Painted Wood Crate Decorating Ideas

These wooden crate decorating ideas are perfect for upgrading your home on a budget! Get DIY projects like furniture, organization, shelving, and more.

Are you looking for an inexpensive way to make a piece of furniture? How about a budget friendly project for a special place in your home? I've got something you're going to be excited about, my friends: wooden crate decorating ideas.

With their rustic charm and beautiful simplicity, crates are an easy solution to any room's need for décor. The possibilities are endless: use them as shelves or bedside tables; display books on them; paint them with bright colors or leave natural for a chic look; anything goes!

Get creative and let this blog post be your guide to decorating your stylish home. Before we jump into the ideas, I wanted to talk a little bit about crates. If you want to skip this section and see the 35 DIY projects, go ahead and scroll down.

Wood Crate Decorating

Decorating a wood crate is easy, but you might have a few questions about where to get them, how to prepare them, and what paint to use. I address all three things below.

Finding Crates

Wooden crates are much more readily available than you might think! They're at craft stores, although typically in limited sizes. Home Depot has them. There are also great sites like Crates & Pallet that offer them in a ton of sizes.

In addition, you'll find they are often readily available at flea markets, produce markets (ask if they will give you any), and sometimes at natural foods stores. Keep your eyes out on your local Facebook marketplace or ask on Nextdoor as well.

Preparing Your Surface

A wood crate is exactly that – wood! Most of the time it's unfinished. If your crate is old, you can clean it with some paper towels and water and let it dry. Basically you're just trying to remove all the dust.

The next step would be to make sure that all the nails and/or staples are secure, and there are no major splinters coming from your crate. That includes new crates as well.

If you see any portion of your crate that is lose, use wood glue to secure it. You can also sand the surface with a medium grit sandpaper to remove any splinters or rough surface. Brush away any dust. Now paint and Mod Podge will stick nicely to the wood.

Paints to Use

You can use just about any type of paint on your crate surface, but you're probably going to want to stick to either chalk paint, stain, or craft paint. If the wood isn't absorbing the paint, it might be treated and you might need to sand it. Most acrylic products will work. I personally like FolkArt chalk paint and Martha Stewart multi-surface paint for my projects.

Are you ready to see the wooden crate decorating ideas? Scroll down to get the list!

Easy DIY Wood Crate Desk

Photo Credit: Chelsea Johnson

Do you need a homeschool desk or a desk for working from home? Build this simple desk from wooden crates! This DIY desk is cheap to build and has storage for school supplies and books.

DIY Toy Box with Casters

Photo Credit: thislittlestreet.com

This cute little toy box made from a wooden crate has a cushioned top that kids can sit on! You can paint the create if you like, then add casters so you can roll the toys around.

Wood Crate Mudroom Organization

Photo Credit: abeautifulmess.com

This wood crate decorating idea requires no skills! Even if you're a beginning crafter, you can set up this organization in a small area of your home.

How to Decorate a Wood Crate

Photo Credit: Steve Carrell

Use Mod Podge stencils and sand to decorate a wood crate – perfect for holding books, craft supplies or anything else you need to store.

Wooden Crate Coffee Table

Photo Credit: hatchandhaven.com

This is one of my favorite wooden crate decorating ideas, because it's a piece of furniture for under $50! Tara used coupons at Michaels to get four wooden crates and then turned them into a coffee table. Bonus - it's on wheels.

Vintage Elevated Dog Feeder

Photo Credit: Grace Bonney

A vintage crate was used for this DIY dog feeder, but you could make this with a new wood crate as well. It's easy with some simple paint and distressing!

DIY Wooden Crate Car Storage

Photo Credit: frugalfun4boys.com

Here's a fun way to store and display Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars – a DIY wooden crate parking garage! It's easy to make with a wood crate and some mailing tubes.

DIY Wood Crate Side Table

Photo Credit: www.dreamgreendiy.com

Carrie found a discarded, dusty old wooden crate at an antique mall, and her mind immediately turned it into a side table! It's a great idea for a vintage find, but you could use a new crate as well.

Craft Crate Built-in Shelving

Photo Credit: eastcoastcreativeblog.com

Monica describes her project perfectly: "get the high-end look of built-ins without building a thing! It takes quite a few wooden crates for this decorating DIY, but the results are impressive.

Rolling Wood Crates for the Pantry

Photo Credit: Sarah @ A Little of This

Utilize the very bottom of your pantry by painting and decorating some wooden crates! Add wheels for movable storage you can use to hold a variety of loose food items.

How to Build DIY Crate Lockers

Photo Credit: littlehouseoffour.com

It never occured to me to build wood lockers out of crates, but this is a perfect DIY decorating idea when you can't find exactly what you're looking for! This project uses basic tools and materials.

DIY Pet Bed from a Crate

Photo Credit: theinspiredhive.com

If you have a small pup or a cat, a wood crate is the perfect size for making a unique pet bed. It's easier than you think.

Simple Hanging Closet Storage Crates

Photo Credit: tableandhearth.com

I never thought of using crates for hanging storage, but it's a genius idea that looks great too! Perfect for a variety of crate sizes.

