diy vintage soda pop crate

I love the old school soda crates, you know, the wooden ones with the retro logos?

But holy torpedoes batman, they can be hard to find and when you do find them, ouch; they're usually pretty pricey. The hubby and I decided to try and make our own and spend  $0. Overall, we're pretty pleased with how it turned out, but when we make our next ones (oh yes, there will be more!), we have some thoughts on improvements. Take a look!

For this project we used  pallet wood we already had (you know, left over from a wall and some bookshelves), essentially the size of the wood is the equivalent of a 1 x 4". The sides and the bottoms are 17 inches, and the shorter sides are 11 inches. This size fit 24 bottles pretty well.

Once I sanded (with 60 grit sandpaper) and cleaned everything really well, Mike got to work putting it together for me. Construction of the crate frame is pretty straight forward, and you don't need any fancy tools. Mike used a table saw to make the cuts, but you could easily cut the boards by hand. The shorter sides are inset into the longer sides and nailed into place with two nails. Screws probably would have been sturdier, but I wanted a more vintage look. Then the bottom boards get nailed on and that's it! 

Now you're ready for the paint or stain. For some ideas, just Google "vintage soda crates", "wood soda crates", "vintage coca cola crates"... you get the idea. :) I painted a coat of red, then went over it with watered down black paint and a dry brush effect to help it look vintage. Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect, there were a few spots that I missed but it just added to the aged look. 

Once my paint was dry, it was time to turn to Cami for assistance. I downloaded a free font called "Coca-Cola". Do not be fooled by imitations, such as "Loki Cola' or "Coca Cola ii"! I almost was, but then I realized that the first "C" didn't swoop under like it does in the real logo. The font I downloaded doesn't have each letter of the alphabet, instead it just has different Coca Cola logos when you type a letter. So, for example,  you type in the letter "C" and the whole Coca-Cola logo pops up. Type in the "w" and that's the wavy line in the logo. The "Enjoy" and "Trademark" are a font called Euphemia.

Once I had it painted with some white craft paint and it had sufficient time to dry, I distressed it with sandpaper, making sure to rough some areas up more than others. I think the logo turned out awesome! what do you think?

I applied some matte acrylic sealer, and after drying overnight it was all done! Ready to serve up 24 bottles of soda for a thirsty crowd.

Or just one thirsty birthday boy friend of Mike's who loves Coke Zero and is always willing to share. :) We replaced two of the bottles with vintage style Coke glasses and filled them with red straws and Reese's (which said birthday-boy's wife informed me he liked) to complete the gift.

We LOVE the way this vintage soda pop crate turned out and I'm already trying to decide what other soda brands I want to make next!



Linked to: Keeping it Simple, Skip to my Lou, Lou Lou Girls, Sew Can Do, Mabey She Made It, Polkadots on Parade