Welcome back! I've been feeling very crafty lately, mostly due to my late-night Pinterest binge sessions, and I came across an idea that I wanted to try. Using wooden crates as shelves is not only a really cute idea, but it also adds extra storage space to any room that you decide to put them in! I chose to use them in my bathroom for two reasons: my bathroom was very ugly and I needed more storage. Before we start, I'd like to share some background info on my bathroom. My mom and I live in a rental house, and as I'm sure some of you know there's not much you can do to renovate in these situations. There are strict rules against painting, so it's hard to make a rental space more personalized. I tried my best to work with what I had, and I think it is a huge improvement from what it was before. Just like my bedroom, everything in the bathroom is white. The walls, floors, countertop, cabinets, shower, toilet, EVERYTHING! By adding the wooden crates, a funky painting, and new towel hooks, I think that I made my bathroom look 100% better (and not as boring). With that being said, let's get into the tutorial!
This is what my bathroom looked like before:
To begin, you're going to need some wooden crates, sand paper, and wood stain.
What I used was:
1 medium wood crate ($9.99) and 2 half wood crates ($6.99) from Michael's.
1 Minwax 8oz. can of wood stain in the shade Dark Walnut ($4.77) from Lowe's.
Sandpaper that we had lying around the house (sorry this is not very helpful).
TIP: before you go buy the supplies, ALWAYS look for coupons. Michael's, Jo-Ann's, and Hobby Lobby all have coupons all the time. I saved 25% off my entire purchase at Michael's!
This is what the crates looked like before I began staining:
I started out sanding the crates, but to be honest it was taking too long and it wasn't doing much (in my opinion) so I gave up on this step and just began staining. Don't worry, they turned out FINE. To stain: I used the same method that I did in my previous DIY tutorial about how to build your own headboard. Click Here to see headboard tutorial!
When I was finished, I had a small problem. I couldn't leave the crates outside to dry because it was raining (in July, in Southern California, what are the odds?), so I left them in the garage. This caused the crates to become sticky due to poor ventilation, and they took about three days to completely dry, with only a very small amount of time of them being in the sun. ):
With my mom's help, we hung the crates with two drywall screws in each upper corner. This is the finished product:
ALL ABOUT THE DECOR:
1. Cork & Symbol - $3.59 from Michaels (25% off)
2. Potted Lavender - $5.99 from Michaels (25% off)
3. Pre-made Jar of Flowers - $3.99 from Michaels (25% off)
4. Bella Island Moonlight Candle - $10.49 from Target
And that sums up the tutorial! I do want to share how I finished the rest of the bathroom though. It was really easy and affordable, and it added something unique to the most generic bathroom in the world. I was originally going to use vinyl and create a triangle pattern to stick along the bathroom wall, until I came across this painting at Hobby Lobby. Not only did the colors match the look I wanted, but it was also 80% off!!
And let's face it, buying a painting is much easier than my original plan.
I am not kidding, it was $130 originally, and I got it for $26!
I forgot to take a picture of the towel rack that was up before, but just believe me when I say it was hideous. The previous tenants of the house had completely bent it in the middle, and whoever painted the bathroom got white paint all over it (it's silver). Not only that, but the painters painted AROUND the towel rack, so that when my mom and I took it off the wall, there were two huge rectangles where we had to un-stick the towel rack from the paint. Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do about that except put spackle over it (the owners of the house will not let us paint, even if it's the same color, they obviously are very logical people), but I did not include this eye sore in any of the pictures (:
Anyways, these two hooks are also from Hobby Lobby ($5.99 each), and I added gold accents to them with a paint pen.
Before and after of the gold paint pen accents:
For the final touch, I bought some new towels from Target ($5.94 each), and my bathroom was complete!
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