25 Unique Ideas To Recycle Your Wine Crates

When buying wine from a cellar or getting it from your wine club, the bottles are likely to come in wine crates. 

Old wine crates are ideal to transform into original furniture or accessories.

In fact, wooden wine crates can really revolutionize your home and save you money at the same time. All you have to do is recycle them.

Wine crates can be used both closed and opened. They can be painted or left unchanged. They can be reinforced and hung on the walls or used as storage boxes.

The limit is your imagination and the number of objects you can create depends on your creativity and skills.

Old wine crates are perfect to recycle if you want to give a fresh look to your kitchen. Here are a few ways to use them.

Probably one of the best ways to use wine crates in the kitchen is by transforming them into a kitchen cabinet. Moreover, you can use the wooden boards of the crates for a makeover of your existing furniture.

If you want to use the crates as they are, a simple yet stylish idea is to arrange more wine crates one on top of the other to make an original cabinet.

On the lower crates you could even mount wheels to make it easier to move around, or simply place the lower crates directly on the ground.

Depending on your preferences, you can arrange the crates to make a perfect rectangular shape or both vertically and horizontally for a more original cabinet.

If you’re not yet ready to replace your old kitchen furniture but would love a makeover, a nice idea is to use the wooden boards of the crates and make with them new cabinet doors for your existing furniture. The effect is guaranteed.

Wine crates are also perfect to create kitchen shelves. For this project, I recommend using the crates that don’t have a major sentimental significance, as you’ll have to disassemble them and use the separate wooden boards.

To make the shelves you can either varnish the crate boards to enhance their natural color or paint them in the color of your choice.

Storage space in the kitchen is essential; however, kitchen cabinets and cupboards are somehow outdated. To give a fresh look to your environment and transform your dull kitchen into a designer space, you can use old wine crates to create an original fitted wall.

For this project, make sure all wine crates are reinforced with nails or you might risk they break under the weight of your kitchen essentials.

If you’re not really skilled at handicrafts, you can still transform the old wine crates into simple useful objects. In the kitchen, a great idea is to make fruit and vegetable storage shelves.

To make them you will need two or three wine crates and four angle slots. Then, you should simply mount the crates to the angle slots to create an original storage unit perfect to hold your goodies. 

In a rustic environment, such as a countryside kitchen, having a firewood holder is a must. This is another creative project that doesn’t require artistic skills, as you will only have to flip the crates, place them one above the other, then pile up your firewood next to the oven.

Whether you have a shabby chic or modern décor, wine crates can successfully reshape the design of your living space.

From stylish furniture to splendid decorations, there are a bunch of creative solutions.

One of the most important elements in a living room is the coffee table. For this reason, there are various DIY ideas that propose the use of different alternative items to create original coffee tables.

Wine crates are probably the noblest of these items. They are versatile, can be arranged in multiple ways and there are several coffee table designs you could use.

For example, you could arrange four wine crates in a square, leaving an empty space in the middle of the table. You can then use this space to place a design pot or a vase, or other decorative elements.

The crates can have a double functionality, acting as the table’s legs and as shelves for various items such as magazines or books.

A book case is another beautiful element of design to have in a living room. You can either build the furniture with wine crates or mount them on a wall for an alternative solution.

Pets have a special place in our souls and many pet owners care about the comfort of their faithful companions. As such, I’m sure your dog or cat will appreciate having a personal resting place in the living room and a great idea is to transform a wine crate into an original bed.

To make this, remove a side wooden board from the crane. Choose a cushion that fits perfectly into the crate and gives it an attractive look with a romantic or original pillowcase, then place it in the crate.

If you have some valuable wine crates then you should exhibit them. An original way to do this is by transforming them into an original wall decoration.

Dissemble the crates and only use those boards that show the name of the winery or other valuable information. Treat the boards with a thin layer of transparent wood varnish and mount them on the wall to create an original piece of art.

Wine crates can even be used to make an original TV stand. There are numerous creative ideas you could use depending on your skills or available space.

The bedroom can also benefit from the creative recycling of the wine crates. Again, you can make original furniture or outstanding accessories that will become the envy of your family and friends.

