Organize With Painted Wood Crates
I have a thing for painted wood crates. They come in handy for all kinds of things. I use them to store junk, as flower displays, to hold guest towels, and more, and more.
White Painted Wood Crates With Belt Handles
The two crates have been hanging out in our bathroom holding towels and personal stuff. I recently redecorated the bathroom and replaced the crates with sewing machine drawers.
The crates are actually wine crates and they come with a lid. I haven’t used the lids for anything yet but I bet they would make a cool sign of some kind.
I painted the crates with Behr hi-gloss enamel. It’s what I had on hand. Any white paint….or other color would do. Painting one crate takes about 10 minutes. Usually one coat of paint does the trick.
I put the crates in the bathroom last January and they looked and worked great.
When I changed the bathroom décor a couple of weeks ago I took the crates to the workshop.
I added recycled belts as handles to a few large wood boxes last year and loved the look. So why not do the same with the crates.
I used heavy duty scissors and cut the belt to size. The crates aren’t heavy so I used upholstery tacks to attach the belt handle to the crate.
How sharp looking is that.
For the second crate I pulled out all sorts of stuff and decided to go with the skinny belt for handles.
I used the same type tacks but made the handles stand up instead of stand out from the side of the box. I know. Hard to understand. The next pictures will show you what I can’t explain very well.
The woven belt needed a little DAP RapidFuse to adhere the loose strands to each other.
See what I mean about the handles standing up.
All done. Do you like the painted wood crates? What about the handles. They do look cool, right?
The metallic gold and white crate (click here for makeover)is an earlier DIY. You can see I used different handles for this crate. The ideas and uses for the crates are endless. How would you use them and what color would you paint them. What would you use for handles.
These are the large wood boxes where I first used recycled belts for handles. The special paint techniques on the boxes are easy to do. To get the details on the techniques just click the photo.
Sunday is the craft supply giveaway. I’m going to have one every month and a few of my friends will be joining me. Be sure and check the post on Sunday. Have a great weekend!
Author:Â Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com
Jenny Kremer
Pick a fav belt you gave your granddaughter & make a project together. You’ll both make memories & have a new repurposed treasure.
Jenny
MEDINA GRILLO
Wow I LOVE the looks of these pallets! Very creative 🙂
Rachel Teodoro
I just wanted you to know that I featured this on the create link inspire party as a round up of organizational ideas. I loved it! And totally need one myself. Thanks for linking up!
Leslie Soto
Hi! I'm one of the co-hosts from the Welcome Home Wednesday Link Up. I love these little crates. They're so charming and pretty. I love the old belts as handles, too! How clever. Thank you for sharing!
Leslie Clingan
I have seen more and more wooden boxes and palettes at Walmart! Love the idea of painting them to use for organizing and storage. And how clever to add bits of belts for handles. I truly want to try this project.
Cheri Hins
Brilliant idea. I just gave my granddaughter 10 belts, darn it. Lol. Might have to ask for one or two of them back. I love this look.
Marie from The Interior Frugalista
Love the salvaged belt handles on these, Kathy. All of them are so stink'n cute!
Kathy Owen
Sounds like a plan!
Heather
I have decided that I need to get retired from work when I get my Interiors diploma this May and get a workshop and get busy having fun like you!!!
Kathy Owen
Rhonda, You just made my day. Your favorite! Thanks for being here. I love to recycle and free stuff is the best. There are all kinds of things in our homes we can recycle instead of trashing.
Kathy Owen
Your welcome Nancy 🙂
Kathy Owen
I think the sisal rope would work great but as you say you have to drill holes. I've used the sisal on larger wood boxes and it looks kind of nautical. You know I love turquoise!
Naomi S.
Those are great, Kathy! I like the white, but I might also try a turquoise or a shade of mossy green. Depends on where I wanted to use them. White is most versatile, of course. I was thinking that clothesline rope would look good on the white ones. Of course you'd have to drill holes to stick the rope through to knot, but that doesn't seem like a big deal. What do you think?
Nancy
I picked up some beautiful aqua glass handles at a yard sale. Now I know exactly what to do with them! Thanks for posting!
Lynda Ramage
Can't go wrong with any of those. Really like things like that and good to see what you have done. Thank you for sharing. Blessings......
Kaycee
They are so cute!
Rhonda
I love crates too. I like how you never let an old belt go to waste! I love your blog, it's my favorite.
Linda
Love these! Have a couple of boxes that those handles would look great on! Thanks for the ideas.
Cathy
Adorable!