Shipping Crate Turns TV Stand
Never underestimate your ability to transform an everyday item that most people would discard in the trash, into a charming piece of furniture for your first home or apartment.
I offered this unfinished shipping crate to a young friend who had recently purchased her first home, and she very politely said "oh, no thank you." She didn't see the potential in it that I did. I couldn't stand to throw it out in the trash, the guilt of putting a useful item in a landfill was too great, and I had leftover paint, stain, wood, wallpaper and varnish from previous projects that would transform this basic crate into a blanket chest/TV stand, so I transformed it for her.
Because the crate was made from many different varieties of wood and plywood, I started the project by painting the entire crate with a medium shade of flat brown acrylic paint. I choose this color because, number one I had it leftover from painting our house, and number two it created an overall even tone for me to add stain to later. Then, I cut 3" trim boards with a radial saw to apply to the top and bottom edge of the crate. This gave it a more furniture like look. It's easy to have boards cut at your local lumber yard if you don't own a saw. Use a butt joint to join the boards and apply them to the crate with wood glue and screws. (Always pre-drill the screw holes with a smaller sized bit to avoid splitting the wood.) I could just as easily used nails had I not owned a drill, so don't be discouraged from taking on a project like this if you don't own an arsenal of tools. When I was finished applying the trim to the top and bottom edges of the crate, I filled any holes or gaps in the wood with wood filler. I let that dry. When it was completely dry, I sanded the areas that would remain exposed, touched up the paint and applied a generous amount of dark walnut stain. I left the areas that are covered with wall paper unstained. (The flat paint is porous and allows for better bonding than a stained surface would, when the wallpaper is applied.) I let that dry overnight and applied a generous coat of varnish in the morning. I let the varnish dry for several days before applying grass cloth to the sides and top of the crate. It's easy to mare varnish if you don't allow it to harden. I'm often impatient and have ruined many projects because of this. The grass cloth wallpaper was simple to apply. I just used wallpaper paste, again because I already had it, but you could easily substitute basic white glue instead. And voila, a TV stand for my young friend's new home.
