We love it when readers send in their industrious ideas for building furniture. We've blogged using shipping pallets as furniture before, but reader cathinca actually made it happen. Here's how her small deck started, see the final results below:
We love how casual the end result is with some mismatched striped and flowered cushions and the addition of some plants along the top edge of the deck wall to afford a bit more privacy during the morning coffee. Great work, cathinca!
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I'm sure I'm not going to be the only one to ask this, but why didn't you paint the whole thing? Cute idea, though.
I think it looks much better unpainted. It has much more character the way it is.
Yeah, I agree that I would have painted either all of it, or none of it. But, wow, what a great idea! What are the cushions made of? Do you bring them in at night, or are they moisture-resistant?
cute baby
Hi there,
well I painted it only half white, because I wanted to keep the industrial look and keep the character of the pallets. The bottom is painted with an clear outdoor oil to keep the wood from falling apart. (sorry for my bad english...).
The two big cushions are made of foam and the slips I sewed out of very sturdy synthetic fiber which look really like rough-textured linen. At night I keep them inside, because the balcony is really a deck leading into a garden and besides we have no roof, there a lots of cats running around and the would love to sleep on the cushions.
I also blogged the whole thing (but in german ;)
http://hyggelig.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/outdoorlounge-aus-paletten.html
fabulous look, its a great idea and looks like a comfy party spot....thanks for sharing!!
awesome! great imagination.
Pretty cool. I have a friend here in New Orleans that used shipping pallets to fix the rotted out floor in her house... of course, those were south african mahogany pallets that she got for free and milled on the cheap because the miller thought they were pine.
I used to work for an international shipping company and I'm sure most people don't know this info. If you use shipping pallets for these kind of projects make sure they weren't used in international shipments. If they were than they have been treated with heavy duty pesticides (methyl bromide) to make sure invasive species don't destroy our trees and crops. I cringed when I saw that pallets had been used as a picnic table.
From Wikipedia.
Phytosanitary compliance
Due to the International Plant Protection Convention (abbreviated IPPC), most pallets shipped across national borders must be made of materials that are incapable of being a carrier of invasive species of insects and plant diseases. The standards for these pallets is specified in ISPM 15.
Pallets made of raw, untreated wood are not compliant with ISPM 15. To be compliant the pallets must be treated by either of the following means under the supervision of an approved agency.
Heat treatment The wood must be heated to achieve a minimum core temperature of 56°C for at least 30 minutes. Pallets treated via this method bear the initials HT near the IPPC logo.
Chemical fumigation The wood must be fumigated with methyl bromide. Pallets treated via this method bear the initials MB near the IPPC logo.
Pallets made of non-wood materials such as steel, aluminum, plastic, or engineered wood products, such as plywood, oriented strand board, or cardboard do not need IPPC approval.
I love this idea (but per the previous post, only if they were from the states)! Where did you get the shipping pallets?
I love this idea from a money-saving and eco-positive perspective but as someone with exposure to Operations and international shipping, I have to echo what llj71 says above about the dangers of chemical treatments. I'd go even further, actually, and say that unless you really know the chain of custody for shipping pallets they are not safe for most furniture applications because there are no guarantees that they have not been treated with formaldehyde donors. One way to get around this, though, would be to collect pallets from certified organic US growers / producers. There are rules in place that at least in theory prevent them from using heavily chemically treated pallets.
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I looove the dark table! Did you create it with pallets as well? I am in need of a table that size or smaller. Also, is there a tutorial for the dark table as well?