A table made of pallets for a dining-type cottage, low and on wheels, made by yourself

Quite often construction pallets and pallets are used to make furniture. From them you can make a wide variety of table options for the garden and at home.

DIY pallet table

For example, let’s take a small table; it has no fundamental differences in technology with other projects, only the product designs differ.

Where to get raw materials

For anyone who decides to implement this idea at home, it is better to first choose an ordinary coffee table as a future product. Using this simple piece of furniture as an example, in the future it will be easier to independently make more complex structures from wooden pallets.

Before you begin to implement the task and try to make a table from pallets, you will need to solve a number of practical issues, including the problem of acquiring the starting material.

In order to get a beautiful table, you should first visit the nearest hardware store or furniture store. Usually in the backyard of these establishments, right on the street, you can find wood blanks suitable for making a table. The issue of their purchase must be agreed with the administration.

Another option for purchasing property is to find an advertisement for the sale of pallets and other wood containers, the average cost of which varies from 50 to 200 rubles per piece. These can be completely new pallets, or already used ones.

Advantages of pallet furniture

DIY tables, chairs, armchairs made from pallets are original furniture that will decorate your home, cottage or garden. Pallets are an inexpensive material; if the products are damaged during production, you won’t mind throwing them away. But when the new thing turns out to be successful, it will delight you with its unusual design.

The fashion for such furniture began in 2008, when a competition was announced among students of the architectural institute for the best house model. The winner was students from Vienna who submitted a product made from wooden pallets. The idea of future Austrian architects has found wide circulation among designers all over the world, including in Russia.

Advantages of furniture made from pallets:

A fashion trend, when decorating interiors, unique elements made from such materials are increasingly found.
Practicality, accessibility, functionality. Furniture made from wooden pallets is used much more efficiently and at a lower price than furniture made in furniture factories. Unusual design and quality parameters are much higher than those of standard chipboard products.
Natural and environmentally friendly material. The wood is not treated with varnishes, paints, antiseptics, or impregnations, so there is no threat to human health.
No experience or skills required. The products are ready to use, you just need to assemble them correctly.
Freedom of creativity. Everyone can bring any idea to life.
An activity for any family member. Both adults and children can make furniture from pallets with their own hands, each making a personal contribution.

Fashion trend

Practicality, accessibility, functionality

Natural and environmentally friendly

Freedom of creativity

Ease of manufacture

There are many options for shaping pallet tables. You can make a product from entire pallets, laying them on top of each other in a horizontal position, attaching legs or wheels to them. For convenience, it is better to remove the top boards and nail the new ones close to each other. You can place two pallets vertically, and install the third as a tabletop.

If the pallets are new and the wood has not darkened, then you can apply varnish and stain to them. If the wood has already darkened, the pallets can be painted if desired. They are also covered with textiles, combined with other materials, and a variety of fittings are used.

Furniture made from pallets is not suitable for every style; for example, it will look out of place in a classic or high-tech style. But such items will fit perfectly into Provence or country, where rough shapes with a rustic accent are used. This furniture will look good in the Scandinavian style, which tends to be natural, and in the loft direction, where industrial elements are considered appropriate.

Loft interior

Country style

Preparing for assembly

Immediately before you start making your own table from pallets, you will need to thoroughly prepare for subsequent assembly.

First, you need to disassemble the purchased pallets and clean them with a wire brush from adhering dust and dirt. Next, you will need to wipe the wood surfaces with a damp cloth and wait until they dry.

After the workpieces have dried, they proceed to grinding and protective treatment of those parts that face the outside of the table structure and with which the user will be in direct contact.

Note! When disassembling and removing nails from pallets, you should act very carefully, trying not to damage the working surfaces of the wooden dies.

The operations for sanding and protecting the surfaces of pallets are no different from the same procedures carried out for other wood products and parts. For sanding, ordinary sandpaper can be used, and antiseptic agents applied in several layers are used as a protective coating.

Pallet table with glass

Tools and consumables

In order to make a kitchen table or a small country table based on ready-to-use pallets, you need to stock up on the following tools and auxiliary materials:

an electric drill with a set of drills and an abrasive brush, made in the form of an attachment and used for polishing the surface of wood;
nail puller, screwdriver and hammer of suitable size;
a set of brushes and rollers for painting surfaces, protective varnish and primer;
acrylic or polyurethane dyes.

In addition, to make a table from pallets for a summer house with your own hands, you will need special fittings (handles, wheels, corners), as well as small clamps for fastening.

To make it easier to screw screws into wood, some craftsmen recommend stocking up with a bar of soap. And finally, to adjust the size of individual wood pieces, you will definitely need a hand saw or circular saw.

What are pallets

Most citizens have heard that there are pallets and pallets, but do not understand the difference between them. Knowledge will help you choose better materials for making the table.

Name

Description and technical specifications

Pallet

Design dimensions 120×100×12 cm, manufactured according to domestic standards. The thickness of the boards is increased in comparison with European standards, but the quality is lower. The wood is not treated with antiseptics and is considered environmentally friendly. According to this parameter, it is preferable to use domestic pallets for the manufacture of furniture. True, it is difficult to find complete structures; pallets break quickly.

Pallet

The products have dimensions of 120x80x12 cm. By reducing the height, the efficiency of using storage space increases. The wood is treated from putrefactive processes; only high-quality boards are used to make pallets. Each element must have a special mark of compliance with international quality. All wood undergoes special phytosanitary treatment and crosses state borders without problems.

Pallets and pallets are considered reusable containers and must be periodically repaired. But in practice, one can still encounter an irresponsible attitude; pallets and pallets are broken and thrown away. Losses fall not on the companies, but on the end consumer - our ordinary compatriots.

