Happy Friday: Homemade Wood Pallet Wall
Sent from reader, Jessica:
I wanted to show you how awesome our wood pallet wall turned out. We use the $0.99 brown paint samples that were on special recently and painted the wall behind our wood pallets that we scored for free (we drove by a place that had pallets outside and asked the guy if we could purchase them and he said that we could take all that we wanted because they were throwing them away) – all we had to do was take them apart. The wall turned out awesome.
Cost of Wood Pallet Wall:
Wood pallets = Free
Liquid nail = $20
Paint samples = $2
Paint brush = $3
Nails = $5
Saw blades = $15
Total Cost = $45
We received quotes to make the wood pallet wall for around $1,000 and we could not afford it nor justify spending that kind of money. So we did a lot of research on YouTube and read different articles and got to work.
The light above the table came from Home Depot – we got a military discount on it. We purchased that over a year ago. Our table is custom built by us. It is like a rounded triangle with chairs on one side and bench seats on the wall sides with storage under them and under the table. We spent around $175 making it.
My husband is currently working on the picture frames above. I haven’t hung them up yet because I’m painting the green frames white. But all the photo frames came from AC Moore and were on clearance for five dollars or less. Also the F we found on clearance at AC Moore for $14 normally $25 and it lights up.
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Do you have a funny, “Hip”, or unique photo to share?! Email us at happyfriday@hip2save.com. Every Friday, we post one photo, submitted by a Hip2Save reader, that gives us a glimpse into their frugal lifestyle or simply makes us smile. If your photo is published on Hip2Save, we’ll email you a $10 Amazon e-card!
Love it… Great job! So nice to have the ability to DIY. You guys did an awesome job.
Amazing DIY!
Wow! Your wall is beautiful! You guys did a great job!!!
Very cool! Well done & thanks for sharing
Looks awesome. We did something very similar, but in white and grayish color for a focal wall in our living room and it looks amazing.
Post a picture please!!
Please keep in mind that Wood Pallets belong to the company they are stored on and taking them without the permission of the company is stealing. Wood pallets cost these companies money and some of the pallets cost additional money if not returned to the manufacturer who shipped them the merchandise on the pallet. Many retail stores for example store their empty pallets behind their buildings to await pickup. This doesn’t mean that they are no longer used or trash. It is simply where they are stored and taking them cost the retail companies money and is a crime. Having worked in management at 2 big box retail stores I can tell you that some of those pallets can cost the store up to $100 each if not returned…like the Blue painted ones. Wood pallets are recycled and reused until they are no longer usable. Wood Pallet ideas are great if you get them legally.
tl;dr
Thank you for the input, however is does not apply to the couple in this situation. They had permission so no “stealing” was involved. I didn’t know about the companies being charged for pallets though so I learned something today. Thanks for sharing.
She says in her post that she asked if she could purchase them, and was told she could have them.
It was an FYI for anyone getting ideas on Wood Pallets as Wood Pallet Theft is pretty high. I didn’t say this specific person stole them.
Why the post? She asked if she could buy them, they told her she could have them. What prompted you to write such a post, insinuating stealing pallets?
Because the idea of these posts are to help others get ideas of their own by doing similar things. There are tons of wood pallet posts about on the web and MOST people aren’t aware that taking them without seeking permission is a crime. I never said this person took them without permission. It was an FYI for anyone getting ideas of doing the same thing or anything involving wood pallets. There has been an abundance of ideas for wood pallets and it has caused people to just pull up and take them because they assume they are trash. When a company loses money …regardless of how they lose that money…it is made up by raising prices on merchandise.
Thank you lily for sharing. I’m not sure why others would assume -I appreciate and learn from others when they make comments. It was nice of you to contribute and I learned something new. Just want to encourage you and others to post comments not sure why some people are so mean and jump to judge others.
Thanks for the info, Lily. Not sure why others are jumping on you but I appreciate the reminder, especially with how popular it is to repurpose pallets now.
Ur so stupid just shut up lol
Well here the people go again. I know there was a post a couple weeks ago by saying words hurt, BUUUUUUUT whatever.
