Wooden Bottle Crate as a Wooden Ornament Stand

If you ever find yourself in our house during the month of December, you’ll quickly realize that I love vintage Christmas decorations. From Shiny Brite ornaments, to Putz houses, to old sleigh bells on cracked leather straps- I love it all. And making a project to display some of my vintage ornaments (an ornament stand, if you will) from a wooden bottle crate has been on my to-do list for a while.

For a few years now, I’ve been passively looking for the perfect vintage soda crate. But I kept coming up short-handed.

Finally, after much searching, I found a bottle crate that was ideal to work with. Now, it’s not as old as some of the crates I’ve admired (there’s a “77” stamped inside, which makes it just two years younger than me!).

BUT, it’s designed for 1-liter bottles. So the openings are larger which is ideal for “plumper” Christmas ornaments!

Plus it’s red…AND the RC could stand for either Royal Crown or Retro Christmas. SOLD!

Now I could finally upcycle a bottle crate into an ornament stand for some of my Shiny Brite Ornaments! 

We all know I have plenty of those!

The best part is that I wouldn’t have to do much at all to the wooden bottle crate! In fact, my plan was pretty much a more rustic version of this boho Christmas tree.

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Upcycling a Wooden Bottle Crate for Christmas Decor

Transforming my wooden crate into an ornament stand was going to be SUPER easy. First, I purchased some small brass cup hooks– other than the shiny gold color, they were perfect.

Why? I needed the screw end to be short, as to not poke through the narrow dividers of the bottle crate.

Personally, I didn’t want the cup hooks to be overly visible inside the bottle crate. But that brassy gold color was going to stick out like a sore thumb.

So, I did a quick-and-dirty spray paint job to tone down the brassiness using an antique bronze paint.

Not only did that make them look more vintage-y, but they were darker and would blend into the background better.

And then I just set to work- screwing in a tiny cup hook in each opening of the bottle crate.

Now, I could have spent time measuring and marking, ensuring each hook was in the very center. But I was way too excited and guesstimated the center in each of the 12 openings.

I used a small craft hammer and small pliers to get the hooks inside each opening.

When all 12 hooks were attached, I grabbed some of my vintage ornaments to hang in each cubby hole. Don’t they look delightful in there?

Wooden Bottle Crate as a Wooden Ornament Stand

Over the years, I’ve played around with this. Sometimes hanging ornaments in a color theme, sometimes certain shapes. But at the end of the day, a mixture is my favorite look.

I love having an alternative way to display the Shiny Brite ornaments. I love them in bowls and hanging on a tree, but this is a fun new way to display them.

Plus, this ornament stand in a bottle crate is such a safe way to display your Shiny Brite ornaments. Place this on a bookcase or table top – away from the tree and curious paws (or small hands).

Heck, you could even store your Shiny Brite ornaments in the bottle crate for the other 11 months of the year. Just wrap them in soft paper or cloth and tuck away in a safe place!

Because let’s face it – we ALL need good Christmas storage, am I right?

And if you enjoyed this display for vintage Christmas ornaments, then you’ll also love this idea for your tiniest Shiny Brite ornaments. These Christmas tree baskets are perfect for displaying them!

 

Craft on!

S

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