Plain Crate Turned Shipping Crate

A few months back I shared this photo and hinted at an upcoming project.  

Well, I'm happy to tell you that it finally happened!  Yay me! It's been forever since I've completed any projects so I'm feeling quite proud of myself.  Hubby, a bit sarcastically, said now I can take the rest of the year off.

So, here's the story.  I rescued this {heavy} wooden crate from the side of the road.....my side of the road.....as in my next door neighbor's bit of the road.  I looked out my window one morning and there it was, all dirty and covered in cobwebs and mud.  I think my heart skipped a beat.

I shouI'd have taken the picture with the opening on top so that you could see it's a crate, but I'm just now remembering that I planned on doing that.....and promptly forgot in my excitement of actually completing a project.

Funny thing is, about 6 months previous to this I saw about 6 of these things on his porch and was coveting them.  Ok, not quite coveting 'cause that's a sin, but I really really wished they were sitting on MY porch instead.  So on this morning, here sits one.  I didn't dare wait for the cover of night, I did not want someone coming along and taking it for firewood or some other such travesty.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, so I put on my big girl panties brave face and quickly ran out and scooped it up.

Then it sat.  In the shed.  For months.  And months.  Seriously.

Ugh, I'm terrible about procrastinating!

But this week I finally did it.

My vision was to add some basic lettering and numbers to make it seem like a shipping crate.  I found the stencils at Hobby Lobby.....months ago.  I decided to use a permanent marker because I didn't think I'd have a steady enough hand to use paint on those little letters.  Plus, I didn't want to wait for the paint to dry.  I'm incredibly patient like that.

Here it is with the lettering finished, but still looking too new and "perfect."

(All the wording, location, and numbers have special meaning to me, but I don't want to bore you with more details.)

I took my trusty little sander to it.

And finally had a finished product.

I used the "gritty" setting for the above photo.
This is what it looks like in reality.

This thing is pretty big, probably 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet or so.  I think it could be used in many different ways.

As an end table.

An old metal coffee can lid as a coaster.

Or maybe as a coffee table.

Or, you could even throw a cushion on it and make it into a seat.

So here's the before again...

And after.

Right now at this point I'm leaning towards using it as an end table, but I'm sure it will have many different uses in it's rustic lifetime.

And, lest you get the wrong impression that my home is perfectly kept and straightened up, here's a shot of what was going on just outside the edges of these pictures.

My daughter has very colorful taste in clothing!  : )

So, what do you think?  

Would you use a roadkill rescue crate in your home?  How would you choose to use it?

                                                                

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Saturday Nite Special #161 - Funky Junk Interiors