I love my "new" Antique Ice Crate

Happy birthday to me!!

I found this fantastic wooden crate in a thrift store and hinted to my husband that it would be a nice birthday present.

It was labeled as a trunk but, the man working in the store told me it was a crate for transporting ice blocks. I would not have guessed that so I'm glad he knew. I can just imagine it riding on the back of a horse drawn delivery wagon, bringing ice to an American housewife 100 years ago!

When my daughter, Kyla saw it, she loved it, especially the yellow letters stenciled on its sides. I wonder who or what "C Borchers" was?  I told her that if Dad had brought this home 2 years ago, we would have thought, "Ugh, what an old, ugly, worn out old thing!" But, about a year ago, we discovered the TV show, American Pickers and now have gained appreciation for "Rusty Gold". Their term for old treasures that show their age.

Look at the cool latch!

My husband does not share our enthusiasm for vintage and antiques and asked me what I was going to do with it when he saw it in the thrift store. I told him I was going to put some legs on it and use it as a table in our living room. I wanted to replace one that my dog, Gus had chewed up when he was a puppy.  Of course, I love the extra storage space it provides!

Here are my re-purposing/up-cycling pictures:

I got four 4" legs and brackets at Lowe's, painted them green and just used a screw driver to mount them on the bottom of the crate. The wood is old and soft so I did not even need a drill!

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

I love the result!  

In this photo are some of my other birthday gifts:

• an antique lingerie wash board. A gift from my daughter, Jenna. She found it at an estate sale.
• a 100th anniversary edtition of Anne of Green Gables - one of my favorite novels.
• a vintage copy of Pride and Prejudice, my all-time favorite book. Both books were purchased with an Amazon gift card - a gift from my daughter, Holly
• a picture of Jane Austen printed on a vintage dictionary page. This is a gift I bought for myself at collageOrama  on Etsy. I used a frame I found at a thrift store and painted it red to match one of my vintage, Jane Austen books. I bought the mat at Wal Mart

I think it is kind of funny that I traded a chewed up table for this one which looks rather "chewed up" also --  Ha ha ha.

a picture of Gus, the culprit who chewed my table

Check out my many lovely vintage items in my Etsy shop: PinkRoseVintage