How to make Metallic Coin Vaults with Pallet Wood

As everyday objects, coins are often hidden away in drawers, hand bags, and cupboards despite their metallic beauty. I think that because we see them so often their colour and design has become commonplace and they end up being delegated to places unseen. My idea with creating this project was to take these underrated pieces and give them prime position in your home’s interior design. With my wall-mounted coin vaults, pennies, silvers, and foreign coins become pieces of functional art and also help free storage space.

Made with inexpensive materials including salvaged wood, plexiglass, and metallic spray paint, these coin vaults are easily made and look like costly designer pieces. They also make spare change something to look forward to and you’ll be digging through your sofa cushions for coins to fill them with!

Another great aspect of making this project is that if you set out to make one, you can easily make three or more at the same time. That way you can create a silver vault for silver coins, copper for pennies, and gold for gold coins (in the UK the £1 piece is golden). You could even make one for the foreign coins you pick up while travelling the world or extras to give as gifts.

This project is one that I’ve created exclusively for the Bob Vila Academy and you can view how to create the vaults on their website. The project unfolds in six short videos that shows you everything from how to choose wood for the project to cutting the pieces, designing a customized graphical front, assembly, and how to mount the coin vaults on the wall. I’m more than excited to be a Bob Vila Academy Professor and I really encourage you to visit to not only see how this project is made but to view the other projects they’re showcasing!

Materials for this project include:
A wooden Pallet
2mm Clear Plastic Acrylic Plexiglass
Metallic Spray Paint – Copper, Silver, Gold
Design ideas for the front.

For my designs, I’ve used a photograph of an old key for the silver vault, a self-designed graphic for the gold vault, and a free printable from the Graphics Fairy for the copper design. The design for the front is completely up to you and is extremely easy to make. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to transfer graphics onto Plexiglass and the solution in the end turned out to be so simple that a Kindergartener could do it!

I’ll be featuring more projects with the Bob Vila Academy and am currently working on another space-saving idea that will be shared in September. In the meantime, check out the tutorial on how to make this project as well as other Bob Vila Academy projects over here on their site.