Making my own bedroom furniture

[vwluger22]

My wife has been bugging me for a headboard for our bed but we never really had money to go and purchase one from a furniture store. So I did some looking online for ideas on making our own headboard. We liked the idea of one where someone just used two shipping pallets side by side but I wanted to take it one step further.

Started with two of these.



Then I carefully took them all apart and made the frame the size of my bed (Queen)



Started to put it back together, this is just before I sanded and stained it.



This is the finished product stained and installed. This entire project cost me $8 that was for the stain. I reused all the wood and even the nails and had a can of clear laying around. Next addition to the bedroom will be nightstands using the same meterial might be able to start working on them this week.




Before I start the nightstands I got to finish tape and mud my new skylight.

[spockcat]

Cheap bastard! Must have been some decent pallets because the ones we get always seem to be in terrible condition and you would not be able to salvage enough wood for such a project without using at least 6 of them.

[webbs2jzgte]

great idea. I work at my schools loading dock so money is tight and im going to grab a couple up.

What do you think of wiring in lights on the inside that than can protrude out almost as a accent light

[vwluger22]

I had original wanted to make the nightstands floating but it would have been way to big 90" wide. Have the shelves float off of where it drops down on the side of the bed.

Shape like this

Wiring some lights into it would be very easy to do and I may do that in the future instead of buying some lamps for the night stands.

PS: Use a flat pry bar and a claw hamer to take them apart and take your time. The wood they use is cheap and fragile. Also find a couple that have the same widths slats and thickness.

[G-rocco]

That's awesome. My last name is Pallett and I've always wanted to built a whole set of 'pallet' furniture. The headboard looks great!

There are some other cool ideas out there...

[Hostile]

That headboard looks fantastic OP.

You could easily sell those for a few hundred dollars. No joke.

[dr. pimento]

Shipping pallets are treated with toxic chemicals to inhibit mold and infestation during transport.

I wouldn't bring them into my home as furniture...

[vwluger22]

Thanks guys and that chair is pretty cool.

Shipping pallets are treated with toxic chemicals to inhibit mold and infestation during transport.

I wouldn't bring them into my home as furniture...

Then why do the ship food on them?

Edit: Do they treat it any different than pressure treated wood?

[trbochrg]

food is treated with toxic chemicals to inhibit mold and infestation during transport.

i wouldn't worry too much about the pallets....

[firefighterjunkie]

Pretty cool headboard, OP. The rustic look is definitely in.

[barry2952]

I like to design my favorite furniture and I try to design my self. I design my bedroom furniture of my thinking like some different color beds and wardrobe so always try to manage my bedroom design.

What?

[vwluger22]

^ Thanks.


I still havent gotten to the night stands, well I did get all the wood for it toghter just havent had time to put it all together.

[username]

good on you for dismantling those pallets. I have a few nice oak and poplar pallets laying around that I was going to make something with, but pulling those pallet nails in any great quantity is no fun.


I am making/revising some bedoom furniture as well. I am making a headboard from some old 1x red pine salvged from a house built in the late 1800's (pics below), and revising our solid pine Ikea bedframe from a full to a queen size. doing this by purchasing some 5/4 pine for longer rails and cutting up the edge glued pine planks at either end and extending them. no pictures of that at the moment, but making things out of cheap pine at right angles is nice and relaxing compared to some of the other stuff I make

raw pine, square nails and all:


cleaned up, arrainged and edge glued. I hesitated to rip the wider boards down, but the there was really no way to use the three boards in their orignal proportions, this will be directly mounted to the wall with some 1" standoffs that I haven't fully designed yet:

[vwluger22]

Username looks good! Post up what it looks like in the end I would like to see.

[barry2952]

Removing nails and staples is fairly easy. All you have to do is use a Dremel tool with a carbide spur to grind off the head or connecting bar on a staple and then simply pry the pallet apart with ease.

Username, awesome job on repurposing that lumber.

[vw fiend]

I made a bench in a college furniture design course:

[vwluger22]

[nobbyv]

Great job on the repurposing of the pallets!

Don't have any pics, but I made a coffee table out of old pallets on the floor of my mom's kitchen many years ago. That thing stayed with me through three moves. I just removed it from the "library", as the library is now about to become the nursery.

[vwluger22]

Thanks i still need to make some Nightstands. Now that i got my tiling project done next thing just might be them.
Sent from a phone booth.

[vwluger22]

Few months later finally got some time to build the night stands. Got to pick up some more wood to build the drawer for the second stand. Also add the bottom to the drawers sand and stain. Will be on the hunt for a suitable knob/handle. These aren't 100% recycled like the head board but the face/siding is. Legs are banister I picked up at HD picked uglier or ones with "character " to match the used wood a bit better. On to the pictures.










Sent from a phone booth.

[ager_silvestris]

That looks really good!

[vwluger22]

^ Thank you.


Starting to think I should add a small shelf about half way down to kind of break up the look of the long legs?

Picked up some more wood to make the other drawer today.

[firefighterjunkie]

Looks cool. I'd definitely add a shelf to the lower section.

[vwluger22]

Looks cool. I'd definitely add a shelf to the lower section.

[g60vwr]

[nathanjohnz]

Hi, Great ideas, really good work you have done an excellent job. The headboard really looks great!

[vwluger22]

Hi, Great ideas, really good work you have done an excellent job. The headboard really looks great!

Thank you.

update:

Sanding is complete

[nathanjohnz]

Thank you.

update:

Sanding is complete

Really excellent work.
Please post the dimensions of this sanding and give us a making tutorial. Thanks.

[vwluger22]

Really excellent work.
Please post the dimensions of this sanding and give us a making tutorial. Thanks.

WTF are you talking about? I assume you are spammer?

For ****s and giggles.

Dimensions of snanding: Sand paper the size of my palm on a palm sander.

Tutorial: move in circular motion.

[vwluger22]

Pretty happy with the end result.

[firefighterjunkie]

I think those turned out really cool.

[vwluger22]

I think those turned out really cool.

Thanks

[g60vwr]

Nice