An important part of the bedroom is the dressing space. To keep this tiny space organized, all your clothing items, including the shoes, should be kept in a precise order.

As such, a shoe rack is an important piece of furniture to consider when planning the design of a bedroom. For an original and inexpensive solution, use old wine crates to make racks for your shoes.

Besides tables are among the easiest to make. In most cases, it will be enough to arrange your wine crates vertically on the sides of the bed to have two original bedside tables.

However, if you want to test your carpenter skills, there are many projects designs that use recycled wine crates and transform them into more complex pieces of furniture.

If you have kids, you probably know how hard it is to maintain your home tidy. For this purpose, toy boxes are a must.

On the market, there are numerous models of toy boxes to choose from yet you can make use of your old wine crates to create original storage space solutions for your or your kid’s bedroom.

Right bedroom lighting is sometimes hard to achieve. However, you should know that you can use old wine crates to make original bedside or wall-mounted lamps.

For bedside lamps, choose a wine crate made of multiple wooden boards rather than wooden panels,  as these types of crates usually have enough space between the boards to let the light pass.

Making an original chest of drawers with wine crates is not exactly simple yet the result is rewarding. The simplest way is to replace the existing drawers with wooden crates, although finding a piece of furniture that fits the dimensions of the wine crates might be tricky.

For a countryside home or for an original urban design, use wine crates to decorate your bathroom.

Wine crates can be used to make bathroom shelves in a way similar to the kitchen shelves. If you don’t want to disassemble the wine crate, you can even mount in on the wall and use the bottom and upper sides as shelves.

Wine crates can make beautiful bathroom cabinets, either wall-mounted or under the sink. The easiest to achieve is a wall-mounted cabinet made with reinforced wine crates.

For the less talented, transforming a wine crate into a mirror support is a rewarding way of decorating the bathroom in an original way.

For this project, you’ll only need a simple wine crate and a mirror. Mount the mirror inside the crate, fixing it with glue on the bottom of the box, then mount the crate on the wall above the sink.

Using a wine crate to keep your towels together is another inventive solution if you don’t have a special talent in carpentry.

The towel holder can be placed either on the bathtub’s edge, on top of a bathroom cabinet or mounted on the wall.

Another simple yet effective solution is to transform an old wine crate into an original laundry basket. You can make the basket in a way similar to the toy box described above and keep it under the sink or on the bottom shelf of a bathroom cabinet.

Your outdoor space can also benefit from the use of wine crates as original decorative and functional elements. Here are a few ideas to inspire you.

From an environmental point of view, separating your trash into categories is a must. However, nobody says you have to use ugly plastic garbage bins for this purpose.

You can simply use three old wine crates to collect glass, plastic, and paper trash. Paint each crate in a different color and write on them the type of trash that should be stored in each one.

Mounted on the external wall of your house or on a fence, wine crates can also be used as flower pot holders.

To enhance the look of your garden you can paint them in pastel or intense tonalities and use matching or contrast flower pots.

On a balcony or in the garden, wine crates can be used as planters. If you only have a balcony, you can mount the wine crates along the outside edge of the balcony’s wall and grow some colorful perennials.

In the garden, you can use wine crates as planters either alone or arrange them in sophisticated artistic compositions.

With a bit of effort, you will even be able to transform a few old wine crates into original garden benches. The simplest idea is to use two crates as support and mount a wide wooden board on them.

Finish the bench with a long cushion arranged on top of the board and place it next to a wall or fence to provide back support.

Lastly, you could use old wine crates to make raised beds for herbs or vegetables. A beautiful idea of a raised bed is by using a wine crate arranged vertically as support for another wine crate placed horizontally on top of it.

Fill the upper crate with good potting soil and use it to grow cherry tomatoes or aromatic herbs.

Next time you receive your subscription wine from your wine club, or the next time you buy a large quantity of wine from your favorite cellar, remember that old wine crates can have numerous versatile uses.

Between sipping a glass of your favorite beverage and fixing a few nails or painting a wooden board, you can transform old wine crates  into attractive artworks or functional elements. Enhance the beauty of your home and make the best out of your wooden boxes!