Palette Chair

This is the palette that became the chair that appears in the picture at the top.

I've seen chairs made out of palettes, but when it came time to actually make my own, I couldn't find the instructions anywhere.  I finally was able to find a 60-second "How to build a pallet chair" by HGTV, which I played over and over and over again until I had a good general idea of how it was done.  Still, it took a lot of trial and error on the first one.  And since all palettes are not the same, each one had to be done a little bit differently.  Still, I think with that good general idea and a lot of patience, anyone can create one of these!

Now the one in the picture above is not the one I am showing in the tutorial, but it's the same general process. 

First find a palette with 4 side beams.  Cut your palette into 3 main pieces:

A piece like this, complete with two beams--one on each side.  We'll call this the bottom.

And two incomplete pieces that look like this, with a beam on only one side.

Remove the slats from the bottom so you have three left.

Remove all the slats from one of the incomplete pieces, leaving you with a beam.

We are going to insert this beam into the remaining incomplete piece so that it will also have two sides, but be thinner than the bottom.  We will call this piece the back.

Now, this next step is very important:  Measure!

You want to measure the inside width of the bottom and the outside width of the back.  In this case, the inside width between the beams of the bottom is 13.75.

Position the new beam between the slats of the back, making sure the outside measurement of the beams in the same (or about a 1/4" less) than the inside measurement of the bottom.  The tighter the fit, the easier it will be to work with later.

Nail the slats in place, then flip it over and nail the supporting slats as well.

 

Next, remove the lower 3 slats from the back.  

(Sorry I don't have a photo of it, but you'll see what I mean in the next step.)

Lay the two pieces on their sides and wedge the lower part of the back between the lower part of the bottom.  It should be a tight fit.  I had to use a hammer to tap it into place.

Set it back up and adjust the back slope to your liking.  I was using a nail gun, so I just put a couple of nails where the beams cross.  Then at the end I went back and put in the screws.  But you can skip the nail step and just go ahead and put your screws in now.

Take a few of the leftover slats and nail them to the front for the legs.  I used 13" legs and they were just right.

I added another slat about half way between the top and bottom slats for more support.

One more support piece went to steady the back.

Finally I used screws everywhere I used nails.

And here it is in the garden.

So that's it!

Now with a little sanding and maybe some stain, I'll have some good garden chairs.  

 And the great thing is, they didn't cost a cent!

Until next time,

Go Get Crafty, Sister!

 ~Sister #2