Pallet Coffee Table: A Tutorial

Hey folks!  For the last few days, I've been trying to decide what I wanted to blog about first.  Luckily for you, I've decided I might as well go big or go home.  So, today we are going to tackle what is probably my all time favorite DIY project: my pallet coffee table!  Before we get started, here's the finished product:

And the story goes a little something like this...  About a year and a half ago, I got a new sofa and accent chair, and the coffee table I had in my living room just wasn't going to work anymore.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to replace it with, so I just started keeping my eye out whenever I was out shopping.  After a month or so, I still hadn't found anything close to what I wanted and/or under $500.  Sidenote:  Seriously, why in the hell are decent coffee tables so expensive?  Jesus people...it's just some wood and nails/screws.  Anyway, I finally decided the internet would probably hook me up, and I stumbled upon this picture. 

Google was good to me!

Hmmm, looks...promising.  I wasn't into the whole whitewashed look so much, but the table itself would be perfect in a different color. 

At this point, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try a little project, so I set off on a new mission to find some pallets.  Luck was on my side at this point, as my sister-in-law was just about to have a bunch of mulch delivered to her house, so I scored four pallets for free.  Jackpot!  Now the fun can start!  Here's one of the pallets.  As you can see, they were pretty beat up. 

  

Is that blood???

Before starting this project, I had checked YouTube to see if anyone had any bright ideas about how to get these pallets apart.  Multiple videos assured me that all you need is a hammer, a crowbar, a sledgehammer, a screwdriver, or some combination of the above.  Uh yeah...good luck with that.  Let me put it to you this way:  that shit didn't work.  Period.  After an hour, all we ended up with was a bunch of splintered/cracked wood and an anger management problem.  So, after some more research, my trusty assistant (i.e. my friend who has muscles and is proficient in tool speak) and I went to Home Depot and rented one of these:

Just go do yourself a favor and rent one of these!

For anyone else who is not fluent in power tools, this is called a reciprocating saw.  I had never seen one of these things before (I'm a girl...give me a break), but it is pretty bad ass.  Not only will it cut through wood, but it will also cut through metal (think nails/screws here).  If I remember correctly, I think this was in the neighborhood of $20-$30 to rent for the day, and once we got our act together, we actually only needed this for about an hour.  To get the pallets apart, we simply cut the horizontal boards off just inside the edges of the frame (i.e. just inside the nails at the ends of the boards you can see in the above picture), and then we cut through the nails in the middle of the horizontal pieces where it is attached to the center of the frame.  I planned on leaving these nail holes in the center of the horizontal pieces because I was going for a rustic/barnyard look, but this is something to keep in mind.



Making progress...finally!



At this point, we sanded down all the wood (this step takes FOR...EV...ER) and found there were all sorts of crazy, cool patterns in the wood.  Bonus points!  Pictures in a minute...

Next, I needed to pick a stain color.  Personally, I only like wood two ways:  white or damn near black.  However, with this being my first foray into staining something myself, I chickened out and got a walnut colored stain instead of something darker.  The first coat of stain left me with this:

The stain color? No bueno... 

...but those patterns!  Me likey!



I couldn't decide if another coat of stain would get me to where I needed, so I went ahead and tried it.  No luck.  So back to the store I went.  This time, I swung for the fence, and got the ebony colored stain.  Much, much better!  This was all Minwax Wood Stain with Polyurethane, by the way. 


Success! 

So to recap...this wood has two coats of walnut stain and one coat of ebony.  The ebony is basically black, so I put a much lighter layer of this stain on the wood.  However, I made sure to get it into a lot of the grooves and notches so you can really see the dimension in the wood.  

Our next step was to start laying out the pieces and figuring out how to put this sucker together.  If you'll remember, all I had was a picture to start with, so we didn't have the luxury of any measurements or instructions.  We finally decided that it would actually be easiest to use 2x4's for what I will call the frame (the legs and the parallel pieces holding the pallet wood together on the top and bottom).  To figure out how long the parallel pieces need to be, we set the "top" out on the floor and just measured the length (in the picture below, horizontally from left to right).  You will need four pieces of the 2x4 cut in this length (two for the top and two for the bottom).  I also decided that I wanted my table to be 18" tall, so you will additionally need four pieces of the 2x4 cut in this length (or whatever height you choose) as well.  Basically, you are effectively making two sets of "train tracks" that will be connected by upright legs.  Make sense?  I hope so!  If not, there is a picture below that should help.  We just had Home Depot do the cutting for us.  Stain all of these frame pieces with the same color(s) as your pallet pieces.

This is the top laid out on the floor.

You might have noticed that I never meantioned cutting/measuring the actual pallet pieces themselves.  Because I was going for an old/rustic look, I decided that I actually liked that the pieces of wood weren't all exactly the same length.  However, if you want a more even look, you can cut the pallet pieces down before staining.  Also, I wanted a pretty large coffee table, so it worked to just use the length of the pallet pieces as they were cut off the original pallet.  If you want something smaller or a different shape, cut down the pallet pieces to the width you want, add or remove pieces to increase/decrease length, and then measure out your frame pieces.  Or, if you will look back at my original picture from Google, you can have your frame pieces run the width of your table instead of the length as another option.  It's totally up to you...you really can make this table any size or shape you want!

Finally, there is one additional cut to make when assembling this table.  The parallel pieces holding the frame together should be secured two inches (or in my case, slightly less than two inches...measure the width of your 2x4 and adjust accordingly) from the edge of the pallet wood top.  This will allow the legs to sit under the "overhang" of the top layer of the table.  On the bottom, the "overhang" would stop your leg from being able to sit flush with the frame piece and floor.  Therefore, each end piece of pallet wood on the bottom layer only needs to have (roughly...again, measure your 2x4) two inches cut off.  This will allow you to secure the leg to the bottom frame while still having an "overhang" for the rest of the bottom.  See picture below for a visual. 

Here are your two "train tracks" with legs connecting them.  Each end piece of pallet wood on the bottom needs to be cut down so that the leg can be secured to the frame piece on the bottom.

We secured the table together with wood screws, and it is sturdy as can be.  I also took a q-tip and put some stain where we put the screws in so you didn't see blonde-colored holes where we countersunk the screws in the frame.  Here's some finished pictures.  My finished table is 36" x 58" and as mentioned, 18" tall.  The couch it is sitting in front of is 13'1" long.



Mission accomplished!

All finished with a few decorations.



The uneven edges.



Those patterns are crazy!

I really am truly in love with this table.  Everyone who sees it wants to take it home, and it is a really cool conversation piece for my living room.  It was a ton of work, but it was totally worth it (I will admit that we wasted a whole lot of time not having a clue what in the hell we were doing).  I think I spent about $100 total on everything (tool rental, stain, more stain, gloves, screws...I think that's it).  I have no idea what the pallets would have cost if I had to purchase them.

If you are wanting to make one of these tables, I would definitely recommend putting some effort into planning dimensions, picking out stain color, and having your tools together beforehand.  It will save you time and extra trips to the store.  Also, I would recommend having two people when you are cutting the pallets apart as well as assembling the table.  It just makes everything much easier.

So, that's it...my first real blog about my first real piece of furniture I ever made. Hope it was helpful to someone out there!