DIY Wood Centerpiece Box {Day 30 of 31 days of Pinterest: Pinned to Done}

This post is part of a series – “31 days of Pinterest: Pinned to Done”  You can read all the posts in this series here.  And to make sure you don’t miss anything you can sign up to have every post sent to your email, follow me on facebook, or subscribe in your reader.

Today’s project was inspired by this pin from Migonis Home

And also from Sarah from Thrifty Décor Chick’s trough/box thing she built.   Here’s the first one she built filled with fresh hydrangeas (they are in little cups of water down in the box.)

Then she built a bigger one this fall and filled it with all kinds of fall goodies and candles.

This was really an easy project and one I had been wanting to do for quite some time!  I picked up a 1” x 4” x 8 foot piece of board from Lowe’s – $1.98.  Yep,  $1.98!  And I had all the rest of the supplies so this cost me less than $2 to make.

If you don’t have a saw, you can ask them to cut your pieces in store.  I cut mine at home since we have a miter saw.  Here were my lenghths – 3 boards at 28 inches long and 2 boards for the ends at about 5.5 inches long.   I did those lengths cause I really wanted a 2 1/2 foot length box but had to reduce it by a few inches so I would have enough left to do the ends of the box.

I sanded all the edges smooth and then laid it out like this.

Now a real DIYer would use wood glue to secure them together.  Well, I am cheap and live 25 min. from the nearest home improvement store.  I didn’t have any wood glue so I used my standby – hot glue!  And it is still holding together

Measure the ends and then cut your piece to fit.  I chose for mine to overlap and be seen in the front cause I really wanted the old, rustic look.  But you could totally do a more finished look if you wanted to.

All along I had planned making indents and such like Sarah at Thrifty Décor Chick did and staining it a dark walnut.  But then I realized that most of the surfaces where I could use this –my dining room table, coffee table, tv stand, etc.  were all dark wood and this would not show up very well on them.  So I decided to do white and distress/age it quite a bit.

I painted it white (didn’t even bother to paint the inside since that won’t be seen once I fill it with goodies.)

I sanded the edges a bit so the stain could penetrate into the wood.

Then I grabbed my Dark Walnut stain…

And brushed on a quick coat right over the white.

Then immediately wiped it off.  You can see where it stayed in the areas where I sanded and in any nooks in the wood.  This give it the perfect aged look!

Once that was all done, I was finally ready to decorate!

I picked up this leaf garland for 80¢ last week at Value Village so I stuffed that in there as my bottom layer.

Then I added some candles.

And then I just added some pinecones, 2 real mini pumpkins from my table, and some flowers I had in my stash from an old wreath.

I ended up changing out the candles for these cylinders that I borrowed from a mirror centerpiece that I posted about here.  They are just different height glass cylinders/vases that you can pick up at the dollar store or thrift store wrapped in burlap.

I put little tea light candles down in the cylinders and I love how the light shines through the burlap.

I just found out that I am hosting Thanksgiving again!!  I never get to host since we live near both of our families, but my husband’s parents are going out of town again this year so I get to host!  So I am starting to play around with table settings.  I am definitely thinking that this centerpiece box will stay in the dining room.  I love how narrow it is and also low enough that you can see over it easily.

This box can be dressed up for any and all seasons!  I am already thinking in my head what I will do with it for Christmas!

See the candlelight?

I closed the blinds and dimmed the room so you could get the “candlelight effect.”  So pretty!

I am loving this little box!  Love that it was easy, cost less than $2.00, and it is something that I can decorate with again and again for each season.

Want more information about my dining room – curtain info, paint colors, etc. – check out my before/after post here.  And on the wall in the background you can see my Ceiling Medallion Mirror and my thrift store plates hung with paperclips on the wall.

How would you decorate with a centerpiece box like this?  What would you use as filler for fall or Christmas?

I am joining Nester from Nesting Place in writing a 31 days series in October.  You can see all the other hundreds of people writing a 31 days series here.

And I am excited to have 3 blogging friends join me in the insanity! Check out their series by clicking on the buttons below.

And my sister-in-law is joining along too!   Writing about their transition as they move across the country with four children.

Christina