10.20.2010

A pallet, a hammer and some nails.

For quite some time now I have been obsessed with this website. Take a look around and you'll agree it's amazing! Seeing as there are many more pieces of furniture that I could justify buying right now than there is funds to purchase them I decided it wouldn't hurt to try my hand at making some.

I decided to start with one of the plans that uses wood from a pallet. A free pallet gone wrong is a lot easier to swallow than expensive boards from the store gone wrong. So I began harassing Jeremy to get me a pallet. Every time I mentioned it he sort of rolled his eyes and changed the subject. He had little faith that I would ever actually build something functional and thus didn't see the need to clutter up the garage with pallets that would never become anything but pallets.


But the urge to build kept getting stronger and stronger and as we drove home from a friend's house on Saturday night we saw a whole stack of pallets with a FREE sign in a driveway. I insisted Jeremy pull the car over and we wedged a pallet into the back of our little car and rode the rest of the way home with the trunk open.

A little sawing, some wood glue, some nails and about 2 hours later I had this lovely box.  (I followed these plans more or less.)  I added a little wood stain. I wanted it dark, but I think I need to do a little research on the proper way to stain something....it's not great.


And I now have a perfectly sized little nightstand that holds just what I need with no extra space for cluttering. And if you take a look at these similar boxes.....you might think I got one heck of a bargain.



And after all that doubt Jeremy's first remark was "Are you going to make me one too?" We'll just see if he complains about stacks of pallets in the garage now........


TOTAL PROJECT COST
Pallet................................FREE
Box of nails......................$2.49
4 wood laths....................$1.80
Wood Stain.....................$4.99
_________________________
1 lovely nightstand...........$9.28. with enough left over materials to make 1 more

SO really it cost less than $5. You can't beat that shopping at the thrift store! Thanks Ana!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

you did it!!! yay!!!

I'm highly impressed and wishing we could have done it together. Someday. :)

w said...

Oh no. What have you done to me? Now I *must* build something from that website!
And you are seriously awesome. I love it!

Deb said...

Way to go, Emily! I'm super impressed! I hear wood calling to me somewhere in my future, but in the meantime I'm trying not to take up any new hobbies :)