From Crate to Coffee Table

Our family room needed a coffee table. At first, I tried using this ottoman/bench as the coffee table:

But my family complained that the surface was too soft. For drinks, books, and games, we needed a hard surface.

I first looked to buy a coffee table, but couldn’t find one that I loved. It was like Goldilocks: they were too big or too small – nothing just right.

I had this crate, which I found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for about $6:

I loved the print on the sides – from 1966!

At first, I had this crate by our front door to catch umbrellas, soccer balls, and other stuff in our hands when we walk in the door. But I liked it too much to just stash it by the door.

So, I turned this crate into a coffee table.

I had these three boards of reclaimed wood, so I just nailed them to the top of the crate. I nailed them around the edge of the crate, but you could make nailing them in easier by adding a plywood top to the crate first.

You could use any boards for this. New wood could be painted, stained, or distressed to look more worn if you wanted this look. I coated the top in polyurethane so that the paint didn’t flake off.

I then added casters to the bottom of the crate.

We love that it can be wheeled around.

So, for less than $10, I created a coffee table!

If you need a table like this, don’t overlook reclaimed materials to create one. A simple wooden crate can become a coffee table with just a wood top and casters!