DIY Wooden Crate

My husband and I have been on carpentry kick (if that’s what you call it) and one of the things we made is a wooden crate to go in front of our fireplace. It was definitely and experiment as this was our first wooden diy project, but I thought it turned out pretty good, so I wanted to share a tutorial, as it was such a quick project and very inexpensive I might add.

Here goes, I hope you enjoy!

Here is what you will need:

• 1 8 foot piece of 2×2 (This is for the 4 corners of the crate)
• 4 8 foot pieces of 1×4 (This is for the front, back and sides of the crate)
• 1 8 foot piece of 1×1 (this is optional, we added it for stability purposes)
• 1 piece of 1/4″ 2×4 oak plywood (this was for the bottom of the crate)
• Stain
• Paint Brush
• Rag (To wipe off stain)
• Rope
• Nail Gun
• Drill (to make holes for rope)
• Electrical Tape (to keep rope ends from fraying)

First you need to determine the size of your crate, we wanted ours to be 24L x14W

Step 1: We started by cutting four equal pieces of 2×2 (this was for the inside corners).

Step 2: Next we cut 8 equal pieces of 1×4 for the front and back. (we cut them 24 Inches Long) and 8 equal pieces of 1×4 for the sides (we cut each of the 14″ long). Sorry I don’t have a piece showing all of the individual pieces of wood

Step 3: Then we took two pieces of the 2×2 and started at the bottom and nailed a piece of the 24″ 1×4 . This was to start the front of the crate

Step 4: We then took the other pieces of 2×2 and nailed a piece of 24″ 1×4 at the bottom. This was to create the back of the crate

Step 5: We continued nailing the remaining three pieces of 24″ 1×4 to the front and back pieces.

This is what it looked like once you had all 4 pieces nailed to the 2×2’s

Next we continued nailing the 1×4’s to finish the back side of the crate

Step 6: After we had our front and back pieces complete we began nailing the side pieces on. This attached the front and back pieces

Continue nailing the 14″ 1×4’s up the side

Once you finished one side nail the remaining 4 1×4’s to the other side.

Step 7: We then nailed a piece of 1×1 inside the crate on each side, right next to the 2×2’s. We did this to add stability.

This is what it looks like before adding the bottom

Step 8: For the bottom of the crate we used a piece of craft  board. We just sat the crate on top of the craft board and drew a line showing where it should be cut. Then we nailed it to the bottom of the crate

 Step 9: Next you want to figure out where you are going to add the Rope Handles, we marked an X for where the holes were going to go

Step 10: Drill through the X’s to make holes for the rope

This is what it looks like after drilling the holes

Step 11: Apply Stain to the crate. I applied in small areas so that I could wipe it off quickly and keep the look consistent throughout the entire crate

Step 12: Immediately wipe off the stain with a rag

Continue this process until you have stained the entire crate. You may want to go back and put a second coat to achieve a darker look

Step 13: Cut your rope into two pieces (You can actually have Lowes cut it into pieces where you buy it so you don’t have to worry about cutting it). I cut both pieces of rope so that they were about 8″ long. This was actually longer than I needed, I wish I would have only cut them 6″ long.  Next you need to wrap electrical tape around the ends to keep them from fraying (it makes it so much easier to insert into the holes).

Step 14: Then you should put the rope through the holes and wrap additional electrical tape around the edges to keep the rope from coming through the holes. This is what the handle will look like.

Once you have added the rope handles to both side you are done