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DIY Crate & Pipe Industrial Table

The Great Crate Challenge :: 10 Blogs, 1 crate
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I’m super excited to be teaming up with all these fabulous ladies on such a fun project! We all bought the same wooden crate from Michaels, and thought it would be cool to see what everyone came up with. We didn’t really set any rules so anything is fair game! Be sure to check out the gallery at the bottom of this post to visit each blog 🙂 I came up with this DIY Crate & Pipe Industrial Table and I love it!

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableOf course, naturally I wanted to turn my crate into a piece of furniture; but it took me a little while to figure out how. I wanted to just pop some hairpin legs on it and call it a day, but I was turned off by the price. 🙁  I thought about how I could make my own, but without being welder, I didn’t see many options. I also thought about putting dividers in the crate and turning it into a wine storage table. I clearly didn’t follow through on that.

I did know that I wanted it to have that industrial look so I decided to go with piping. Off to Home Depot I went and god bless the people who work there for putting up with me. I went without having a firm idea of how I was going to structure the base so after staring at all the copper pipes for a solid half hour, I finally asked for some help.

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

Luckily, Home Depot sells the same wooden crate and I was able to use one as a guinea pig. I told the kind worker my plan and he so very nicely helped me visualize my idea, “assemble” it in the aisle on the floor, and write down all the measurements. Let me just say more than one person walked by with an extremely confused look on their face. Here’s proof:

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableMy original plan was having the base look like that and put the crate on top. Silly me. Terrible idea. It needed way more support. Which I didn’t realize until I got home. So I had to make another trip back to the Depot and bought some more pipes and adjusted the frame.

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

MATERIALS
:: 1/2 inch Copper Piping
:: Pipe Cutter (optional)
:: Eight 1/2 inch Copper Tube Straps
:: Six 1/2 inch 90° elbows
:: Two 1/2 inch T Bars (totally made that name up)
:: Two 1/2 inch 90° Street Elbows
:: Two 1/2 inch Tube Caps (not pictured, fail.)
:: Liquid Nails
:: Spray Paint

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableMEASUREMENTS
:: 2 @ 23.5″
:: 1 @ 15″
:: 2 @ 12″
:: 4 @ 8.75″
:: 2 @ 7.5″

You can have someone cut your pipe at Home Depot (which I did when I first went), but when I went back to pick up more I was impatient and didn’t feel like waiting so I bought one instead. It’s super easy to use!

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableSo once I had my frame laid out, I took it apart and applied some Liquid Nails in all the connectors. I wasn’t super impressed with how this glue worked. I let it sit overnight and I was still able to wiggle the pipes around. Since I was securing the pipes to the table with the straps I figured I didn’t need too much extra support, which ended up being fine.

I considered keeping the copper color, but wasn’t really sold on the way it was looking. Enter spray paint.

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableI used the Hammered paint for the frame, which is AWESOME. If you haven’t tried this stuff, you need to. It gives it such a cool “textured” look. It amazed me. Then I coated it with the Matte Finish. I originally painted the tube straps in the Hammered too, but wanted a little more contrast so I went with the Metallic Fusion for the ones I was using on the top.

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableI used four straps on the top and 4 straps on the bottom to secure the crate. Speaking of the crate…I started out by sanding the inside down. It’s really quite annoying that the outside is smooth and the inside is so rough. I should have sanded more, because rough wood like that is a pain in the buns to stain.

I followed a tutorial from Shannon over at AKA Design & Life for the look on the crate. She used it on this incredible DIY Brickmaker’s Coffee Table. Unreal right?.  I started out using Dark Walnut like she did, followed by the Classic Gray. I’ll tell you right now, adding the Gray over the Dark Walnut did absolutely nothing. I’d skip that step in the future. What really makes this an incredible finish is the white wash.

Mix about a spoonful of white paint with half a cup of water and mix thoroughly. I applied it and then gently wiped it off with a rag. It gives the wood the perfect antiqued look! (The picture really doesn’t do it justice).

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial TableI sealed it up with some General Finishes Flat Topcoat and added some L Brackets in the corners just for an extra little touch. 🙂

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table

I think I want to make another one and use them as our night stands! I really wasn’t sure what this thing was going to look like but I love it. And it will be much easier to make the second one.

I never would have made something like this if I wasn’t a part of this challenge, and I’m so glad I was. I love painting furniture, but I was getting the itch to build something. This was the perfect little project for me.

