Clementine Crate Become Nifty Bathroom Storage Container

My kids love clementines (okay devour clementines.) So what is the harm with this? Their packaging. They come in a wood crate with a plastic net. I HATE the packaging. I can’t recycle the crate but have been giving them away to be reused. People sure love them.

My cousin uses them to store her arts and craft materials. Others use it as an organization unit. No one seems to refuse me when I ask them if they want the crate. In fact, people look at me funny when I give them away. As if to say, why are you giving this to me. Keep it. I bet you can use it.

Over time, I started to wonder why was I giving them away? I have my dense moments. I admit it.

Since I am stuck inside with no gardening chores (*sniff, sniff*), I have turned my creativity towards cleaning up my sorry neglected house. I noticed that my bathroom drawers are a disaster! Everything is tossed around in the drawer. What a mess.

I looked at my clementine crates and they looked at me with a puzzled look as if to say

“why are you giving us away? You could use us…look at your drawer, for goodness sakes. ”

Now when did my crates become my mother? Better yet, why would I ever think they are talking to me? Spring, please come quickly. My crates are speaking to me. I must be losing it.

Back to the crate story.

So off I went to Michaels to buy felt. Heaven forbid the staples on the crates would scratch my drawers. (See the staples above?)

I cut the brown felt and glued it to the wooden bottom. Ah, so Martha…but then again, she probably hand picks her clementines and would never have a wood crate to deal with.

I found Eco-Glue at Michaels. (A non-toxic alternative that can be used on wood, ceramic, and other materials.) Lucky me. It made up for my guilt of buying non-organic felt.

Then I cut the brown felt for the bottom and applied glue to the felt. (Not the best cutting job, but it will do.) Wa-lah! Instant non-scratching bottom.

Put the orange netting on the bottom of the inside of the crate for a little cushion. Since these crates were going into my bathroom drawers with products that could spill, I used old grocery bags to line the crates. Wasn’t loving the plastic part but had no idea what to put in it to prevent any spills. Any ideas?

I wrapped the plastic handles around the raised areas and torn the other side to wrap around the other side. It isn’t pretty but it does the trick.

So here is to a neater bathroom drawer. If you really want to be creative you could decorate the crates. A fun idea for your kids when the weather is lousy. You can also use a leftover plastic container or aluminum pan that you don’t want to use anymore to be the bottom rather than my ugly yellow shopping bag. (If you are really a good greenie and don’t have any shopping bags, then take one from the grocery store recycling bag bin or get one from your neighbors.)

Now, the good news is the Clementine food distributor is no longer using wood but SFI cardboard that can go right in the recycling. (Or to become an additional organization unit. A win, win for the environment.)

Readers, how have you re-purposed common items? Send me pictures for me to post.