Easy DIY Dollar Tree Plastic Crate Shelves with Video

Are you looking for some easy shelves? I am always looking for various ways to add storage and I love to get creative. I ran to Dollar Store, grabbed some bins, and made easy plastic crate shelves on a budget. You can find similar plastic crates at Walmart or your favorite local stores that sell crafting or storage supplies. They come in different sizes and a variety of colors.

Plastic Crate Shelves Materials

Head over to Dollar Tree and grab some of these baskets for this awesome DIY. You’ll need the following dollar store supplies

• baskets
• pool noodles
• Xyron glue gun
• foam core board
• contact paper
• posterboard
• ruler
• pencil
• razor blade or scissors

Plastic Crate Shelves Video

Plastic Crate Shelves instruction tutorial

We’re going to start with three baskets and a pool noodle.

1. Measure, cut, and glue Pool noodles Between Plastic Crates

After you’ve decided what direction you want your baskets to go place the three baskets upside down. Measure your pool noodles so they will fit between each of the baskets.

It is easiest to use a serrated knife, or something similar, to cut each of the pool noodles. Place them in between each of the baskets.

Next, grab your hot glue gun. I’m using my Xyron self-loading glue gun, which is super awesome, to hot glue each of the pool noodles into place between each of the baskets. This helps make them more stable. I repeated the process and made two sets of baskets.

2. Make Crate Storage Shelf Top

Now I’m taking a piece of foam core board and I’m measuring it out to fit on top of my baskets. I made a line where I need to cut and used a razor blade to cut down the line.

I grabbed some wood grain style contact paper from Dollar Tree to cover the poster board. I measured the contact paper for the size of the poster board and I cut a little extra. I peeled the backing off as I went and placed the contact paper onto the poster board, smoothing it out as I went to get rid of any bubbles.

I folded two sides up around the board and pressed them firmly to make them adhere. Then I took scissors and cut the corners out so that I could fold the remaining sides around the board.

3. Measure and cut poster board for the Plastic Crate STorage shelves

Next, I measured my baskets and cut a piece of poster board in half and then I divided it into thirds to make shelving. I cut the six pieces of poster board to place at the bottom of each of the baskets.

3. Assemble the Plastic Crate Storage Shelves

I placed the baskets vertically against a wall.

I placed my foam core board on top of the shelving unit. I placed the poster board into the bottom of each of the baskets to keep things from falling through the holes.

If you want the baskets to be more stable you can attach them to the wall with screws.

4. DEcorate your Plastic Crate Storage Shelves

Now it’s time to decorate. If you want to use these for closed storage you can buy some bins, baskets, or soft cloth crates to slide in to create drawers. I started by adding some books and frames on the bottom. I also added some snacks and coffee pods with a small coffee pot on top. I also added some hand sanitizer and a cute little hot chocolate. sign. You could also add a glass vase or flower pot.

This would be great for a guest room as a coffee station or shelving unit.

Plastic Crate Shelves Q&A Section

Other Plastic Crate ideas:

• Use milk crates instead of plastic crates from Dollar Tree
• If you want a different color use spray paint

You might also be interested in seeing my laundry room hacks tutorial which includes more plastic crate shelves.

What can you use these shelves for?

These are great for anywhere in your home from a child’s room to family room, to laundry room! Use them at home or in a classroom, we used some as storage cubbies in our dance studio.

• storage shelves
• bookshelves
• great for classrooms to create cubbies for kids
• use them in your sewing room, I used mine to hold fabric.
• wonderful storage solutions for your bathroom (they work great for holding hand towels)
• Great in a closet for additional storage (shoes like stilettos, tennis shoes, flip flops, etc. You can hold accessories in them like belts, scarves, or hats.
• if you replace the poster board with a sheet of thin plastic you can use them on your front porch or patio to hold your favorite plants. You can also use them to display indoor plants, faux plants, or houseplants.

The benefit of using regular milk crates (or file crates) is that you can stack them without the pool noodle, but they will be more expensive. They have more durability so will be able to hold more weight. The milk crates come in a range of colors so you don’t have to paint them.

We used to use these at the dance studio I worked at and once they were stacked we used zip ties to reinforce them.

More crate Ideas

I’ve made milk crate shelves out of wood crates and plastic crates too! Stack them, add caster wheels, and maybe even make one a bench. You can see some of those tutorials here:

• Fantastic Milk Crate Ideas with Endless Possibilities, You Won’t Believe It
• Easy and Awesome DIY Wood Crate Bookshelf with Video
• Easy and Inexpensive DIY Rolling Storage Crate
• Dollar Tree Hacks, 8 Brilliant Baskets Ideas

Crafts with Crates

• How To Make A Super Cute DIY Crate Red Pickup Truck
• The Simplest Ways to Make the Best of Outdoor Fall Decor
• Easy and Unique DIY Wooden Christmas Tree with Video

If you want to see more things to make with pool noodles, you can check out my Pool Noodle Hacks tutorials.

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