Carpentry and Woodworking - Restoring old wooden crate

I have an old wooden crate that I want to restore in order to use as a coffee table. At the moment its in a pretty dirty state, and so needs a lot of clean up, however I am not sure where to start.

It has a hinged lid and has mouse crap inside, so obviously I need to clear all that out, but since its wood I don't think I can (or will want) to simply hose it out. What is a good way to clean all this out?

I then want to sand the outside/inside back to a bare wood finish (it has old paint on it) before staining it. Can anyone also give me tips on what best way to sand the crate? I have access to various tools, and don't mind buying anything that I may need, just not sure where to start and don't want to mess it up since it will ultimately be sitting in the living room.

Thanks.

I would start with a scraper & a shop vac. Then I would use an orbital sander. That will take it down to the wood except in the corners.