DIY Euro Pallet Bench

This is my first Euro pallet project. The pallets’ structure of blocks, instead of studs, makes them ideal for different types of projects. In this case, a single pallet made a useful bench so my kids can put on their shoes without sitting on the floor right in front of the door.

Parts

1. A Euro pallet.  A U.S. pallet could be used but would require much additional cutting.
2. Deck screws. I used deck screws to hold things together. Other fasteners could be used if you prefer.
3. Expanded metal. I used a piece of rusty, expanded metal as the seat. It sounds rough but it bends nicely to the buttocks. Others might prefer cushions.

Steps

This was a very large pallet—about 5.5’ long. I cut the two end pieces offering the most open space for the top and middle. If you want to use the cross boards as the seat, you might cut at least the top piece from the center.

To make the back support thinner more like a conventional bench, I removed the blocks from the back of the center piece.

Next, I fastened the 3 pieces together using clamps and proceeded to countersink screws to hold it together. I prefer countersinking the screws to avoid cracking any materials.

Lastly, I cut my seat from a piece of expanded metal using a dual saw. I fastened the seat down with one of the extra boards removed from the pallet using a brad gun. You could use deck screws or other types of fasteners.

This pallet had load stabilizers that I attached to the bottom of the bench as feet.
 

Some final sanding and that’s it!

DIY Pallet Coat Rack with Shelf and Towel Bar

I was telling my wife that we either need another coat rack or we’ll need to limit the kids to only 5 jackets each. And so, here we are building a new coat rack out of pallets.

Parts

1. A pallet. Not just because they’re free. They bring a certain unfinished charm to a project but free certainly is hard to beat.
2. Hanging hardware: heavy picture hangers, deck screws for studs, or wall anchors.
3. Some hooks. You could use drawer pulls, bolts, pipe elbows, nails, screws, or even spickets depending on how much and what character you want to boast.
4. Optional: If you want an integrated towel bar, galvanized pipe brings a bit of an industrial tone to this project. 2x elbows, 2x floor flanges, and a threaded pipe (about 30”).

Steps

We will have to cut the pallet across the studs to separate the portion we’re going to use for the rack. You will want at least two boards on one side and at least one on the other. I went with only one on the front. Having two would make it easier to mount things like drawer pulls as hooks that generally require nuts on the back.

For the top shelf, we have a choice. If you want a sort of cubby on top, you’ll have to cut one of your cross boards into two pieces to use as the floor of the cubby. If you simply want a shelf on the top, you can just remove one of the cross boards. For mine, I went with the cubby so here I cut the cross boards at each stud making them the perfect width to fit between the studs.

For the cubby, insert your boards between the studs and cross boards to form the cubby floor. For the top shelf option, place your cross board along the top of the rack. Attach the floor with screws, nails, or brads.

Now is a good time to sand down the rough surfaces. This particular pallet needed quite a bit of sanding.

All that’s left is to attach your hardware—the coat hooks and, optionally, the towel rack. When hanging your rack, some things to think about:

• How long are your coats?
• Are your kids going to be hanging jackets on this? How high can they reach?
• At what height is the top rack accessible?

There are a lot of ways you can hang the rack. You can use heavy picture hanging hooks, loops, etc. or you can put a couple screws through one or two of the cross boards. In my case, I used deck screws into the wall studs.

DIY Pallet Liquor Rack

This is a relatively easy project using a pallet that can produce two liquor racks with very little pallet disassembly, minimal cutting, and minor drilling. It may not fit all your bottles but a good, sturdy, wide pallet can hold a lot of them. The rack pictured is made from a 4ft wide pallet.

Parts

1. A pallet. Generally available for free. Most places recycle them so ask before you grab. Often, they’ll have a pile you can take from and another that you cannot. Otherwise, look up your local pallet recycler.
2. Approximately 12 deck screws per rack. It partially depends on how many studs your pallet has. There are 4 studs in the racks pictured above.

Steps

Pallets differ quite a bit so not all pallets may be optimal for this project. What you want to do is identify which side will be the back versus the front of your rack. Things to consider are the sizes and placement of the cross boards as well as the condition of the wood. With regard to the size, I wanted the smaller board to be the front of my rack to show as much of each bottle as possible.

Remove extra boards from what will be the front of your rack. Generally, you’ll want one board at the front, bottom of your rack and two in the back. If there aren’t any boards in the way, you’ll still need to remove at least one from elsewhere on the pallet—we’ll be using this as the bottom of the rack.

Next, cut the studs to separate your rack from the pallet. I like to use a reciprocating saw (or sawzall) and cut adjacent to what will be the upper cross board. Avoid cutting through any nails and wear eye protection.

Place the cross board you removed earlier over the bottom of the rack. This will support your bottles. It should already have holes where the nails were that line up well with the studs. If the pallet is asymmetrical, you might have to flip the board around to get the holes to line up. I recommend drilling through the holes into the studs and then screwing in at least two deck screws per stud.

Your rack is all but finished. You will probably want to sand it down and may want to varnish it. For this particular rack, I just sanded the rough edges and did not varnish it. I was worried about the green paint but, in the end, I think it went well with the final look.

To hang it, using two deck screws in each of the back cross boards into wall studs would be ideal. I recommend drilling and countersinking for the best strength. When loaded, your rack will be supporting a pretty heavy and delicate load.

Ideas for finishing touches:

• A bottle opener.
• A magnet to catch the caps that fall from your opener.
• A small hook for corkscrews and such.
• Some galvanized or black pipe attached by a floor flange makes a great hanger for a bar towel.
• An LED light strip to illuminate your bottles.

DIY Pallet Magnetic Task Board

As I was pricing magnetic whiteboards to use for tasks, it became apparent I could not get the size I wanted. Larger ones are also very expensive. Making one myself, I was able to get the best size and it was cheap! I’m not tall so, with the opportunity to make it any size, I went for short and wide—about 2.25’ x 7.5’. Best of all, I got to incorporate pallets and rusty metal!

Parts

1. I used an 84” x 28” sheet of oxidized, perforated metal—I like to call it holey metal. I’d suggest verifying it’s ferrous enough to hold your magnets.
2. A pallet. They’re generally available for free and scream, “rustic!”.

Steps

First, I disassembled the pallet. If you haven’t done this before, this can be harder than you might imagine. They are commonly held together with those stubborn twisted nails and have had a few other things nailed to them. Protect your eyes. I may add a whole entry on taking these apart.

Second, I cut and cleaned up the metal sheet. Cleaning the back is a good idea to eliminate any discoloration of your wall once hung. Wear eye protection.

Third, I measured and marked where the frame pieces needed to be cut. When cutting, make sure you don’t hit any of those nails! And, for goodness sake, wear eye protection.

Assembly went well as I found staples that happened to fit through the holes in the holey metal. Otherwise, I was planning on using wood screws. I added self adhesive sponge tape strips to protect the wall.

I hung it using two heavy duty picture hangers on deck screws each in a stud. I figure it weighs 30lbs (but feels like 80 when leaning over a loaded desk to hang it).

Lastly, to further the rusticness, I use bottle caps over magnets.

Please let me know if you do a project like this. I’d love to see what you did!