How to Decoupage Napkins onto Wood

Photo Credit: girlinthegarage.net

The nice thing about this crate decorating idea is that it's meant to look distressed - so you don't need to be perfect in your paint or Mod Podge application! It's very easy to do and you can use it to store anything.

Rolling Wood Storage Cart

Photo Credit: Gina Luker

With only a few minutes and a few supplies, you can make your own wood crate rolling cart. The whole project took Gina 20 minutes, and she was lucky enough to find her crates at a local produce market (great idea!).

Crate to Modern Hanging Shelf

Photo Credit: Chelsea Mohrman

Fun and functional are two words that describe this DIY hanging shelf! It's easy to customize with any size crate and any color paint.

Simple DIY Farmhouse Bench Tutorial

Photo Credit: lifestorage.com

Want to add more seating to your outdoor space? You can do that with a farmhouse bench that has an option for additional storage. You'll use wooden crates underneath!

Wood Crate Wine Rack

Photo Credit: hatchandhaven.com

Tara used a wooden crate for this wine rack decor as well as a board she had laying around to make the divider. It's a simple project with instant results!

DIY Ironing Station

Photo Credit: Linda Gardner

Right now my iron sits on a wire shelf in the laundry room and dumps over all the time! I love this solution from Linda - give the ironing supplies their own cubby with a wood crate.

DIY Wooden Crate Bench Seat

Photo Credit: operationhomeblog.com

What did Christina do when challenged to use wood crates in a project? She came up with this bench decorating idea for her porch! You could use it in a covered area outside or anywhere inside (like a kids' room).

DIY Wood Crate Plant Holder

Photo Credit: Haeley Giambalvo

If you're a plant lady or dude, you're going to love this plant holder made from a wooden crate. I love the usage of gold leaf . . . and it holds a lot more beyond just plants.

DIY Whitewashed Storage Crates

Photo Credit: Alice & Lois

I don't know about you, but I am always on the hunt for more storage baskets - there's never enough organization options around the house. Sara and Melissa took an unfinished wood crate and modernized it a bit for any room of the house.

Wood Crates as Lamp Shades

Photo Credit: contemporist.com

While there are no instructions for these wood crate light shades, it looks like the insides are painted . . . and a hole is drilled on top. I think these would look great in a farmhouse kitchen!

Locker Cubbies from Wood Crates

Photo Credit: Jaime Costiglio

This is a perfect home decor piece for an office or home schooling area, made with both large and small wooden crates as well as some pine boards. Jaime gives you the complete tutorial to make one of your own.

DIY Wooden Crate Bookcase

Photo Credit: Rachel Paxton

This is the easiest DIY you'll ever do! You can simply stack wooden crates to make a bookshelf, or if it'll be in a kids' room you can anchor it to the wall. Either way - it's simple!

Rustic Wall Crate Shelf

Photo Credit: kammyskorner.com

If you're lucky enough to find a wood crate for free, clean it up, stencil it, and add some key hooks - then you have a unique shelf for holding your items when you walk in the front door.

DIY Wooden Crate Picnic Basket

Photo Credit: damasklove.com

Amber's DIY picnic basket is genius! She turned the base into a "basket," and a crate lid into a table with foldable legs. When not in use, it doubles as decor.

Wooden Crate Planter And Outdoor Storage

Photo Credit: gingercasa.com

This wooden crate decorating idea is for your outdoor area! Use two crates to hold both plants as well as your gardening supplies.

How to Make a Wood Crate Ottoman

Photo Credit: Jennifer Davenport

Sometimes you just need to put your feet up! Learn how to make an ottoman out of an old, vintage milk crate. You could do this with a new one as well.

Three Dollar Crate Nightstands

Photo Credit: jacquelynclark.com

If you like inexpensive wooden crate decorating ideas, you're going to love this nightstand made from three wine crates! Jacquelyn got them for $1 each and all she did was add some stain.

DIY Crate Cabinet with Sliding Drawers

Photo Credit: Paula Skulina

This is one of my favorite pieces of crate decor! Paula constructed a cabinet to hold her wood crates - and made the drawers sliding. This is genius and I want to make one immediately.

Wicker Basket Crate Storage

Photo Credit: Aimee Weaver

While there are no instructions for this wall storage, Aimee screwed the crates directly into the wall and then added baskets from Michaels. It's really easy and I love the results!

DIY Rolling Plant Stand from a Wood Crate

Photo Credit: hearthandvine.com

Sometimes it's nice to have a rolling display for your heavier plants! This is perfect to use for keeping your plants in a certain area and rolling around when needed.

Fall Stenciled Wood Crate

Photo Credit: Laura Kuhlmann

Painted argyle is my love language! And it looks fantastic painted on the sides of this decorative wood crate. Perfect for your fall decor or centerpiece.

I hope you enjoyed these wood crate decorating ideas. I'd also love for you to visit these other posts as well:

Easy Woodworking Projects for DIY Beginners
DIY Wooden Bench Inspired by Crate and Barrel
DIY Wood Sign in Three Steps (Easy to Customize!)
Reclaimed Wood Projects You're Going to Love
These DIY Pallet Projects Are Unique & Budget Friendly