If a person says something online to someone else that they don’t even know I hope that person doesn’t take it personally. You don’t have to worry about what other people think.
From lily’s comment it looks like she isn’t responding in the rude way to people insulting her like she didn’t read the post. She just keeps informing others about just a FYI type of thing.
The hip2save posts are supposed to be about saving. It shouldn’t get off topic and end up insulting people for no good reason. Maybe others like to stir up trouble and see what others will say just to be a B. It’s such a pick move.
FYI: You can make friends by being nice
Absolutely agree. There was no reason for that negative post. So immature!!
Who said they stole the wooden pallets? Do we now have “The Pallet Police” on Hip2Save? Is there a code to use for this special service? C’mon people. Why can’t we all try to be nice to each other and just get along? Anyways, I absolutely love how the walls look with the pallets. Job well done!
Lily didn’t say that the original poster stole the pallets. It was nowhere in her post. It was just a reminder and fyi to those who don’t know.
Good to know!! Thanks for sharing!
I do appreciate the comment, I just think it should start with the sentence: “I am NOT refering to this specific case, I am just sharing FYI”.
Great point! If you don’t have experience in the freight forwarding business, how would you know this, right!? Usually, the expensive wood pallets are specially marked. For example, Euro Palettes will have stamps on the side that will say EPAL or DB or something like that. There are all kinds of other sizes of palettes that are cheaply made and for one-time uses.
I enjoy reading the comments because Collin has a knowledgeable group of followers with lots of valuable life experience. I wish sometimes that there was a bit more compassion when responding to other’s comments.
So cool Jessica!
Awesome! Good for you! Love it.
Beautiful work!
Please keep in mind and be careful with where your pallets are sourced from. There can be all sorts of chemicals and carcinogens leaked/leeched into the wood that you definitely don’t want to expose your family to.
Go here to find out how to tell if a pallet is safe to reuse https://www.1001pallets.com/pallet-safety/
Agree!
Not to mention the pesticides that are sprayed on them to help keep rodents out of warehouses.
There are chemicals in the paper we print our coupons on. We haven’t died from them. Don’t lick or eat the pallets, and you’ll be just fine.
I love it! Great job
Very creative and I’ve seen a lot of cool projects on Pinterest, but personally I don’t really like the old/dirty look. It looks like its moldy.
Cool!!
Looks amazing. I have to say that we tried a project with pallets and taking them apart was an absolute pain in the butt! Took us days just to do that part of it.
Fabulous job, looks terrific! My husband and I attempted a pallet project last summer with some OLD pallets we found in our woods behind the house. As we were disassembling them, I ended up stepping on a board with a rusty nail sticking up… Went right through my foot. Was excrutiating, and a mess… Thank goodness I had just had my tetanus booster/tdap combo shot a few months prior when I was pregnant! My husband kept on warning me to be careful where I stepped too. I totally threw in the towel after that, and we scrapped our pallet project plans. Lol!
Oh my! That sounds terrible. The nails in ours were rusty too so I think that was the problem. They were breaking off instead of pulling out. Glad you survived! Haha
Lol… Thanks! That’s what was happening with ours too.
Very cool!
I have that same light from Home Depot!
Thank you all for such nice comments! I’m a full time care giver for my husband who is wounded warrior and while this protect took some time for him it is amazing to see the accomplishment and pride in his eyes. We are home 95% of the time because he doesn’t like to get out so we are always doing things around the house and have to find budget friendly things to do. I’d love to hear other cool ideas! Jessica
Jessica, from one military family to another, I want to thank your husband & your family for your sacrifices. Your projects look amazing! I wish I was that handy lol. Another cool project I saw on pinterest was making a coffee table out of an old cable reel, with wooden dials put around the sides so you could put books there. I had a cable reel I had hoped to do that with but it got left behind on our last move.
That sounds awesome! Thank you for you and your husband for all you do! We always try to look projects up on YouTube and we actually find some very informative videos that help with everything!
It must be difficult staying home all the time unable to leave with is severe disabilities.
Thank you and your husband so much for all the sacrifices you’ve both made!! Also, fantastic job; that decor looks amazing!!
