Pallet desk

Yippy, skippy! I made furniture! By myself! And it was mostly free! I started with four or five sets of pallets, free from the local hardware store. Ryan helped me saw them about in half with a skill saw (but just for the record, I learned how to use the skill saw later and I totally coulda done this step by myself!)

All of the pallets got a heavy sanding and a whitewashing with watered down wall paint. 

This process took several days this summer, and life went on. This is what the nublins did while mama was cutting, cleaning, sanding, and painting. 

Then, I simply stacked the pallets on top of each other for the left half of my desk. 

For the top, I used two 1x8" and a 1x12" board.  I dry brushed them with red craft paint, sanded, then used a mixture of stain and black craft paint to make it look like weathered barn wood. I was thrilled with the results, though the pictures don't do it justice. 

The bottom board is unsanded

I brushed on the stain/paint combo, then wiped it off with a rag. The top board hasn't been wiped yet.

I made a wood "apron" to go around the edge, but only the front and sides. I also used scraps from the apron to help hold the three boards together.

Those metal pieces are called "mending strips" and I thought about them when I looked up in the rafters of our shed. They're used to hold trusses together, but they work for slightly shoddily-crafted desks as well. I used two stair spindles for legs.  

The pallet slots are perfect for all my scrapbook papers, maps, and vintage newspapers. I have stove drip pans for "drawers," but they're pretty flimsy. I'm thinking jumbo cookie sheets would be perfect, but they're not in the budget right at the moment. 

And the desk is an adorable, practical addition to an unused corner of our bedroom, all for under $40! 

Check out the whole craft set-up here.

Linking up to The Shabby Nest