canadian butter box storage
Back in the ’90s I snagged this old, wooden Canadian butter crate out of my dad’s basement workshop. It was serving a satisfactory purpose as a rag bin, but I decided to transform and elevate it into an ottoman by constructing a DIY damask upholstered top from a square of plywood and 2″ foam and adding some wooden feet.
Fast forward a couple of decades and this box had been relegated to my parents’ attic. Until I came across this photo from Apartment Therapy, of a desk transformed into an industrial chic change table…
…and (on the same day) this photo from Covet Garden magazine, of an old butter box in new decor.
So I asked my mother for it back, for I realized (without the ’90s top) it would fit in well with the industrial vintage touches in my decor. Now, inspired by the Covet Garden image, it sits nicely under my vintage metal typing table night stand.
saf affect 
Everything old is new again. Love it!
Indeed!
hi there! i love what you have done. i have a few old butter boxes that i would like to re-purpose and am wondering if you have any guidance on how you get the boxes clean and not greasy in order to use?
Thank you! I have a good friend who is good at these sorts of things. She recommends that you clean the box with pure vinegar, applied with fine steel wool, testing it on the bottom first. You may need to cut the intensity of the vinegar with water. Try out a solution that works for this piece. If that doesn’t do the trick, you can try mineral spirits, cautiously, again testing on the bottom. Then you can wax or oil the box to bring out the full colour and character of the wood and remove further butter markings. If there are some remaining ‘blemishes’ these tell the history of the piece. Have fun!
I remember putting my feet up on this stool in our apartment after graduation! 🙂
Well you do tell me I tend to hang onto the odd thing longer than I probably should. But look – it might just come in handy one day again! 😉
I love old crates. Yours is pretty fab! All it took was a second look 😉
Absolutely! And paired with a current need for storage, it’s a great solution.
thank you so much for the guidance. super helpful and i will give that a try!