Do you like what I did with my crate? What would you have done?? Make sure to browse the gallery below and see what all my other bloggy friends made 🙂

Have a great day everyone!


Comments

  3. Wow, I really like that piece! I had never thought of going with an industrial flair for something like that, but I have a couple of these crates I’ve been collecting and I’d love to try something like this. You may have given me my weekend project, so thanks for that! And some of the other ones look great too, so I may have a few weekends planned out now. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply

  6. Industrial style meets shabby-chic. Love it! The finish adds a nice accent for a more vintage look. Have you ever tried a decorative project with wooden wine crates? They give a warm and bright feeling to a modern décor.

    If your looking for original wine boxes or crates for future projects visit Winepine

    Reply

  11. Hi Bre, I love your crate challenge and wanted to let you know that I have it featured on my Weekends Are Fun Party. I do hope that you can stop by and share other links with us. It starts at 11:00 AM PST today!!

    Have a great weekend!
    Karren

    Reply

  17. This is amazing! I am so impressed. I love the industrial look. You did an awesome job and I think you should totally make another for your nightstand!

    Reply

  19. Oh I Just love this! We will be featuring it at our Twirl and Take a Bow Link Party Monday Night! Be sure to come grab a button!
    Hugs
    Karin

    Reply

  23. This is awesome Bre! You always pick the perfect paint/stain colors for your projects! I love how the pipes wrap around the top of the table!!

    Reply

  25. I love the versatility of these little craft crates! This is a great way to repurpose one! I really like the pipe legs and the dark stain.

    Reply

  32. This is so classy and totally looks like a high end piece you would buy in a shop! Love the stain, love the pipes, love the brackets. You, sister, are a professional! So totally perfect 🙂

    Reply

  34. Oh, it’s incredible! The frame you designed with the copper piping is just brilliant! What a fun challenge and I love all the projects shared….beautiful creations! 🙂

    Reply

  43. Honestly, Bre!!! There is no way that you CAN’T be successful in the furniture biz. You have such a knack for envisioning cool stuff!! I’m totally in love with this. The way you configured the pipes was brilliant! And the overall look is perfect! 🙂

    Reply

    • aw shucks girl. You’re the best. I hope I can open my own shop someday! And you’re not half bad yourself 😉 xo

      Reply

    • haha you can have one for yourself!! It’s really not hard, I swear! That method is my new fav for staining/white washing 🙂

      Reply

  48. Holy smokes Bre! You totally knocked it out of the park with this one! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the industrial look! And now I can’t wait to try that staining/ whitewashing technique AND that hammered look spray paint! Great job my friend!

    Reply

  53. Oh my goodness! What a great piece of furniture you fashioned out of a crate! You styled it beautifully too! I’d be thrilled if you linked this up to my Creative Ways Link Party that goes live tonight at 8pm central. Hope to see you there!
    Blessings,
    Nici

    Reply

    • Thank you so much, Nici!! I would love to link up to your party. I’ll be sure to stop by tonight 🙂

      Reply

    • hahaha I had to include that. Pretty sure the people who work there think I’m crazy. Oh well! Thanks, Nicole 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  7. […] Brepurposed brought together a wooden crate and piping and manifested a stunning industrial style end table. This end table is sophisticated and useful. Make your own industrial side table. […]

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  31. […] Industrial furniture is very trendy now, and we’ve already told you of some of such projects. Today we’ll make a pipe crate table, the supplies are 1/2 inch copper piping, a pipe cutter, eight 1/2 inch copper, tube straps, six 1/2 inch 90° elbows, two 1/2 inch T bars, two 1/2 inch 90° street elbows, two 1/2 inch tube caps, liquid nails, spray paint. Lay out your frame, take it apart and apply some liquid nails in all the connectors. Let it sit overnight and paint it. Use four straps on the top and 4 straps on the bottom to secure the crate. Continue reading the instructions here. […]

    Reply

  38. […] Treasures / DIY Pillowcase with Pom Pom Trim / Small But Efficient Craft Room at Two More Minutes / DIY Pipe Crate Industrial Table Tutorial at brepurposed / DIY Painted Concrete Place Card Holders at Tiny Sidekick […]

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  39. […] make as much sense to you as it did to me?  I hope so!  First up we’ve got this amazing DIY Crate and Pipe Industrial Table tutorial by Bre from Bre-purposed (Ha!  I see what she did there).  I love the steampunk feel to it, and […]

    Reply

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