Enter Chris Baughman, my crafty partner in crime. Together we brainstormed ideas - a coffee table! A work bench! Book shelves! Eh, let's just get started and see what happens!
We began by painstakingly removing the boards from the top and bottom of the pallets. I'm gonna be honest here, that part sucked. The wood was so dry and old that it split very easily, and removing the rusty nails was no easy feat. I began to realize why most of the pallet crafts I found online involved simply repainting pallets and adding feet or cushions. Those people are smarter than we are!
Once it was clear that we weren't going to get long lengths of useable wood, Chris and I decided to scale down our project to something a little more manageable. I had been toying with the idea of making some attractive DVD storage boxes for my new built ins (!), and this was the perfect opportunity!
I began by cutting the split ends off the planks of wood, and then cutting the useable pieces down to 18.5" long. 5 pieces total made up the two front pieces, two bottom pieces, and one back piece. I want the back to be shorter so that it will reveal the DVD spines. My handy helper, Chris, sanded the heck out of the splintery boards.
I then cut some little blocks out of some scrap wood and nailed the front and bottom planks to them at the joints. This will help make the box sturdy.
My shelf is only 8 inches deep, so I had to trim the bottom board to allow for a finished length of 7.5 inches. After attaching the back board with my nail gun, I measured both sides and cut two more boards to length, then nailed those on.
After a coat of wood conditioner and a lot of beeswax, my box was done!
I did also add felt footies though, so the box doesn't scratch my freshly painted shelves.
And here it is, filled with DVDs on my new shelves. I love that it just looks like an inconspicuous crate - you'd never guess it's hiding my very embarrassing movie collection!
Now I can't wait to make a bunch more just like it!
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