Furniture from Wood Pallet - Seating Bench and Venetian Blind Wall Art

Some weeks ago the leader of my local FRG (585th Eng Co) was inspired to get some ladies together to make wooden pallet coffee tables.  Now I know they are very popular on pinterest and other such sites but the questions are:

Are they easy to make?
Are they usable?
Are they practical?
Are they durable?
Are they affordable?
Are they unique?

I am happy to announce that the answer to all of these questions are YES!  She (FRG Leader) gathered a bunch of pallets from a local source and asked everyone to buy fabric, legs, foam mattress pads (cheaper than traditional padding) and batting to attack this project head on.

What I liked most about this project was the ability to innovate off of the innovation.  Everyone's project came out very different and unique.  Two of the ladies made full pallet sized coffee tables - one of them made a  traditional piece that would comfortably fit into the existing living room, and she made matching throw pillows for her couch to further tie in the look.  The other used a beautiful red patterned fabric turning her coffee table into an accent conversation piece.

One of them made a smaller center table perfectly sized for most apartments by cutting the pallet down to about 3/5ths of its original size; and I made a bench, using half of the original pallet.  I also innovated to make a piece of wall art to go with it so I can create a vignette to tie it in with my existing decor without it looking like a strange, last decision piece of furniture thrown into the house.

In regards to the ease of making it, I have to say it was pretty easy.  I personally am very comfortable with power tools and building things, my husband had me assist with every project in our NY home from refinishing kitchen cabinets, to replacing the boiler.  But if you are not so good with power tools - the full pallet projects needed only the use of a staple gun to upholster the fabric and a screw driver (along with some elbow grease to screw in the legs).  I would add that it is a little easier if you have a helper but it's not that bad if it's just you.  The total project time took less than 2 hours each for the bench/coffee tables and for my art piece.

I waited a few weeks to post the finished product to allow time to test for durability.  After about 8 or more weeks of extreme use (my 5 year old son had declared it his official relax, sit, play handhelds, read kindle bench) it is still very new looking.  I took the precaution of treating mine with fabric guard since it was a light colored fabric, thinner than most upholstery fabrics and subject to a lot of use - I think this was a wise choice.     

Finally - it was very inexpensive considering.  The base (the pallet) is free.  The costs of fabric varies and you can get some great deals, the legs were about $5 a piece, the batting was $10 and the foam was about $19.  The wood and chains for the art piece were $10.  My project costs about $85 including art piece.  The bench would cost about $200 in a discount store and the art piece - who knows!  If you've ever bought unique art pieces - they are never cheap!

So to conclude, I have to say these pallet bench projects popping up on every photo share sight are worth making for the sake of the experience, for the sake of indulging your inner artist and for the sake of adding some really beautiful original pieces to your home.