DIY Repurposed Berry Crate Spring Wreath
Who says a wreath has to be round besides the dictionary? No one in this house! I decided my vintage wood berry carrier would be an excellent ‘vessel’ to refresh my mantel for spring. Making this repurposed Berry Crate Spring Wreath also refreshed my soul a little as I’m slogging my way through another winter storm.
I’m ready for spring. The calendar doesn’t care.
What is a berry crate?
A berry crate, berry basket crate, berry field flat, or berry basket carrier is used by berry pickers to hold individual berry baskets full of berries. They use these as a carrier to shuttle their individual berry baskets to a check-in station to get credit for what they picked. The crates used to be made from wood before the 1950s, but are now cardboard.
If you want to see what a berry field flat looks like now and how berries get picked, watch this video from Reddit. You will never take for granted your store-bought strawberries again.
What You’ll Need To Make a Similar Wreath:
Wood Berry Crate, Wood Tray, or Basket
Faux or Dried Flowers
Raffia-Wrapped Floral Wire
Scissors and/or Wire Cutters (gold scissors shown below)
Command Hook
Ribbon (optional)
How To Make a Wreath of Your Own:
This is so easy, my tutorial is three steps long. That’s never happened.
First, trim your faux or dried flowers to size. If you use faux flowers for this, the floral pick likely has a long stem. You don’t need that for this craft, and can trim it off with wire cutters or scissors you don’t mind dulling. I will typically further cut apart the individual stems or blooms on the faux flower so that I can spread the blooms out over my wreath.
Second, wire the flowers to the wood tray. Keep in mind that you’re probably making the wreath while the berry crate is sitting flat on a table or counter. Once you tip that crate up to hang it on the wall, the flowers are going to fall off unless you’ve tightly secured them with floral wire. Gravity strikes again. I like to use raffia-wrapped floral wire for this because it’s brown and blends in with the crate.
Third, hang the wreath and enjoy your creation. For a softer touch, you can always hang your crate from a hook with ribbon.
Optional: Add embellishments to this wreath, such as faux Easter eggs or butterflies, to further personalize it.
Two Tips for Selecting Flowers for Your Spring Wreath:
First, mix faux and real dried flowers to keep the arrangement looking more natural. If you haven’t spent all winter drying flowers (What have you been doing with your time?), you can buy dried stems such as eucalyptus and pussy willows from your grocery store or more colorful dried flower bundles from Amazon.
Second, the ‘thriller, spiller, filler’ concept of filling porch planters works well for this spring wreath, too. You’ll need a mix of flower stems that are taller (the thriller), can drape over the sides of your crate (spiller), and flower stems that can fill the space in between (filler).
If you’ve made it this far in the blog post, you deserve a treat. I don’t have candy or sweets to offer in this virtual space (lame, I know), but I do have a bonus tip.
If your vintage berry crate has a center divider like mine does, when you turn it on its side, that divider can become a shelf.
Did you just gasp? I hope I surprised you. If I did, that’s MY treat for the day!
Anyway, this opens up a whole new realm of decorating possibilities.
Speaking of which, I do think this repurposed berry crate spring wreath could be even better if it were oriented vertically, instead of lying on its side, as I have it positioned.
A vertical orientation would allow an opportunity to weave the flowers through the wood slats and use taller stems.
Plus, this would make the wreath more versatile to hang on a wall or above a mantel with more vertical space than my overmantel has.
What do you think about this repurposed berry crate spring wreath? Does it give you ideas for your house? Let me know! Comments are like spotting daffodils peaking out of the ground after a long winter. It’s really exciting! You can comment on this blog post, email me here, or reach out via direct message on Instagram or Facebook.
Happy Spring Decorating!
P.S. My berry crate was a roadside find. I find lots of stuff while out on my daily walk. Etsy and eBay are good spots to look for something similar. If you are a little bit handy, you could make one, too!
Thanks for hanging out with me on my little corner of the internet. In case you didn’t know, I don’t limit the number of blog posts you can read in a day. Go wild! Here are some other blog posts you might enjoy.
Quick and Simple St. Patrick’s Day Wreath
Grain Sifter Wreath – With an Embroidered Country Outline
St. Patrick’s Day Flower Arrangement With Dried Lentils
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