Pallet furniture – can you even scroll through Instagram anymore with seeing it? Pallet sofas, pallet beds, pallet coffee tables, pallet garden furniture. You name it and someone will have made a pallet version of it. It makes sense though; pallets are cheap, or even free, and upcycling them with just a few coats of paint is a really easy weekend project. Just follow our step-by-step guide to how to make pallet furniture to find out how...
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You will need:
- Wooden pallets: some DIY stores sell them; or keep an eye out in skips and building sites – ask permission before raiding
- Small roller and tray
- Garden furniture chalk paint or wood stain (for outdoors)
- Chalk finish furniture paint (for indoors)
- Paintbrush
- Electric drill
- Screws
Step one: Prep and paint the pallets
If you have bought your pallets new you can just paint straight on to them using a roller. However, if you dug to the bottom for a skip for yours or it's a hand-me-down from a building site you might have to sand down any uneven surfaces or scrub away any dirt, then allow to dry before painting.
Stir chalk paint thoroughly and then use a small roller to cover your pallets. You will probably need two to three coats for a solid finish. Go back in with a paint brush too, to get any harder to reach areas.
Step two: make the base of your pallet furniture
To make the base of your pallet furniture, stack your pallets on top of one another to get your desired height. Then secure the pallets together using an electric drill and screws.
Step three: Add the back to your pallet furniture
Prop another pallet on the back of the base and drill it into place.
Step four: add some cushions
Now it's just a case of adding some comfort and colour with scatter cushions. You can actually find larger cushions that are make for pallet sofas – check out these ones from Amazon .
Top tip: If you need more seating, you could pop two side by side or join two together at a right angel to make a L-shaped pallet sofa.
