CRATE EXPECTATIONS

What the Dickens?  Miss Havisham portrayed by the BBC as a cruel, man-hating, opium smoking old lush.  That’s certainly put an Oliver Twist into the fusty old Dickens I remember reading at school.  I’m loving the period crack-whore look of Estella, maybe it’ll catch on.

 

The wonderful Miss Havisham

Anyhow, I have a few expectations of my own – crate expectations as I’m making a storage unit out of old wooden fruit crates for my patio.  And pray why would you want to do that?  Well unlike Miss Havisham who can afford to heat her dilapidated palatial old pile from her drug derived fortune, I’ve decided to blow the last of my savings on fitting a wood burning stove in the lounge as I’m sick of freezing my arse off because it’s too costly to put the gas central heating on.

Soon to become a log store

 

Has your mother sold her mangle?  Yes, this and anything else that might raise a few pennies to spend on kindling or kiln dried logs so that I can toast my tootsies whilst waiting for summer to arrive. 

Yesterday's hailstones

Got to love the British springtime

As I need somewhere to store logs until winter then here’s a simple design idea for a wood store that appeals to my Scroogish upcycling nature.  In this post, we’re going to look at how to make a wood storage unit from old crates. 

For this project you will need: 

Wooden fruit crates – I got mine from Ebay (£38 for 3) which has an extensive selection of rustic apple boxes, wine crates or slatted wooden boxes.  Go for a size large enough to store logs.  If your wood working skills are up to it then you can save even more cash by making your own crates out of old wood pallets.  However as my carpentry skills are on a par with sharpening pencils then I’m buying ready-made crates.

 

Crates - buy online or make your own

Exterior paint – You won’t need much so a reasonably sized tester pot should suffice.  B&Q’s paint mixing counter offered the most cost-effective solution – Valspar tester pots 236 ml size priced at £4.  They can mix up a ‘garden paint’ base in any colour and one pot is just about large enough for 2 coats per crate. 

 

Valspar exterior garden paint

I’ve picked some nice bright colours to jazz up the patio:  Paradiso (blue), Wise Grasshopper (green) and Buttered Crumpet (yellow).

 

Be bold with your colours

Timber – Enough to make legs, a solid top and a raised bottom for your storage unit.  I’ve painted mine black for a bit of contrast.

 

Timber top and base

Before making your storage unit, you will need to sand and paint up your wooden fruit crates both inside and out.

 

Rustic crates may need a few repairs

Sand out splinters and imperfections

Apply exterior paint

Once the crates have been painted, it’s time to make a raised base for your crates to sit on.  Firstly, cut your timber into 2 rectangles, one for the top and one for the bottom.  These should be larger than your crate, the top should overhang all the way round to keep the rain off your logs. 

Next cut some thick timber off-cuts into chunks to make 4 legs for the base.  If you don’t have any chunky timber, you can use furniture legs as this will look less rustic especially if you are going to use your storage unit indoors.  The main thing is to raise the structure off the ground thus keeping the wood from getting wet when it rains.  Screw the legs underneath one of the timber rectangles and paint in your chosen colour.

 

Screw legs under base then paint

Finished base unit

When your painted crates, base and top are dry then the unit can be put together.  Position the first crate on to the raised base and screw down at the corners using wood screws or nuts/bolts. 

 

Position the bottom crate onto the base

Fix into place with nuts/bolts

Are you making a new cat house?

Stack the next crate on to the bottom one and secure in position.  Repeat until all three crates are stacked on top of each other. 

 

Attach the middle crate

Attach the final crate

Finally, screw the top timber panel into place.  

Counter sink wood screws then paint black

You should now have a free-standing unit that is ready for use.  I’m going to further weatherproof my log store by applying a coat of clear yacht varnish to the entire structure before putting it out on the patio.

 

Finished unit ready to varnish

A simple and effective way to make a wood store.  You could apply this same methodology to making funky rustic indoor storage units to jazz up a children’s play room or screw smaller crates directly onto a wall to make rustic shelves.  

Custom made patio log store

There are plenty of ideas online for inspiration or to meet your crate expectations.  I'm already thinking of buying more crates to make some smaller units to put next to the garden bench so they can be used as drinks tables.