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Old wooden coke crate

20 years ago

I just bought a wooden coke cola crate that has 24 sections where the bottles went. I'd like to know what crafty thing would be good to use it for. I would like to display it somehow on my kitchen wall. I don't want to use it as a caddy, and so far thats all I've seen. Any other ideas out there?

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Comments (7)

des_arc_ya_ya
20 years ago
I used an old Dr. Pepper crate like that in my kitchen for a long time. Had it hanging on the wall with little "thingies" in it. I had old Monopoly pieces from when I was a kid, DS's Matchbox cars, etc. You can stick them in with glue or velcro if they won't "sit" right! LOL

I'm gonna keep checking your post. I LOVE different uses for stuff. This could be good!!! LOL
Red_Confetti
20 years ago
I made a spice rack from an old Coke case years ago. I used the little glass babyfood jars for the spices - perfect diameter and heighth. Don't know if you can still get those little glass jars!

I painted the case as it was in pretty sad shape. I painted the lids of the jars a contrasting color. Since I keep my herbs/spices in alphabetical order I didn't bother to label the jars, but you could paint the names on the lids so they would be visible, or use labels.

I mounted the rack on the wall with two L-angle brackets underneath it. I also screwed in about 5 cup hooks along the bottom and hung various little kitchen gadgets there (tea strainer, etc.). You can use the top as a little shelf also for kitchen timer, etc.
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In civilian life the style of letter font may prove to be some indication of age, but for government applications that would not always hold true. The government is very careful to insure that they do not endorse any manufacturers product to the exclusion of another, therefore they write the specifications to include not only the overall design and type of materials used to construct the product, but the also include the type of finish, whether it is to be painted, varnished, or plain metal. In turn, once the government creates the specifications they put it out to bid to civilian manufacturers with the understanding that the product must conform solely to the government specs. In most cases the the only identifying marks allowed would be a tag which has the Milspec number or the Federal Stock Number and the nomenclature of the item. In some instances the specifications are so complete that they would define exactly what information could be put on the tag, I.E. FSN (Federal Stock Number) and Nomenclature and it may state specifically the size of tag, type of material the tag is to be made of, such as a metal tag, lettering stenciled or printed on the item, size of the lettering, type font for the lettering and the exact position where the tag is to be placed. In the case of an item such as the hand truck in question, the original specifications may have been written back during the civil war, but given that it is of such a good design, requiring no modifications, a manufacturer may be obligated to produce it today to the same specs. To give you some idea of how critical the government is on specifications, once while stationed on a B-52 bomber base I was assigned duty as the receiving inspector for the munitions unit. We received two railroad car loads of belted 50cal. machine gun ammunition which was to packed in metal canisters, two to a pack in wooden crates, and labeling on the crates was to be stenciled black paint. When we inspected the shipment, the ammunition was correct, packed in the metal canisters two to a crate as specified but, the crates were stenciled with blue paint instead of black paint. We held the shipment for ten days pending a ruling and were told we had to ship it back to the manufacture for repacking. The assumption was that if they fudged on one spec, they may have fudged on others so the product did not meet government specs.
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a few ideas... if you have a crate with dividers stick colorful napkins in a pattern or randomly in each divider. It could be a way of setting your table by having the guests pluck a napkin from the crate. You could do the same thing with candles. You could serve dessert and have the crate be the serving tray. For example, bring out a crate of stemmed glasses with chocolate mousse or sherbet in them. You might also be able to find plants with colorful leaves that come in those tiny plastic containers at the nursery and decorate in fall colors. Or for children, fill each divider to the rim in a different colorful candy. You could use everything from red hots to M&M's to candy corn to gummi bears. It would bring in a lot of color and allow for happy grazing as people walked by it. I didn't say it was a healthy idea, just a colorful one!
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bruggirl100
20 years ago
A lot of people use them to display miniatures. My son had an old plastic one he used to display his McDonald's toy collection.
jaybird
20 years ago
If you are a crafter, they are perfect for storing the small bottles of paint. I hung mine on the wall, and shimmed the bottom out about 1/4" so that the bottles wouldn't slide out! I lay them on their sides!
wichitarick
20 years ago
hi
I have a crate on my kitchen wall that was pop crate but I got it in the thrift shop and it had been painted and a few of the inserts were removed making more room in the openings
so I don,t have to keep just small stuff in it.
when I was a kid a friend of my moms had an entire wall in her house covered in these and filled with avon bottles .
I hated going there you could smell it before you got there and long after you left lol Rick
michelle422
20 years ago
We had several of these laying around. One of them got small table legs screwed in the bottom and is a side table on my covered patio now. One is hanging on a wall with speaghum moss soaked in water and cactus growing in the little holes (saw this in Miracle Gro book last Spring). The other is in the garage waiting to be hung on the wall to old 50's collectable salt and pepper shakers. I have seen the boxes at flea markets for $15.00!!! I think I rescued mine from my Mom's garage when they moved after 30 years!
OurCommonGround
20 years ago
I have one hanging on my bathroom wall, vertical. I take wash cloths fold them in half then roll them and stick in cubby with fold end out looks real cute.

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