Every once in a while one of my (many) project failures turns into an unexpected success.
I originally started out staining a smaller wooden crate in which I received some cheese I won (I know, I’m the luckiest girl alive) to make into a side table. All was going well until I tried to attach the hairpin legs that I ordered and found that their bases were too wide to even fit onto the box itself. Since all of my messier projects are done at my parents’, I scavenged around to find something else I could attach the legs to.
I remembered an old wooden Pabst Blue Ribbon crate that used to hold firewood at our house and dug it out of the garage. After dumping out the wood scraps and cleaning the dust off, it was the exact style I was looking for, right down to the “Blue Ribbon” stamp on the side and the circular bottle marks worn onto it—and, more importantly, the perfect size for attaching the hairpin legs!
I gave the crate a cleaning and a couple of coats of stain. After shaving down the length of the screws so they wouldn’t poke through onto what would become the bottom shelf (another perk of doing projects at home since I don’t exactly have a sawzall in my apartment—thanks, Dad!), the legs attached easily and I had a new-old table!
I absolutely love how this table turned out. From the size to the color to the beer theme, it was the perfect thing to use (and much better than the one I originally intended on using).
It fits right into my apartment and is the perfect scale for a small space. I wasn’t sure what I would use it for, but it’s been working great to hold photo albums and assorted tchotchkes I want to display (like my antique mitochondria slide, duh).
Adorkable DIY 
Love this! What height hairpin legs did you use? I am doing something similar but where the top of the crate opens for storage and I am nervous the legs will look too tall if I buy the wrong height. Yours looks like the right height!
Also, did you just use clear stain? I bought an old Budweiser crate and don’t want to ruin the integrity of the wood!
Glad you like it! I think they’re 24” tall which feels perfect but it definitely depends how tall the crate is on top. I use mine as a side table for my record player and it’s the right height. I did use a clear stain just to seal and brighten. Good luck with your project!