Bless'er House

DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

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In all my life, I’ve only attempted yoga once.
One of my best friends convinved me to try it with her, and y’all, this wasn’t beginners’ yoga. This was “let’s take our legs and throw them around our neck like a scarf” kind of yoga with heaters running full blast in a tiny mat-covered room.
I wanted to die. And I kid you not, I passed out. Ha! So embarassing. I was so zen that I was basically unconscious on the floor. But I’ve been told by so many that I should try it again…maybe with better hydrating beforehand.
I used to be the same way with organizing. I’d stand in front of a crammed closet, feeling so overwhelmed that I’d completely shut down halfway through. It’s frustrating trying to break my pack rat ways. Until I figured out how to use my pack-ratness to actually get organized. How’s that for irony?
Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

There are those wonderfully organized people out there who will happily drop hundreds of dollars on a pretty organization system. I am not one of those people. (I’d rather buy shoes, honestly.)
But for months now, I had an idea to start stock-piling diaper boxes to use them for our pantry that was desperately crying out for some help. (Who would have thought that having a toddler would actually help me get rid of clutter?)
Update: Check out our organized pantry here! (For under $50)
Hey, when life hands you grody diapers, make weathered wood pantry crates, right?
I used:
  • Empty cardboard diaper boxes (10 to be exact)
  • Faux wood printed craft paper (affiliate link)
  • Scissors
  • A Sharpie
  • A craft paint brush
  • Mod Podge
  • Black cardstock
  • Permanent chalk marker
  • Removable scrapbook adhesive strips

 

So I put those babies to work by cutting off the tops of the boxes first.

 

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

I measured the width and height of the box, then added together the measurements for the bottom, both sides, plus about 8 extra inches. (Mine came to 40 inches.)

I had found the perfect faux wood print craft paper at Hobby Lobby for around $8 and just knew it was destined for greatness. I cut the width of paper I needed for my first box.

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

And using a ruler, I drew lines for my template on the white side.

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

I drew about a 2-3 inch diagonal line from each corner of the box and cut it all out to create four flaps.

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap
To glue on the first flap, I brushed some Mod Podge on the perimeter of the front of the box, attached the paper to it, and smoothed it out.
Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap
For the inside, I cut the paper at a diagonal at the top two corners of the box and folded the edges in…

 

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

…Mod Podged the top inside of the box…

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

And smoothed the paper down.

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

For the outside, I glued down the excess edges too. Then repeated the process on the other side of the box.

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap
For the last two sides, I folded the paper edges in for the corners of the box.

 

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap
Then Mod Podged again. And that was it! Do you see that huge pile of boxes back there? Sheesh! What was I thinking? But, hey I can’t complain too much. It’s basically free, pretty pantry storage.
In person, they really are convincing as real wood crates. Somehow they look more fake in pictures.

 

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap
For “chalkboard” labels, I just folded black card stock in half, cut, and glued on with removable adhesive strips. I like that they’re removable so if I choose to relabel them later, I can do it without messing up the faux wood paper.

 

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap

I’d thought about buying real wood crates or even the cheaper ones from Walmart to stain myself, but even those are around $15 a piece plus the materials needed to fancy them up. For 10 crates, that’s over $150!

I’ll stick with my free storage, thanks.

At the moment, my kitchen is in complete chaos mode while I organize our pantry, but it really needs to be done. You’ll be seeing more of that tomorrow along with a few organization tips. (Cheers for sticking to New Years goals!)

Bless'er House | DIY Weathered Wood Pantry Crates for Cheap
I’m finally getting this organizing thing figured out, and I’m realizing it’s like yoga for the brain (or at least I’m assuming). I can think so much clearer without all of the clutter. And it makes we wonder if I should give yoga another go…without the passing out part. 😉
Namaste,
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Comments

  1. Christie Selken says

    I love these! I’ve seen other projects similar to this, but your use of weathered wood paper covering puts them to shame. Awesome job! Now I’m regretting buying jars to organize my pantry…

    Reply

  5. Lanita Anderson says

    What a great idea! I don’t have empty diaper boxes (thank goodness!), but I’m sure other boxes would work and be a great storage solution! Can’t wait to see how you incorporate them into your pantry….. Thanks for sharing…..loving the organizing/de-cluttering posts!
    Blessings,
    Lanita

    Reply

  9. Amanda Fettig says

    Love this!! I did something similar with just black fabric for our closet to hold shoes, but I LOVE that fauz wood paper. When I saw the picture before even reading the post, I totally thought they were real wood! 🙂

    Reply

    • Lauren says

      Aw yay! I’m so glad it helped. Thanks for the love! My hubby’s the comedian around here. It must rub off on me. 😉

      Reply

  15. Mary says

    Wow, you have given me inspiration!!! I have no access to diaper boxes But – I do have big Cat Litter boxes!! They would work too! I have no storage in my home – use them to store rolled up towels in the bath – the list is endless!! Thank you!!

    Reply

  16. Angela H says

    Hey! I love this post! I pinned it and have been coming back t it for months. Do you mind sharing what section of Hobby Lobby you found the paper? I looked in the scrapbook section but only found individual pieces. I wanted to try that before I bought the Amazon stuff (I seriously HATE to pay for shipping!). Also, how many rolls for how many boxes? Thanks so much.

    Reply

    • Lauren says

      Yay! So glad! It’s been a while but I’m thinking I found it where all of the specialty paper is in Hobby Lobby but maybe it was just at my location. It might not even be there anymore. I’m not sure. They do still have it on Amazon, but I feel the same way. I hate paying shipping unless I absolutely can’t find it anywhere else. I finally just broke down and gave in to getting Amazon Prime. I think it took about 3 feet of paper per box. 1 12 foot roll should cover 4 boxes.

      Reply

    • Nancy says

      I picked up this exact paper today at A.C.Moore. It was $7.99 and I had a 55% off card. I can’t wait to see how it will turn out. I am a little concerned about cutting it and not wasting the paper. The boxes look great on Pinterest.

      Reply

  17. Brittani says

    This is such a good idea. We have no shortage of diaper boxes, either, with a 20-week-old baby girl. I’ve been procrastinating getting our pantry together because it’s a mess. But it must be done!

    Reply

    • Lauren says

      Yay! Glad it came in handy, Brittani! I remember those young baby days. Sooo many diapers! You might be able to outfit 10 pantries by the time you hit toddlerhood. 😉

      Reply

  18. Florence says

    Beautiful job! I love that paper you got from Hobby Lobby! And you’re right, diaper boxes are great for that application….they are so sturdy!

    Reply

    • Lauren says

      Thanks, Florence! They’ve been great! We’ve been using them for over a year and they’re still holding up perfectly.

      Reply

  20. Laurie Wright says

    Like your blog, but I cannot find your printable pantry inventory list. Have checked email junk several times. Can you resend this, please?

    Reply

  21. Donna Doll says

    Hey Lauren, its been several years since you posted about your diaper box conversion to pantry storage. I am not familiar with using Mod Podge at all, so I didnt realize it was an adhesive. I thought is was more of just a sealer. So I am curious, now years later, did the paper stick to those boxes long term?

    Reply

    • Lauren says

      Hi Donna! We have since moved out of that house (and I definitely miss that large pantry since I don’t even have one anymore). But the boxes held up perfectly for 3 years in that house and still looked great when we packed up and moved out. 🙂

      Reply

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