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January 26, 2016

Trash To Treasure: Apple Crate Bookcase

I’m honestly so excited to be kicking off a brand new series on the blog today! Like most of you, I’m no stranger to recycling thrift store finds or saving items from being thrown out (just look in my garage!). So today I’m officially kicking off a Trash to Treasure Series with 3 very talented bloggers AKA Design, A Burst Of Beautiful and A House And A Dog!

Every month we will be sharing a new trash to treasure project and today I’m kicking it off with a very special project. An Apple Crate Bookcase.

DIY Apple Crate BookcaseA few years ago, my grandparents moved out of their life long home and were going to throw out these old crates. Naturally I could NEVER let them go to waste, especially since they are more than a couple of crates. These crates were actually built by my grandma when she worked on the family apple orchard.

Vintage crate decorI love that they carry my family history with them. The fact that these were my grandma’s crates she filled every day with apples and that they have been used for so many years is so special.

Vintage tackle box

I have three of them and I use them for decor around the house, especially for fall and winter. This week, I took two of them and turned them into a bookcase for the vintage nursery I’m doing for baby. This was a really easy and inexpensive transformation that you can do with any crates you find.

Putting Wheels on an old crate


QUICK TUTORIAL

crate tutorial 1

First, I sanded them down with 160 grit sand paper to give them a smooth finish. These crates have been through a lot, I didn’t want to erase their history but I did want to polish them up.

I’m a huge fan of these microfiber cloths. You can get them in the automotive aisle but I use them for all of my projects because they clean surfaces really well by collecting all the dust.

crate tutorial 2

I wanted to give the bookcase dimension, so I added a set of wheels on the bottom. Since the wood on the crates is fairly thin, I added a piece to the bottom to help secure the wheels.

crate tutorial 3

To build the structure I stacked the two crates on top of each other and then added pieces of wood on the back that overlapped both sides, then screwed it together.

I gave it a coat of spray polycrylic to finish it off.

I really love how it turned out and love that this sweet nursery has a piece of family history in it.
DIY Apple Crate Bookcase

Here are the other TRASH TO TREASURE projects for this month!

AKA Design DIY Book Bundles Trash To Treasure Jan 16-2DIY Book Bundles by AKA Design

DIY Watercolor Ribbons_16Recycled Water Color Ribbon by A Burst of Beautiful

trashtotreasure-bookChalk Painted Books by A House And A Dog

About Taryn Whiteaker

Hi! I’m Taryn! The voice behind Taryn Whiteaker Designs. I launched this brand over 11 years ago when I became a stay-at-home mom. What started as a small craft and mom blog eventually grew into a full time design and DIY site. My goal has always been to inspire others (especially women!) with design ideas, DIY tutorials, entertaining ideas and give you the tools you need to complete them yourself!

Filed Under: ALL POSTS, DIY Home Decor, DIY Projects

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Vanessa says

    January 26, 2016 at 7:42 am

    I am loving those crates. Crates are so fun to use around the home. So much we can use them especially if you are a crafter, DIYer and collector. LOL

    Reply
  2. Christine says

    January 26, 2016 at 9:03 am

    Love crates, these are super cute!

    Reply

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Taryn Whiteaker

Hi and welcome! I'm Taryn and the voice of style behind Taryn Whiteaker Designs. Sharing our journey of modernizing our European style home in Dallas. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to subscribe to my mailing list to get all the latest updates! Read more...

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