awesome decor ideas that feature wooden crates — inexpensive new ones from the craft store and vintage ones you might find at the flea market.
Wooden Crates Shelving Ideas
Let’s start with the obvious: crates make instant shelves. By stacking them, you can create shelves like I did here on our kitchen counter.
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I bought four vintage crates at a tag sale and dropped them off at our house before we had even moved in.
I put three of them on one side of our kitchen counter and the last one on a shelf that I had already put on the counter for added storage.
To keep the costs of our kitchen down I had decided to not order cabinets above the sink/next to the window, and the plan was to add floating shelves, but the stacked vintage crates worked so well as shelves that I never replaced them.
Here you can see them all.
Crates make wonderful extra storage in the kitchen!
This DIY shelf is on casters and was finished off with a piece of wood on the top.
You can decide between so many different crates on Amazon. Check them out here.
Use Wooden Crates for Extra Toy Storage
To add more storage space for Landon’s toys, I put a few different wooden crates we had in the house on top of each other in his bedroom. I like that they are mismatched.
Wooden Crates Book Shelf
For this simple book shelf, stain and stack eight sturdy wooden crates.
Connect the crates (follow the tutorial) and since this shelf is pretty tall, you have to make sure to anchor it to the wall.
If the shelf is filled with books, it could also fall forward if you don’t secure it to the wall, and we don’t want kids to get hurt if they might climb up on it.
Wooden Crates Furniture Ideas
Wooden Crate Bench
Side Table
I made this little side table many years ago out of a crate. I just added casters and made a bottom out of wrapping fabric around a piece of sturdy cardboard.
Vintage Wooden Milk and Soda Crates Decor Ideas
Some of the vintages crates for milk, soda, and wine bottles have little compartments, and they come in handy to display small decor items or collections.
I have been using this vintage cola crate for years, and this holiday season I added ornaments to it and displayed it on our hutch.
I love the contrast of the vintage wooden crate against all the white.
This crate has been moved around the house many time, and I usually decorate with it for every season or holiday.
Here you can see it in our kitchen on our console table last Christmas.
Truly vintage crates like mine can cost a lot of money nowadays — because they are in such high demand for decor projects — but you can find similar wooden crate on Amazon.
Do you use wooden crates in your home?
You would also enjoy these post:
My Dream Home: 10 Open Shelving Ideas For The Kitchen
10 Country Decorating Ideas From Country Living Magazine
Shabby Chic Kitchen Decor Ideas With a Farmhouse Look
Barbara Chapman says
Hi Dagmar! Thank you for sharing this sweet post at last week’s Share Your Style #193. I am featuring it this week and you. <3 Great ideas for using crates, too!!!
Happy decorating to you,
Hugs,
Barb :)
Dagmar Bleasdale says
Thank you so much, Barbara!
Cindy D says
Love the crates idea. I have a few Coke crates that would be cool to showcase my smalls. I was wondering where you had gotten the beautiful set of pink rose with pink stripes china. Looks like a cream and sugar bowl and you used one as a planter. They’re gorgeous.
Dagmar Bleasdale says
Hi Cindy, they are from Green Gate – they are not sold in the U.S., but you can get them in Germany, England, etc.
Kippi says
Beautiful vintage display idea. I love your kitchen! Have a great weekend, Kippi #kippiathome
Sandi Magle says
I had to laugh about your crates—I did art shows with Pottery for over 40 years. Sometime in the late 1970’s I purchased mixed wood 30 apple crates ($5each) from an old guy in Door County, Wisconsin. They were sturdy and still light weight perfect for outdoor shows—and great for displaying my pots. I still have quite a few, sprinkled in the basement, sheds, and garage for storage. Yes, they are definitely a great idea for display and storage. PS< many of mine were painted a light gray in the 1990's, I should really dig some out for using in the house.
Dagmar Bleasdale says
Definitely take advantages of all the crates you have – they can be very pricey now!
Tania says
I used to have wooden crates all over the place but sadly I sold them all I think (there may still be one or two in the garage hoard), now I kinda wish I hadn’t! In my defense, mine were pretty old and rickety… now I have a reason to look for more! These ideas are great, thanks for sharing Dagmar!
Tania