Jessica- thank you to your husband for his service to our country. And thank you for being his rock and supporting him.
I’m always worried these are unhealthy/ chemically treated ( I know some are safe) . I like the idea of pallet gardening but feel there’s too much risk involved. I know there’s a stamp and a lettering system that tells country of origin and chemical treatment but it’s just too much for me.
I agree. When I started my raised box garden (my husband did, actually 😉), we went to home depot and asked which wood is untreated. What’s the use of organic gardening if the wood is leaking chemicals?
Here is a link to a site which shows you how to know which oallets are safe to use. HTH! 😊
https://www.hometipsworld.com/how-to-tell-if-wood-pallets-are-safe-for-crafting.html
Great job!!! Love the result:)
Great job Jessica! Love it!!
Thanks!
Very impressed!!! Enjoy your hard work
Cool!!!
Love it!!!
Jessica- thank you for sharing. Its a cool project and turned out beautifully. Your husband is a very handy guy. Mine is a counselor and uses home projects to de-stress from his work. Thank you for the sacrifices your family has made. I wish you peace and strength on your journey.
Thank you for your kind words! He is my hero in so many ways!
Do you have to worry about pallets having termites or carpenter ants?
My initial thought was ewww. Homeless peeing on them, rodents crawling around. Who knows what else. Not to mention all the issues and kids getting sick from wood products nowadays. You couldn’t seal this wood enough. I still say eww. Might look nice but ewww.
If you can’t say something nice, why say anything at all??
I’m 99.9% sure her family won’t be LICKING these pallet walls, so all that you mentioned is completely irrelevant.
Not nice? Seriously? Have you never seen these pallets and what goes on with them? I see this wall with a table in front of it. Kids do lick walls. Not to mention, they touch them while eating and their hands go where? So regardless the kids will somehow touch the walls and adults too. Not to mention splinters. I did not see in her list where she washed these pallets or sealed them completely. I would be seriously worried and the fact that so many people are reading this, thinking it is a good idea is disturbing to me. I am a manager at a store where we have to go and get pallets that the homeless have moved so we don’t have to pay for them. While checking security cameras, we have seen them getting urinated on and teenagers even having sex on them. So it isn’t about being nice, but informing people that think this is such a good idea, that it really isn’t. You have to be careful with wood you buy from the store nowadays. Have you not watched the news? And it really isn’t irrelevant. It touches their clothes as well and will get on other furnishings.
It was all in your delivery. You could have raised your concerns in a less critical manner. If you were responding to a stranger face-you-face would you have used “ewww” three times when commenting on a project she was proud of? A little bit of kindness goes a long way!
Well said, Sara; thank you 🙂 Jessica, your project turned out great; I’m especially impressed with that table! It’s beautiful, and has built-in storage; wow! Thank you to your husband and family for your service to our country and your commitment to each other! Very special and commendable indeed. Best wishes on your future DIY projects 🙂
And should I mention the mold that you can clearly see in the picture? All pallets will have mold. And people are getting sick from that too. But maybe that is mean of me to mention that as well:(
I can assure you that my kids won’t be licking the walls. These wood planks are different colors due to taking apart at least 50 pallets to pick out different colors. I can assure you also they do not have mold on them. While you might be very concerned on the lack of planning that went into this and the dangers that you think I did not consider before will not offend me because I just consider your comments and other comments from people just educational and informative of the dangers for others who might not plan and research the way I did before we completed this project. I promise I would not put my kids nor my husband whose is a wounded warrior with different injuries in danger because my hero husband has enough to deal with that I wouldn’t intentionally harm him.
where do you get free pallets?
We got them from a delivery company. We seen a business with stacks of them and just asked the owner. Good luck!
I love using old pallets for projects. I get them from companies around the area when they are just going to throw them away, some they keep and put off to the side so i dont grab them accidentally. I am about to do this same project and already did a pallet garden but plan on redoing it this year so its bigger.
Jessica it is beautiful! How fun to have a DIY project to admire in your home everyday!
Awesome job! Love it, hut down for ya
Love this. I saw this idea on Pinterest but haven’t convinced my hubby to do it yet!