So I am a huge fan of crafting and do it yourself projects. I mean there is just something about making something fabulous especially when it costs you nothing like the project below...
Recently my fiancee and I were able to score some free pallet wood ( some of it is not the best condition ), but the wheels in my head immediately started turning in my head. I immediately had to go to my fav website - Pinterest and search pallet projects. I found tons of project possibilities, but I decided to start small with a pallet tray.
Now the one I took inspiration from was actually pinned from Etsy, but they are tons of different designs of em. Now I was not planning to write a tutorial for this so I am sad to say I didn't take any step by step photos but it is really an easy project.
Items Needed
First you need a pallet with good boards. This seems so simple but we had a few boards that were warped and wouldn't work. After finding the perfect pallet, break it down. You can do this a couple of ways. we chose to take a hammer and knock the boards loose, but we also considered just cutting them loose. Now this step does not take long at all.
Next we decided how long I wanted it to be and I decided on 24 inches. Now to figure out how wide I wanted it, I eyeballed it. We ended up laying 4 boards side by side ( our boards were really not that wide ). The tray ended up being just over 14 inches wide. So next you have to cut... You will need 3 or 4 boards cut to your desired length ( Mine was 24 inches which I think is a great length.) and you will need to boards to be cut to the width of the other boards.
After you cut all the boards, now is the time to sand them. Also you can primer and paint them if desired now too. I chose not to paint cause I love the look of the wood after we sanded it. I would recommend using a sander of some sort just simply to save time and energy.
Now after your wood is sanded and dried if needed, you need to assemble the handles. Now I had handles on hand from an old storage cube that I got rid of so these were on hand, but you can find them at your local hardware store for pretty cheap ( I plan to make some for gifts so I plan to use different hardware to fit each person's personality). You need to install the handles in the middle of the boards that you will be using to hold the tray together. Now you may have to countersink your screws for your handles, but luckily for me my screws were flat so the board laid flat on the other boards. After you install the handles, you assemble the other boards and either screw or hammer them to the boards with the handles. Now we used nails because my screws would not work ( I plan to redo the project and use screws and different handles ). I recommend screws even though we used nails. Of course we drilled holes first because pallet wood can crack easily or at least it has on our past projects.
All in all I love my pallet tray and in fact have my laptop on it right now so it also makes a handle little lapdesk! So let me know if you have made a pallet tray before or if you are plannin on making one.
Also I am wanting to make "MAKE IT MONDAY" a weekly post so let me know if you guys like them or not please!
Recently my fiancee and I were able to score some free pallet wood ( some of it is not the best condition ), but the wheels in my head immediately started turning in my head. I immediately had to go to my fav website - Pinterest and search pallet projects. I found tons of project possibilities, but I decided to start small with a pallet tray.
Now the one I took inspiration from was actually pinned from Etsy, but they are tons of different designs of em. Now I was not planning to write a tutorial for this so I am sad to say I didn't take any step by step photos but it is really an easy project.
Items Needed
- Pallet(s)
- Handles
- Tape Measure
- Saw
- Hammer/ Drill
- Nails or Screws
- Sander or Sandpaper
First you need a pallet with good boards. This seems so simple but we had a few boards that were warped and wouldn't work. After finding the perfect pallet, break it down. You can do this a couple of ways. we chose to take a hammer and knock the boards loose, but we also considered just cutting them loose. Now this step does not take long at all.
Next we decided how long I wanted it to be and I decided on 24 inches. Now to figure out how wide I wanted it, I eyeballed it. We ended up laying 4 boards side by side ( our boards were really not that wide ). The tray ended up being just over 14 inches wide. So next you have to cut... You will need 3 or 4 boards cut to your desired length ( Mine was 24 inches which I think is a great length.) and you will need to boards to be cut to the width of the other boards.
After you cut all the boards, now is the time to sand them. Also you can primer and paint them if desired now too. I chose not to paint cause I love the look of the wood after we sanded it. I would recommend using a sander of some sort just simply to save time and energy.
Now after your wood is sanded and dried if needed, you need to assemble the handles. Now I had handles on hand from an old storage cube that I got rid of so these were on hand, but you can find them at your local hardware store for pretty cheap ( I plan to make some for gifts so I plan to use different hardware to fit each person's personality). You need to install the handles in the middle of the boards that you will be using to hold the tray together. Now you may have to countersink your screws for your handles, but luckily for me my screws were flat so the board laid flat on the other boards. After you install the handles, you assemble the other boards and either screw or hammer them to the boards with the handles. Now we used nails because my screws would not work ( I plan to redo the project and use screws and different handles ). I recommend screws even though we used nails. Of course we drilled holes first because pallet wood can crack easily or at least it has on our past projects.
All in all I love my pallet tray and in fact have my laptop on it right now so it also makes a handle little lapdesk! So let me know if you have made a pallet tray before or if you are plannin on making one.
Also I am wanting to make "MAKE IT MONDAY" a weekly post so let me know if you guys like them or not please!
