Upcycled – Repurposed Wooden Pallet for Home Decor

I have long been fascinated with those that have the ability to see something new in something old or previously used. I have recently become enthralled with wooden pallets and the numerous pieces of furniture and/or home decor you can make from them. I brought up the subject with Hubby not so long ago. Being the great guy that he is, after viewing some of the great projects I saw here, he said, go ahead and try something.

The biggest issue, finding the time and the right pallet.

This was one of those project that was on the back burner, being that I am so very busy doing things like home schooling, cleaning, laundry, etc….

One afternoon about 5 weeks ago Hubby comes home from an outting and called me outside. Low and behold there was my very first pallet! What a superiorly wonderful man I am married to!

Here is a wooden pallet very similar to the one Hubby brought home.

I was so excited to get started! First, I needed to figure out what I wanted to attempt.

Wanna see what I decided? Read on and see what I made!

Well, the first thing I needed to do was ask Hubby how to use one of his tools….I may be able, but I haven’t done EVERYTHING!

I asked Hubby to help me with the cutting up process by using his Sawzall. What a great tool by the way, I will be using it again!

Hubby showed me how to use the Sawzall and I hacked up my pallet into smaller and more workable pieces.

This is what my newest piece of home decor started out, a very large, very heavy and not so pretty lump of wood.

I then had Hubby pull off the top board on the pallet, leaving me two pieces on the back and one on the front.

Using the board that was removed from the top, I hammered it onto the bottom of the pallet.

That created a base for me to use. Just like this one seen here.

Since I do not drink wine, I knew just what I wanted to use it for.

I have such an overabundance of books, you know, because I home school and every book is useful, I planned on having a new book holding piece that looks awesome!

I do have to tell you, I tried my hand at staining it (I used Minwax Golden Oak wood finish stain) but the results were sooooo not what I wanted, so I used the next best thing, white paint!

After using the stain, I was a little apprehensive about painting over it, but with encouragement from Hubby, I set out to get it done.

The first coat of paint went on very easily and was sucked into the wood quickly. It had this great whitewashed look so I knew I was on the right track!

I got a coat on it and let it dry completely. Then started on the second(ish) coat. Since the paint was still getting sucked in rather quickly into the dry wood, I was happy with the result, it made the wooden pallet book shelf look rustic and weathered.

After it was completely dry from the second(ish) coat, I hauled my new book holder up to the living room.

Only after some gently nudging, my ever loving and ever patient Hubby measured, tapped the wall to find the wood studs, leveled and screwed my newest home decor piece to my living room wall.

I am so excited!

I loaded up some of my, laying all over the coffee table and strewn all of my house, books and this is my very pleasing result.

A fantastic looking functional art wooden pallet book holder thingy……..and it didn’t cost me (or the household) one dime!

Here is what I used to get this look:

• one wooden pallet (found, for free by Hubby)
• Sawzall (one of the many Hubby owns)
• hammer (household owned)
• nails (extras from Hubby)
• Minwax Golden Oak wood stain (left over from another project)
• Interior white wall paint (left over from downstairs room completion)

And this is the outstanding piece, already in full use!

This is the best time put into a household decor item I have done in a really long time. Not only did it totally turn out better than I anticipated, it is a wonderfully functional piece of art, in my opinion.

Have you repurposed or “upcycled” anything for your use before?

I would love to hear what you have done!

P.S. -I promise to take more and better pictures on any more projects that I attempt!

In His Grace.

Callie