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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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Making progress...finally!
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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:
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The stain color? No bueno... |
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...but those patterns! Me likey!
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Success! |
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.
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This is the top laid out on the floor. |
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.
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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. |
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Mission accomplished! |
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All finished with a few decorations. |
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The uneven edges. |
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Those patterns are crazy! |
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!
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