Pallet Couch

My most recent DIY was making a pallet couch to create a flexible, functional, and fashionable furniture piece for my living room. I say flexible because it can be used as seating, as well as be used as an extra bed for guests if they need a place to stay since the cushion is essentially a twin mattress with a cover. I say functional because it can seat numerous people in addition to other furniture in the living room. I use the term fashionable because it is unique and personalized to fit the style of my living room.

Supplies:

(4) Pallets -see below for advice in picking out pallets

(1-2) gallons of primer depending on pallet size

(1) gallon of satin or semi-gloss depending on preference

(1) twin mattress

(1) twin fitted sheet

decorative pillows to fit your liking

Article in an Organic Gardening Magazine I have.
the June/July 2014 version on page 66.

          This project really was an easy and fun project; however, it was very time consuming when it came to painting the pallets. The first step in the process was to find the pallets I wanted to use. There are a couple things to keep in mind when searching for pallets. The first is that not all pallets are the same. It is important to find pallets that will fit well and work well together if they are not exactly identical. Some pallets are longer than others, some are deeper than others, and so on. I was lucky enough to find four (4) pallets that were exactly the same and in great shape! The second thing to keep in mind is where the pallets came from and how/if they were treated. (See picture titled Pallet Precautions.) The third is the condition and sturdiness of the pallets. You want to make sure you have pallets that are not breaking down, starting to mold, or are broken. You want strong wood that is put together well and will withstand the weight of people over time as they sit on the couch.

          After choosing my pallets, I had to choose the primer and paint. I chose to use a heavy duty primer to be sure it sealed the wood and got into all the cracks and crevices. I hand brushed on the coat of primer to be sure I got it thick and into all the spaces I need to fill. This process took a long time to get in between and under each piece of wood. It took a while to dry because of putting it on fairly heavy, but it sealed the wood very well. After the primer had dried completely, I used a paint sprayer to put on the top coat of paint. This coat of paint went a lot faster than the primer using the sprayer; however, I still recommend doing the primer coat by hand so you can be sure it gets put on well. I then let the pallets dry again so they were ready to assemble and bring in the house.

          I stacked the pallets 2 high and 2 wide on top of an area rug to prevent scratching my wood floor. Then, I put a regular sized twin mattress on top of the pallets which worked perfectly without overlapping the edges of the pallets. I used a foam mattress topper on top of the mattress, as well to make the couch more comfortable. At Walmart, I found a red fitted sheet to put over the mattress. While on a mini vacation, I went to an Ikea store and found the perfect pillows to match my living room. I picked 3 big fluffy pillows and 26x26 inch covers to fill up the back and serve as a back rest along the wall I put the couch on. The covers are a heavy duty polyester and cotton material which is durable and washable. I went with this type of material since I know they will be used often; therefore, needing washed often. I assembled the pallet couch in my living room and tada! I now have a fun piece of up-cycled furniture that cost me far less than buying a new couch would! This would be a great idea for a dorm room, too! Students could have a couch and bed all in one!

Up-cycle Project ~ Dresser

Up-cycling has become a huge trend in design in recent years. I have found myself caught in the excitement of taking something old and giving it a new look. I have had a dresser for quite some time now that has been sitting in my shop unused and missing a drawer. Finally, I decided I wanted to make some use of it and up-cycle it to give it a new look to go in my bedroom. I love using the eight Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, restore, re-purpose, and redesign. Not only did this project cost me next to nothing because I was reusing resources I already had, but I go a brand new designer looking dresser out of it. I ended up only spending about $10 on the entire project. (More on that to follow.) As a future teacher of Family and Consumer Sciences, I want to teach my students how to be resourceful in so many ways; therefore, I wanted to do this project to showcase one way to be resourceful.

 Here is my dresser before the transformation. I started out by cleaning off the dresser and wiping out each drawer as it was full of dust and cob webs from sitting in the shop for so long. I then took each knob off the drawers to prepare them to be painted. I sanded down the entire dresser, as well as each knob to get off excess paint and rough up the surface so the paint would stick better.

  Where the drawer was missing at the bottom, I decided to make a shelf. I measured and cut an old piece of paneling to put along the bottom of the dresser. Then I spray painted both the dresser and the knobs with black spray paint. I bought the spray paint at Walmart for about $3.

  For the drawers, I bought some fabric at Walmart for $2 per yard. It only took about a yard to do all four drawers. I used spray adhesive I bought at a yard sale for $0.25 to put each piece of cut fabric onto the drawers. Then, around the edges I used the hot glue I had to glue the along the edges down nicely to make sure the fabric wouldn't come off.

The finished project!

When the hot glue had cooled and the paint was dry. I assembled the dresser by putting the handles back onto the drawers. I lined each drawer with some shelf lining that I also bought at a yard sale for $0.50 just to better protect the bottom of the drawers.

I absolutely love the finished project. It was a total transformation! Now the dresser that was sitting in my shop totally useless is a trendy piece of furniture in my bedroom! Best of all, I only spent about $6 and some of my time to completely up-cycle it!