DIY Vintage Crate Shelving Unit and "C2T39"

About a month ago, I wrote a post about our Vintage Styled Storage Solution for my Closet Room.  Again, here are a couple of my favorite images for the look I was going for...

 And I love the wheels on this little guy...

Since I finally finished the 5 remaining DIY Vintage Crates it was time to make a shelving unit out of all 6 crates! 

First, lets take a look at what we are going to make first.  This is what the base for the shelving unit will look like (after cutting).  We used left over wood that was in our basement from other projects and I picked up 4 wheel casters from Home Depot for about $5 each.

So to back up, Alex measured the length of the crates and did measurements on where to cut the wood.

Then used his saw to cut each piece.

Here is what the cut pieces of wood looked like when he lined them up as the base for the unit.

He used screws in each corner for a stronger hold.

Then hammered finishing nails into the mid sections where the crates sat next to each other.

Action shot: securing those smaller wood pieces that will act as the base for the caster wheels.

To attach the casters, Alex used liquid nails since we couldn't find any screws that would work with the casters (all of our spare screws were way too long or had tiny heads).

Then he stuck those suckers on!

Once dry, you flip it over, add crates to the top and this is what you end up with!  I plan to stain the rest of the base that we attached so it will look more uniform (just got to eager to see how it looked!).

Here's another look.  I did them lengthwise to increase the storage room. 

And here's a closer look at the 2nd DIY Vintage Inspired Crate (the top one) that I painted letters and numbers on. (click here to see the DIY steps to make your own!).

In case you are curious about this letter/ number combination and its sentimental meaning here is a crazy story about "C2T39". 
Back in 2005 I met Alex one day at work, 5 days later I found out he had gotten in a serious accident on his dirt bike. He had broken his neck, back, shoulder, shoulder blade, collarbone, sternum, a bunch of ribs, an elbow, and really, almost lost his life. He was out jumping sand dunes at Lake Michigan and hit a truck head on. C2, T3, T9 are the vertibrae that he broke. After he laid in a hospital bed for about 2 months, the next time I saw him he was in a halo brace and working on recovering from all the pain his body went through. He also had a brand new perspective on life. I spent a lot of time after that listening to his stories of what the whole experience was like, and overall we grew a lot closer. Hope you liked that crazy story!  Alex really is amazing!

Awkward segway back to the project...

I hope to get the rest of my Closet Room decorated this weekend, then I hope I can finally share afters! What do you think of the shelving unit?

*** We just linked up to the Lettered Cottage's How To's Day Linky Party!***