Homemade Wooden Crate

The challenge this week at The CSI Project is "Pottery Barn Inspired". Since I've only ever been into a Pottery Barn one quick time (did you just gasp?) I didn't really know what that challenge meant. Actually, the first I had heard about Pottery Barn was that episode of Friends where Rachel tricks Phoebe into thinking she bought everything at a flea market. Anyone remember that one?

I hopped onto to their website to see what's what. Since shipping to Canada is pretty astronomical with most US companies I usually don't tease myself with such things. A quick look on their website says shipping to Canada is not even an option.

While drooling over the site I think I lost sensation in my eyeballs. Seriously some gorgeous stuff. I just love the soft, warm, natural colours with the rustic elements thrown in.

Like this room. Beautiful. I want to take a nap there.



Image: Pottery Barn

Then I saw this picture and I thought the little crate would be perfect to hold my phonebooks and cookbooks which are currently in a messy pile on the counter in the kitchen.



Image: Pottery Barn

I had some thin sheets of mahogany from a previous project that I thought would work well for this one. I measured the widest book I had to make sure everything would fit and then just made the measurements of the crate from there. After I dragged the table saw up from the basement and outside (by myself!) I cut out 4 panels that were 3"x9" and 8 panels that were 4"x11". I sanded all the edges then beat up the wood a bit with a hammer and a screwdriver so they weren't so perfect.



I used a combination of little nails and wood glue to put it together and then added little upholstery tacks to add a little character to it.



I first stained the wood with some Minwax Red Oak stain that I had on hand. Then I added Ellrose Dairy Co. to the front which was the name of my Grandpa's dairy farm. After the letters dried I sanded the letters to distress them a bit. Then I took some Minwax Ebony stain that I had and lightly rubbed some over the Red Oak and the letters to tone it down and a little darker around the corners.



A totally free project that helps me control my clutter!



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