Milk Crate Storage Ottoman

Happy fall, MRL friends!  It’s Angie from Knick of Time, here with a tutorial to turn a vintage milk crate into a padded storage ottoman.

I made one a few years ago, and it was one of my favorite projects (seen here), but I didn’t make a tutorial for it at the time.  I brought home another vintage milk crate last week, so  this time I remembered to take step by step photos while I made another ottoman.

The crate I found is a bit unusual.  The edges and bottom are metal, but I I think the sides are made of fiberglass.

There were marks on the fiberglass, and I wasn’t crazy about how it looked, so I taped off the metal edges and painted all of the fiberglass sides white. Many old milk crates have metal bars on the sides, so those don’t need to be painted.

To make the padded top, cut plywood exactly the same size as the crate top.

You’ll also 2 pieces of scrap wood the same length as the board, foam padding, fabric, a staple gun and a few short wood screws.

Lay the cut plywood top on your foam and trace around it, then cut on the line to remove excess.

Lay your fabric out, and position the foam on it, then the plywood on top.

If your fabric has an obvious directional print, make sure it’s lined up straight.

Start on one side and gently pull the fabric around the foam and plywood.  You want the fabric to be snug, but not pulled so tight that pulls “dents” into the foam.  Staple the fabric close to the edge of the plywood.  Don’t worry about excess fabric – we’ll trim that off later.  Staple all four sides the same way.

Fold the corners of the fabric as if you are wrapping a present, making sure the fabric is as smooth as possible.

Trim off the excess fabric, and add more staples on any loose parts of the fabric, if needed.

The last step is to position the two pieces of scrap wood along opposite sides of the plywood and screw them into place.  I countersunk my screws, because they were a little too short.

Now, just flip it over and put it on your crate.  The scrap wood pieces keep the finished padded top from sliding off the milk crate.

I used sandpaper to add some distressing to the painted fiberglass sides, which made it look more like wood.

Stash magazines or books inside and use it as a footstool by your favorite chair!

I hope you’ll pop over and visit me at Knick of Time, and see the fun little video I made about my farmhouse pallet wood window box dressed up for fall (seen here).

See you next month!

See more of Angie’s projects below: