Craft Crate Coffee Table & Succulent Planter

Our awesome coffee table is done!!!

Let me just warn you that I swoon just a bit over this table. We ABSOLUTELY love it! Not only is it an awesome design by DIY-VIntage-Chic, but it was relatively easy to do! It is nice and big and has tons of storage for books and such :) Plus, with the empty square that is left in the middle you have so many options! Currently ours is a succulent planter, but our square dishes from crate and barrel fit perfectly in there as well! Which means a perfect place for appetizers or a plate of dessert when guests are over! Or you wan just remove the planter and such and have a table for board games! Awesome!  

We were so happy to find this square bowl that fits just perfectly. It only goes about an inch down into the table but once we filled it with rocks and such it doesn't even budge! And the best part is that it doesn't have to stay there!  I plan on finding a few different things that fit so we can have the best coffee table ever :) Can you tell how much we love this thing?!?!

We found this little beauty on Pinterest (where else?! Of course!!). We made a few adjustments to her tutorial, but for the most part we followed it :) You can find her tutorial HERE.

PS that is our $120 couch, found on craigslist! We can even buy replacement covers at IKEA!
 The couch is in great condition and it normally sells for $400+

Adjustments to the Tutorial

Instead of staining with tea (which is an awesome idea) we used the stain we had left over from the table top we just stained. With just one coat it came out to this wonderful color! If you are going to stain it, do not leave the stain on for too long! The wood really soaks up the color quick. I would say I left ours on for about 5 minutes before wiping it off.

We found these awesome antique bronze casters @
Home Depot in a two pack for $6 ish dollars!

Cost:

-4 Craft Crates = Joann's w/ a 50% off coupon $6 each

4 Casters = $12

3 Foam Brushes = $2.50 (one for stain, two for polyurethane, since you have to do two coats at least) 

Wood for the frame = $4

We had the polyurethane and stain...

Total: $ 42.50

How to make your own planter...

Its really easy actually! You need some stones (from outside is fine) for the bottom layer. It would be smart to do two layers of regular size stones (like the ones found in driveways). Just wash em' off so you can see them in the layers. Then top that with soil (you need to buy cactus soil). I will be honest that we used regular potting soil. But I dont think that it is working. We might just be killing our succulents, so I plan on going and picking up the right soil today. After that we planted our succulents :) Then we topped the soil with a "sand" that was almost little pebbles from wal-mart. Then topped that with some small stones from Ikea. 

Cost for the planter:

-$10- for the bowl (can be found at Target in the kitchen section)

-$3.50- for the white sand/pebbles (found at wal-mart in the fake flower section)

-$ 0.89- for the small stones (found at Ikea)

-?- Cactus potting soil

-$12-20- Succulents, the price depends on where you get them. We got ours on sale at west elm for $12