DIY A-Frame Crate

Hey MRL Readers!

It is good to be back posting here today, in case you are new, my name is Mindi and I blog over at MyLove2Create. I love contributing for Gail and feel honored to share my projects with you!

It is amazing how fast the summer has gone by, and I realized the other day that I had not made a single crate. What?! I promptly fixed the situation, and I am happy to share my DIY A-Frame Crate with you today…

Isn’t it so fun!? Just so you know, I have an obsession with crates, they make me happy. 🙂

Reclaimed Wood

I have been wanting to make a crate like this for quite a while. With crazy summer life, vacations, and projects like my Farmhouse Storage Bed and Floating Night Stands, I just never had time, until now.

I had some great reclaimed wood that needed some lovin’, an old croquet mallet handle, and some smaller skinny boards that were once part of an old wooden mat (???). I ended up using two of the skinny (close to 1×2 size) boards, the two longer 1/4 x 5 3/4 inch boards, and the croquet mallet handle.

Design A Frame Crate

When I build crates I love to just wing it and see where my build takes me. I started with trimming the ends of the croquet handle and then cutting two side boards to the same length. They ended up being 21 inches.

Next, I cut the end pieces. I did this by measuring my side piece on the board needing to be cut, to make sure the ends would be the same height as the side piece. Once I cut the first piece I used it to measure and cut the second end piece.

To complete my crate box I needed to cut the bottom piece. Since I wanted my bottom to be inset, I started by measuring and marking my board with a side piece. Then I used my two end pieces by placing them next to my first mark and marking the other side for where I needed to cut.

Hopefully that makes since. This process eliminates measuring, and if you do build this way you can make it any size you want. You can also measure, I just like to use what I have instead.

Assembly

I used glue and finish nails to add the end pieces to the bottom piece.

Then I did the same for the two sides. See how easy it is, that is why I love making crates, easy but so satisfying! Now to make it cute…

I took my 1×2 ish boards and cut two ends at a 15 degree angle on one side, the bottom of the feet. Next, I propped my crate up on a 2×6 block of wood to give it some height, then I clamped my leg boards to my crate, and each other, and marked where the two boards met at a diagonal, and drew a cut line.

In the top left photo you can see two boards on top of each other with a diagonal cut. When I made my diagonal cut I used both sides of the board by simply flipping the second onto the first and measuring where to cut the 15 degree foot bottom for the second. So basically I got both A-Frame diagonal cut boards out of one cut. I used one on each side of my crate.

For the other side of the A-Frame I just cut the bottom at 15 degrees and the top a little taller than the diagonal board so I could round it off later. Then I used glue and nails to attach the A-Frame legs together. I nailed in from both sides and used a clamp to keep them together while I nailed the first couple of nails, I removed the clamp to nail in the rest.

Tweak Assembly

When I nailed the second set of A-frame legs together I matched them up to the first set to make sure they were the same size/height, and then nailed them together (top left). Then I rounded the tops of both sets of legs at the same time with a jigsaw and sanded them smooth.

A perfectly nice set of rustic legs! Please ignore my messy work table top, I guess I need to clean up the dried glue…It always seems to get past me until I look at my in progress photos…

I glued and nailed on my A-frame legs, still using my 2×6 board under my crate to raise it up. I also glued and nailed on my croquet mallet handle to the top of each set of legs, but I forgot to take a photo, oops!

Embellish A Frame Crate with Stencil

At this point I could have been done, but I love to add a little something extra. I used my Cricut to cut a short phrase out of contact paper, and stenciled it on with some black paint. On the other side of the crate I couldn’t resist adding a chalkboard label…another weakness of mine. I. Love. Chalkboards.

All finished and ready to get to work! It can hold a ton of fruits and veggies, perfect for the kitchen counter.

The A-Frame legs are so fun and cute! You can see that I like the rustic look. If you don’t you could easily fill in all the nail holes and paint your crate.

A Soda caddy would also be a fun way to use this crate for parties, or just for home decor.

Or fill empty soda bottles with cherry blossoms for a pretty touch. (my cherry blossoms are made out of sticks and tissue paper).

I am planning on using it for decor on my kitchen island, and also using it for condiments at BBQ’s, since we still have some summer left. 🙂

I am feeling much better, I love satisfying my crate fix! Do you like crates? What would you use this one for?

see more of Mindi’s posts on MRL here