Making a table on wheels

If you decide to make a small table on wheels for your cottage, you will need to take the following steps. In the event that the tabletop of the future product does not coincide in size with the dimensions of the pallet, you need to completely disassemble it using the nail puller and hammer prepared earlier.

You should once again clean the disassembled workpieces from dust, and then sort them according to the quality of the wood. The front surfaces of the selected workpieces must be thoroughly polished using sandpaper or an attachment inserted into an electric drill.

Important! When sanding with power tools, be sure to wear a protective face mask and eye protection.

From the prepared blanks, two table bases are assembled according to the size of the future tabletop. Separately from them, boards of suitable width are prepared, which are subsequently used to fasten the tabletop itself and the base mounted below.

At the final stage of making a coffee or coffee table, all that remains is to screw wheels of suitable dimensions into the corners of the base located in the lower part. The result is a cozy and squat table with a convenient bottom shelf on which you can store books and various knick-knacks.

To increase the attractiveness of the resulting product, it is recommended that all surfaces be first treated with a wood primer and then painted with decorative varnish or stain.

Pre-preparation of pallets

Regardless of the type of furniture being manufactured, pallets must undergo preliminary preparation. The process consists of several stages and operations.

Visual inspection of the condition. Assess the actual condition of the pallet. If the boards are rotten, have deep cracks or critical deformations, then nothing can be made from it. There is no need to waste time on waste; you need to look for new blanks.
Disassembly of parts. If only boards are used from the pallet, the structure is completely disassembled. At the same time, all measures are taken to preserve the integrity of the lumber. You need to know that pallets are made of very high quality boards; they are quite suitable for making furniture for residential premises.
Cleaning from dirt. All cutting parts of woodworking tools are very sensitive to sand and other abrasive contaminants; the materials must be thoroughly cleaned from them. In addition, before processing pallets on jointing machines and circular machines, it is necessary to remove nails and other metal hardware.
Surface grinding. Sanding must be done using electric tools. Doing it manually is very time-consuming and difficult; in addition, it is impossible to make very curved surfaces smooth. There are many special machines available that provide high quality surfaces. If you cannot buy them for some reason, then you can use an ordinary grinder with a metal disc. The second option is to install a rubber disc on the grinder; cars are polished with such equipment. This method gives acceptable surface cleanliness.
Painting board surfaces. The method of finishing lumber depends on the type of furniture and the wishes of the owners. Varnish coating is considered universal; paints hide the beauty of the natural structure of wood. Namely, to emphasize the naturalness of making blizzards, pallets are used.

If you already have prepared pallets in good condition, a sketch of the product has been drawn, tools and equipment have been checked, then you can begin work.

Increasing the height of the table top

In the event that there is a need to make a higher table, you can do it in several ways. The simplest of them involves replacing the transverse boards with higher wooden posts, forming the original legs of the future structure (see photo on the left).

Note! In order to increase the rigidity of such a table made from pallets, it is recommended to choose thick and wide boards for making stands.

The second option for increasing the height of a home-made product is to use a high support base, made from the same pallets in the form of a square box. The support is finished to match the color of the main part of the structure and only after that is fixed on the lower plane of the tabletop. This technique is optimal for making a kitchen table at which you can sit without worrying about free legroom.

As in the previous case, upon completion of assembly (or before it), all thoroughly sanded outer surfaces of the pallets should be treated with a primer, and after drying, covered with varnish or polyurethane dye. The result should be a sturdy table for four people.

Table finishing options

For installation in a room, living room, bedroom. Self-adhesive film is suitable. It is chosen in different colors, shades, textures, and materials with imitation wood and stone are used. Sometimes a monochromatic color looks good in an interior. Decoupage technique is used for decoration. The glass lids look original.

In a gazebo or on a veranda, a sanded and varnished surface that preserves the texture of natural wood is suitable.

Outdoor tables are painted with oil, pentaphthalic compounds, acrylic, latex coatings and various varnishes are used. Choose light-resistant options, since garden furniture is affected by ultraviolet radiation.

For the tables, elegant legs are made in a forged or welded version; shells, original branches, and stones are placed under the glass lid.

Making a dining table

To implement the project of a table for eating, among other things, you will need to make a durable wooden box, the basis of which is the same disassembled pallets. This design may be slightly smaller in size than the dimensions of the table top. At the same time, like the working base, it must also go through the preparatory stage, which was described earlier for pallets.

You can assemble such a box from scraps of pallets or bars measuring 25 x 25 mm. For an average-sized table, you will need approximately four meters of such timber and several pallets of two types, namely: square with sides one meter per meter (for a table top) and regular, having standard dimensions.

From a typical pallet, disassembled into separate parts, it will be possible to make eight low supports that are inserted between the tabletop and a base of the same size. The entire structure assembled from the listed parts is mounted on a previously prepared and stained support box, which must be installed on a well-leveled floor surface.

There are known options for manufacturing a country table, assembled in the form of a folding structure, which, when not in use, is compactly folded and taken away for storage in the attic or storage room.

To manufacture it, in addition to all the listed components and fittings, you will need to purchase special hinges that allow you to perform the corresponding operations with the table (fold and unfold).

Flower racks

By the way, about flowers. Pallets can be used for storing them. For example, put them or lean them against the wall, and place pots with plants inside. Flowers can also be hung from such a rack.

Photo: Instagram mebel_iz_poddonov_vladikavkaz

Photo: Instagram palletsofa

And the owner of this summer cottage built an even more unusual structure - he made a fence from pallets and placed flowers on top. It turned out beautiful and original.

Photo: Instagram woodart66