Home DIY: How to repurpose a beer crate

Crates are dependable, readily available and pretty much indestructible. Photo / Pony McTate

Beer crates are the sturdy workhorses of the DIY world, or at least they should be. Dependable, readily available and pretty much indestructible. You can sit on them, store stuff in them, stack them up or nail them to the wall (ask your landlord first, kids!). They have a certain humble charm as is, particularly the older weathered-off ones. But if you'd rather not be reminded too keenly of your dodgy flatting days, then with a quick lick of paint you can turn them into something refreshingly new.

I have grand ideas of a whole wall of painted crates hung at different heights, artfully displaying hipster succulents and hand-lettered exhortations (Chill! Be brave! Separate your whites!). Possibly an industrial copper candlestick or two?

But, as I tend to murder succulents and my calligraphy is rubbish, for now I'm making do with a single fancy side table crate.

What you'll need

• A beer crate, the kind that big bots of Lion Red come in (student neighbours or your local pub are a good source, if you're after the crate without the beer).
• Sandpaper
• Masking tape - in my hardware store I found some for textured surfaces, which worked well.
• Paint in various colours and a paintbrush. (You can get some great sparkle paint these days if, like me... a total sucker for glitter).

Step one

Prepare your crate by giving it a quick rub with sandpaper. My crate was pretty gnarly with lots of rough bits so sanding was really only a token gesture. I elected to embrace any flaws and call it "character".

Step two

Using masking tape, mark out a design. Stick it down firmly to avoid paint going where it shouldn't. I've gone for simple stripes of varying widths. Wide chevrons would look striking too. Or all black with a bright pop of colour inside. So many options.

Step three

Paint the crate. I had a whole lot of test pots lying around so I used what I had to hand. If you change your mind about your colours halfway through (as did I), just paint over them. Let everything dry, apply another coat and, once that's dry too, carefully peel off the masking tape.

Step four

Reapply fresh tape over the painted stripes to mask them out for the next round of colours. I left thin gaps of unpainted crate here and there for pleasing little glimpses of the original beer crate stamps. Apply two coats of paint as before, let dry then remove the tape to reveal your masterpiece. Pretty cool, huh?