DIY Picket Fence Crate

Whenever I think of a white picket fence, I think of springtime, country, and flowers.  This sweet  little tray has a weathered, white picket fence surrounding it, making it the perfect setting for your spring or Easter décor and vignettes.  The pickets instantly give an enchanting, nostalgic feel to your display. What an easy little project this was, and cute to boot too!

The coolest thing is this project was so affordable and fast to make, the wooden pickets were simply surveying stakes bought at the hardware store!

Tutorial:

Tools:

• Hammer or nail gun with finishing nails
• Chop saw
• Paint Brush (to stain and whitewash crate)

Supplies:

• Four 1x2s at 10 3/8in long
• Four 1x2s at 1ft 11 1/2in long
• Plywood at 1ft X 1ft 11 1/2in and 1/4in thick
• Surveying stakes for the pickets (approx. 8in long) I bought mine at Home Depot.  At first I used 20 but then decided I wanted more and ended up using 28 in all
• Finishing nails at 1 1/4in long
• My DIY easy wood stain (to make new wood look old)
• White acrylic paint (to give a whitewashed look)
• Floral Styrofoam, decorative moss, and silk flowers (or whatever else you want to decorate it with)

Directions:

Building the crate:

Gather your piece of plywood

Make a frame by nailing together two of the 1ft 11 1/2in 1x2s and two of the 10 3/8in 1x2s to the plywood

My pickets were made from surveying stakes bought at Home Depot

I first cut the sharp ends off of the stakes and then cut them to size

Space the stakes out evenly and then nail stakes to the outer edge of the plywood frame

For the top rail, nail on the last two 1ft 11 1/2in 1x2s and also the last two 10 3/8in 1x2s to the pickets

Later on I decided I liked the look of more pickets, but you can decide what you like best

Staining and painting:

Then I stained the wood with my easy DIY wood stain to make the wood look old

Lastly, I dry-brushed the picket crate with white acrylic paint

Using a dry paint brush, dip the tips of the bristles into the paint and dab off the excess

Simply run the brush along the grain of the wood (just lightly brushing the surface), giving the look of old, wearing paint

I painted the outside and the inside, not worrying about the bottom which will never be seen…

Decorating:

I threw some floral Styrofoam into the bottom of the crate

Then covered it with decorative moss bought at the craft store.  Now it’s ready to fill with whatever decorations you like!

The best thing about this charming picket fence crate is that you can use this crate for other holidays as well.

Happy Easter!