This is the smallest piece in an ongoing chevron series: a reclaimed wood trash can cover with a mitered chevron-pattern lid and a carved wood handle. It uses the same mitered-board motif as a Chevron Coffee Table, a Chevron Outdoor Bench, and a full Chevron Patio Set, just applied at a much smaller scale, which makes the chevron joinery easier to see up close than on any of the larger pieces.
A Wood Cover, Not an Outdoor Enclosure
Worth calling out up front: this isn’t a big outdoor structure built to hide a pair of full-size municipal cans. It’s a single, compact box sized for one trash can, with a lift-off lid, closer in spirit to a kitchen trash can cabinet than to a yard enclosure. The photos show it staged indoors, next to a kitchen island, which is exactly the use case it’s built for.
Building the Box
The body is a simple four-sided box built from reclaimed boards, assembled with an open top before the lid was ever cut. The board-to-board tone variation on the sides (some boards noticeably darker than others) is the same reclaimed-material patchwork look used on the Chevron Coffee Table and Chevron Patio Set, rather than a single uniform stain color.
The Chevron Lid
The lid is where the chevron pattern lives: mitered boards meeting at a center line, capped with a mitered wood frame around the perimeter and a carved handle centered on top. Because the lid is so much smaller than a tabletop or bench seat, the miter joints and grain-direction change are unusually easy to study in one glance, a good reference for the chevron technique even for someone who isn’t planning to build a trash can specifically.
Finishing
Once the box and lid were both built, the piece was stained and then sealed with Minwax Polycrylic protective finish, applied with a natural-bristle brush over cardboard to protect the floor underneath. Polycrylic is a water-based topcoat, a practical choice for a piece that will see daily handling right next to a kitchen counter.
The Finished Piece
The finished trash can lives beside a kitchen island, tucked against the counter where a hanging plant and a bookshelf full of records and books make up the rest of the room. It’s a small, functional piece, but the same mitered chevron detail that defines the rest of the series is unmistakable even at this scale.
Materials & Tools
What’s confirmed directly from the build photos:
- Reclaimed boards for the box sides, showing mixed board tones consistent with salvaged lumber
- A carved solid-wood handle attached to the top of the lid
- A small metal corner bracket visible on the inside of the box near the top edge
- Wood stain, applied before the topcoat
- Minwax Polycrylic (clear, matte) protective topcoat, brush-applied
Exact dimensions, the specific stain product used, cut list, fastener details for the box joints, and total build time weren’t captured in the photos.
Related Projects
This trash can completes a running chevron series built around the same mitered reclaimed-wood pattern: a Chevron Coffee Table, a Chevron Outdoor Bench, and a full Chevron Patio Set all share the same technique at larger scale. With this piece, the chevron cluster is now complete: four pieces, four sizes, one pattern, from a trash can lid to a full patio set. If you like this look, it’s worth browsing the whole series together.