Thanks to Pinterest, no one looks at wooden pallet the same way.
Bookshelves.
Tables.
Day bed.
Patio furniture.
Side table.
Garden planter.
Room divider.
Wall covering.
You name it, you can make it with pallets.
Think about it–pallets are cheap, easy to come by, versatile and green. Sometimes you can buy them. Other times, you can dig them out of the trash. I’ve done my share of dumpster diving. I’m not afraid to get dirty.
DIY Pallet Wall
My husband and I are raising a small tribe of kids here. By no means are we living in a mansion. Our home is small. Cozy. Like, 1600 square feet or so of “coziness”. We do our best to pare down our belongings so we’ll have breathing room but let’s be honest–you can only carve out so much living space before you start heading outdoors.
Thankfully, we live in Southern California where it’s nice to be outside at least nine months out of the year. I wanted to carve out some sort of cool hang out spot so I could sip my herbal tea and read a magazine while the kids were terrorizing the neighborhood with their bikes, skateboards, scooters and Nerf guns. My backyard is a virtual wasteland of dry grass and bike parts, so I knew I had to focus on the front yard first.
My son Cyan and I got busy one late summer evening and dragged out the outdoor furniture to a little nook in the driveway and set up this sweet little spot for us so we could enjoy it with our familia.
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It was great. Awesome. Cool. Sweet. Comfortable. Until I realized we had absolutely no privacy from the street. I took up this issue with my husband one night.
Me: We need a fence.
Husband: I’ve been saying that for years. We could build a wall right here. Install a water fountain right there. Put in a hammock. Install some speakers. I could paint a mural right here…
Me: Hol’ up. Right now, I just want a fence so I can sit outside without a bra if I want to.
Husband: I can make it for you, Queenie. Let’s get busy.
We knew we didn’t want a permanent structure because it would block off our garage entrance. And the cost…we were starting this diy project with zero monies. So we did what we always do — dream together and find a way to make it happen. We spent many a night after the kids were in bed, sitting in the moonlight and staring at the driveway, trying to envision what we wanted. Brainstorming, if you will. I had a few ideas floating around my head involving pallets and some sort of makeshift room divider or privacy screen. I knew we were on to something.
I scoured Pinterest for inspiration. I loved the fence from our local Panera.
Remember when I said I dumpster dive and get dirty? Okay, so sometimes I make my kid’s dumpster dive and get dirty. We wanted the fence to be creative and to look intentional but at the same time — like we meant to have this cool wooden fence with some patina in our driveway.
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But all this required even more time sitting in the driveway under the moonlight, staring at our placement of the pallets, trying different configurations, making sure they looked legit. We settled on a pattern and Michael attached them to heavy-duty railroad ties, which he then secured onto the concrete.
When it was all said and done, we added a few succulents, planted a wisteria vine that will hopefully grow and trail over the fence next Spring, pulled up a few Adirondack-style chairs and now we’re sitting pretty.
Ruby
very cool! My family use to hang out in the front porch all the time My grandfather was a welder and his fence was cool but it was just for decor their was really no privacy I am sure if he had seen your fence He would want to try it and send us dumpster diving too lol