DIY Pallet Shelf

Pallet crafts.  You see them all over Pinterest.  Everyone is coming up with crazy creative ideas to use the only-good-for-fire-wood pallets for something so beautiful and useful.  At first I though they were crazy and weird.  Sorry, sista… I have seen way too many of these to want to put one in my house, thank you very much.

But then I gave in.

When I saw the PILES of pallets around the ranch I started thinking of ways I could make something awesome out of them too.  The need for one came as The Ranch Princess emptied out my purse for the umpteenth time.  Please can I just have a little shelf that I can hang my purse and camera and mom-bag from that looks cute!

Light. Bulb.

I should make one… from a pallet!  So I went to Pinterest, and really didn’t find what I wanted.  But… that didn’t stop me.  I went to the pile, found the best pallet of the bunch and headed to the shop where the power tools were (oh, and The Rancher…).  I explained to him what I wanted and he said, “…ok.”  Very enthusiastic.  All I really needed from him was to tell me where the saws-all was and to let me have at it.

I cut off the first section of pallet and then the a second board to go across the top for my shelf.  With the pieces cut out (and the rest cleaned up- I do my part to keep the shop clean!) I headed for a sander.  Now I know the fun of a pallet craft is that it is from a pallet and therefore has some character.  But my OCD-ness wouldn’t let me NOT sand the darn thing… just a little.

Sanding really was the most time consuming thing, not because it took super long, but because the rest of it went so fast.  I didn’t sand it off terribly smooth, just enough that when I would be taking my hand across it I wouldn’t get any slivers.  We try to avoid pain like that if we can…

Next step- stain.  With so many options it was almost hard to know how to go with this part of my project.  I ended up taking a cherry brown stain and loved the results.  On the first coat the grain started to come to life and I LOVED it.  In fact, I only put the one coat on because it was exactly what I was looking for.  It had a little dark color to it without being overwhelming or distracting.  Awesome!  I did do a quick sealant coat to help keep it’s awesome-ness.

After letting the stain dry I dug through The Rancher’s toolbox to find myself a hammer (maybe I should get my own tools!!) and nails.  Since the shelf was from a pallet it wasn’t too square, which means I can blame any unlevel/unsquare issues on it, right?  Actually it was a little tough to keep it square while I was putting it together just because it was a little awkward to try and hold together on my own.  But never fear, I got it together! 

And a shelf is born!

The last bits to add were my dollar drawer pulls from Home Depot (LOVE that store!).  For Father’s Day I was the awesome wife that got her husband a new drill set and I finally had a chance to use it.  I drilled myself a few little holes, put the screws in and I was done.

The coolest part of this project was when The Rancher saw it in the room.  He was seriously impressed and is even thinking of places to put for his hat and gloves… Yes, earned myself more rancher’s wife stripes!  Now, honey, could you please help me hang this up?