Loopin' Littles: Cushion Crates 101

So if y'all are on Pinterest at all, I'm sure you have seen these cushion crates floating around everywhere!

I found these from Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants and her directions were fabulous!! I had to make some for my Guided Reading table as well.

I headed off to get all of the necessary supplies!

**FYI: The majority of time spent on this project is running all over the place to gather everything, but it'll be totally worth it!**

-You'll need to head to Walmart for the crates- finding 4 black ones at 1 location is nearly impossible.

My poor gas tank. If you hit up the Back to School Sale, you'll get the 50% price for around 3$ each.

-JoAnn's Fabric had the PERFECT fabric that matches my classroom. I bought 3 yards and still had extra. Don't forget to download their app for the extra 20% off!

-THEN I went searching for the foam topping. Y'all. It's NOT cheap. To make 4 crates, I would have had to spend 35$. On foam. No thank you.

Thankfully I was with my GENIUS of a Mother and she suggested to use a 9x9 pillow for the topping! These bad boys were 50% off and only totaled to be 24$ for 4 pillows. That's not only a better price, but my ~~crazy~~ sweet little first graders will have way more cushion on their bums! DONE! #thoughtfulteacher

-Next, bring one of your crates and head over to your local Lowe's Home Improvement Store. They love teachers there! Just flash your innocent smile and use your charm to get the best price on plywood they have. If you find a guy like I did, he'll measure everything (and REmeasure 4 more times) because the dimensions for the crates are tad bit tricky. It may have been a 45 minute wait time. Poor guy.

Just keep flashin' that smile! :)

The last thing you'll need is a handy dandy staple gun. If your mother-in-law is as cool as mine, she'll have one handy!

Finally it's time to get to work! Lay your fabric out flat, and sandwich your pillow between the board and the fabric. Just trim enough fabric off the sides to cover your pillow and board so you can staple.

You may need 2 set of hands for this next part. As you push down on the board, pull the fabric over the pillow and staple it onto the board. Pull TIGHT so your fabric isn't loose on top. I did the left and right side first, then the top and bottom. It's okay if your pillow and board are not the same size. Mine wasn't either. The pillow will make the board fit on the crate a little more snug.

Do the same on all four sides and trim off excess fabric. It should look something along the lines of this.

(I never said it would look professional!)

Here's what it looks like flipped back over. I LOVE the "pillow top" look!!

Now this did not just slide on top of my crate and fit in like a Lincoln Log. It's more like a Lego, if you will. You'll have to fidget with it a second for it to fit snug on top.