Top 5 Ways to Reuse Wooden Crates
According to the research done by the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products from Virginia Tech University, nearly 40 percent of all the hardwood that are harvested in the United States is used for cargo crates. On the other hand, about 20 percent of all the wood wastes in the landfills of U.S are from tossed out crates.
In order to reduce the use of wood, a lot of companies have been opting for shipping crates and pallets which are made from other materials like metal, and cardboard. There are other companies that also offer programs to take back the used wood pallets to help make recycling easier. However, an overwhelming amount of these shipping crates and pallets still make it to landfills every year. By chance, these unwanted and trashed pallets are frequently offered by some businesses at little or no cost at all. These are great sources of a low cost yet high quality wood for a home décor project.
To help in this matter, you can conserve the rejected wood crates and pallets from the establishments in your place for use in storage solutions, new furniture, garden accessories and other uses. In this way, not only will it let you save money but something new is added to your reuse stockpile by making use of something that should have gone to waste. Here are some ways to reuse wooden crates.
Bookshelves
These wooden crates are perfect for making a bookshelf. You can stack and mount them against the wall, and ideas on how to make it look good are endless. Painting, reshaping, alternating bricks and crates, a good time to test your creativity. This method of reusing crates is common with apartment tenants and minimalist designers. Nevertheless, if this was done with some art and style, the bookcase made out of stacked wooden boxes and crates can add personality whatever room it will be used in.
Planters for Flowers or Herbs
It is astonishing how old and worn-out crates can look so gorgeous and pretty when beautiful plants are grown in them. Utilizing a wooden pallet as a planter will serve as an out-of-the-ordinary, chic and convenient addition for any part of your house. Just fill up the crate with topsoil and plant your herbs or plants in it. Be sure to place it somewhere that has lost of sunlight.
Wedding Décor
With their ease of adaptability, wood crates are also greatly incorporated and used for wedding decorations these days. The mini crates can be used as centerpieces for reception tables where floral arrangements are incorporated, adornments for wedding favors or dessert bar, or used for display items for wedding items such as cakes or the flowers that go along the aisle and altar.
Feeders for Pets
Wooden boxes can be transformed into a pet bowl. If it has a closed top, cut-out two circle holes and place metal bowls in each hole. One for food and one for water.
Wall-Mounted Display Shelves
Mount wood pallets on your wall. These can serve as decorative display shelving. Arrange them in a rectangular, square or even an odd shape and display your favorite dinnerware on them.
A great place to find these vintage wooden crates is in a flea market. Recycling them into something useful and beautiful is a cool way to help reduce waste.
The Author:
The writer is a furniture and interior designer.
This is a great read. Recycling is one of the best ways to remove unwanted clutter and make them functional in some other ways. These are great ideas and I’m fascinated about the designs and and their new purpose. Just to add, it is also perfect to use as decoration for an office space design. Your office space is somewhere you produce more of your creative ideas, and putting a little bit of creativity in there could boost your productivity.
Great post! It is really shocking to learn that almost half of the wood we consume is used for crates and pallets. It is definitely makes your argument for reusing them really stick with me. I think my favorite use for them is as vertical gardens or shelves, especially in my garage. However, I had never thought of using them to make a pathway. I couldn’t do it in my yard, but it is a good idea.
I have used a lot of wooden crates in the warehouse I used to work with. They are very useful for moving things, but, I did not know they could be used in so many different ways. I might have to get some and use them as shelves like you suggested because I could use some more shelves in my home.
I am all about reusing things to get the most out of them, so I love these ideas for using crates. I especially like the idea you give of using crates to make bookshelves. I think it would be a great way to make my son’s room more functional while remaining masculine. I imagine that in order for these things to work, it will be important that we use quality crates. I’ll have to start looking around to see what I can find.
Wow, I really like the idea you have about using old crates as feeders for pets because of how simple it is. Just cutting out a few holes in the top of the crate to hold the pet’s bowls is pretty creative. However, I wonder if you could also set something up so that you could have one crate holding the food and dispensing it into the others.
This was such a cool list of ways to use the wood from wooden crates! I especially loved your tip about mounting wood pallets on the wall to use as decorative displays. I will have to look into finding a supplier to buy wooden crates from in my area so I can add a touch of vintage to my home!