DIY Pallet Shelf

This project was a lot of fun. I had a desire out of no where (like most things) to build this shelf completely out of pallets. I had been wanting to put a TV in my workout room but did not want to spend $100 for a shelf to do so!

I was lucky enough to be able to get a few pallets from a local golf course that they use to ship in sod. Brought them to my parents house where they have all the handy tool imaginable and bam! magic happened. BTW I was so afraid of the saw… until I used it!

I took the best looking pallet and split it in half (length wise) as you see in the pic. It was MUCH easier than pulling every piece apart to rebuild.

Grab another pallet the same size and take off the 2×4, attach these 2×4 to the back of the original pallet using a blocks of wood, from unused 2×4’s, measuring the distance you want. Creating the gap between the front and the back. *I used small long pieces of wood to attach the blocks in the middle placing them about 1/2 inch lower than the top of the outer block. This allowed me to nail them from the inside and created a lip for my shelves to rest on.

Once you’ve created the foundation its time to add the shelves. I used the bigger and thinner pieces of wood from the pallet to create the shelves. Had to cut them using the table saw to the perfect size to fit my shelf. Placed them in the correct spots, used a nail gun to attach them to the small pieces of wood we attached earlier.

Last, I added the lips in the front to hide all of my first-DIY-project-boo-boos. Which made for an AHmazing finished piece! Pre color of course 🙂

Pre color you MUST sand this down. This took a lot of work. i used an electric sander for the rough stuff first. Then switch to a very course hand sander for the rest. This took hours since pallets are not in the best condition. PLUS be very careful of the nails, they’re everywhere.

Now it is time to paint it, and just like everything else in this project I had no idea how I wanted it. I was torn between painting it white, a white wash stain and a grey wood stain. I originally bought the grey stain but once I realized how much work it is to stain I went to the white paint. Once I painted the entire thing, I went back in with a handheld sander to give it that distress look. Because the thing I loved about the pallet was the raw look of it

I absolutely love it! Especially because I made it