Jasmine Roth Uses Stacked Crates in a Super-Chic Way

Built-in bookcases or shelving can add a lot of charm to a space and make it feel so much cozier. But the road to get them can be an expensive one — that is, unless you get creative with the materials you use. Jasmine Roth vintage used wooden crates to create a totally custom built-in shelving unit in her daughter’s bedroom, and the process is so simple to recreate.

In a post reflecting on motherhood, Roth posted a photo of herself and her daughter Hazel sitting on the floor in Hazel’s nursery. Behind them, you can see the two shelves flanking a large center mirror — but the shelving unit actually connects at the top, creating an arched effect.

To make the bookcases, Roth tracked down a bunch of vintage crates at a local flea market and cleaned them up with some sandpaper and stain. The sanding also helped make the bookcases a lot safer for little hands to be around. 

Then, it was time to puzzle them all together. In a blog post, Roth recommended taking a measurement of your wall and then laying all the crates down on the floor in the configuration you’re thinking of putting them in before installation.

“This is something that is totally scalable,” Roth said in a YouTube video showing the process of building the unit. “You could use as many crates as you want and make it whatever shape you want.”

To attach the crates to the wall, make sure you use long screws and a stud finder to ensure they don’t come loose after installation. If you’re not going to be filling the crates to capacity, you don’t need to screw in all four corners, but rather just add one or two screws to a center panel.

Finally, it’s time to decorate. “The cool thing about this wall is that it’s visual storage,” Roth said in the video. “It’s storage, but everything’s out. You don’t forget about stuff, stuff doesn’t just go into a drawer where you never see it again, and it’s really accessible.”

Built-in bookcases don’t have to be a luxury. Bulk buy some vintage crates and start piecing them together — you’ll have so much storage in no time.