Milk Crates

Milk Crate stools featured on www.treehugger.com

While visiting San Antonio last year, and teaching a youth video course, my wandering eye was enchanted by the many lovely homes there. The prices I found were just as appealing. I persueded my then boyfriend Victor to consider purchasing one these chateaus. He expressed the usual uneasiness about committing to a 30 year mortgage and concern about moving costs, furnishings, etc.

"It won't cost much more than were paying in rent now. We'll use milkcrates as furniture!" I pledged. And I meant it.

Years before, while living in a Downtown LA loft, a resourceful friend of mine had moved into a tiny room above Al's Bar. It was a temporary dwelling, bridging the gap between baby-daddy farewells and a dazzling new life in Hawaii. Nicole put her gorgeous furnishings into storage and vowed to use only milkcrates in her new home. I was amazed to see the ingenious ways she constructed these items...making floor to ceiling shelving, tables, chairs...everything out of milkcrates!



But when Victor & I arrived in Texas, we found that only 2 of our crates had survived the journey, so all hopes of creating a milkcrate wonderland were tossed out the window. I had to use more "conventional" furniture...and so began the hunt.

I researched for weeks, in shops and various sites online. After aquiring a reasonably priced selection -- see my Flikr account for details http://www.flickr.com/photos/pocharte/ -- I signed up for an on-line interior design "support group" to further refine my vision on www.apartmenttherapy.com

Of course Victor was not amused. "What happened to 'we'll use milkcrates'?" he lamented as each giant box arrived. But finally accepting the inevitable, even Payan had to admire my selections.

Thus began my burning desire to round out the collection. A coffee table quest is in the works...