Monday 17 June 2013

Magpie Monday - Pallet Love

This week is Recycling Week (um, that's every week in our house right?), so after the success of my cable reel table, I thought I'd get thinking about my next project.

Our neighbours have been having a lot of building work done and the one advantage to this is pallets.  Lots and lots of pallets.  They've basically said I can take as many as I want, much to my Old Man's horror, as he comes home each night to find another one dragged to our side of the fence.


My father-in-law is a dab hand at upcycling pallet wood and he's made all sorts - garden planters, benches he even made our window architrave out of old pallets for us.  A sand and a gloss and you'd never know.

I've created a Pinterest board of all the things I'd like to try (apologies to those who follow me on Twitter - I didn't realise my Twitter box was ticked so I've inadvertently bombarded people with pictures of pallets all morning - oops!)

The idea that first spurred on this obsessive collecting of pallets, is the vertical garden planters.  We have an awfully large expanse of boring fence in our back garden and not a lot of planting area, so I'd like to be able to grow salads upright and add a dash of colour with some flowering plants too.

via Pinterest - original credit - Life on the Balcony
But there's loads of other things I fancy having a go at too.  I really like this door mat idea and it would make a great New Home gift for my friend who has just moved.  I'm sure I could make a version out of re-claimed slats??

via Pinterest - Original credit Martha Stewart

Or how about a soppy insightful motto or saying painted on in distressed fashion?

Via Pinterest - Original credit - A Fine Farmhouse Blog

Right, I'm off to get my power tools out and get cracking. Assuming I still have all my fingers and thumbs, I'll see you back next week for more thrifting.

What have you salvaged this week?  If you've found, bought or rescued anything second-hand this week, please grab the badge and link up.







12 comments:

  1. will be looking forward to seeing what you make with the pallets... my husband has made loads of things with pallets over the years, they are extremely handy. Most of the ones he managed to get were brand new.
    He used them to make our chicken house, patio table, greenhouse, planters, cold frames, vertical vegetable boxes and even a bookcase, many allotment things like fencing, gates, compost bins and raised beds amongst many other things.... I could go on...
    Can't wait to see what you come up with :)

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    1. Oooh he sounds very handy! I love the look and sound of all the outdoors stuff and book cases just not sure I'm trendy enough to pull of some of the furniture I've seen!

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  2. Oh wow, I just love the upright planter!! It's like those "living wall" things but so much simpler with a cool rustic look.

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    1. I'm just hoping mine will look as good as that!

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  3. Ooo loving pallets at the moment - I saw a really neat vertical pallet planter on a blog last week - all painted up and filled with soil and succulents growing from it- looked fab!

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    1. That sounds amazing. I'm becoming a bit obsessed, I can't stop dragging them home!

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  4. hey Liz, here in Christchurch we have the Pallet Pavillion, a temporary public space that came together post quake to fill a space (Gap Filler). What was supposed to be a temporary thing is proven so popular, they've done crowd funding to ensure it sticks around.... Love your ideas
    http://palletpavilion.com/about/the-pavilion/

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  5. I love the rustic look of pallets - I saw in a blog post a while ago (it may even have been here?) where someone had painted them white and put them on a wall, added some hooks and hung things on them, it looked great!

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  6. LOVE all the creative things one can do with pallets... my friend Fred is very handy with them, will have to get some photos for you Lizzie, too much to do, 24 hours is NOT enough in the day - Happy Recycle Week! x

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  7. I am in love with that upright planter! A few of my neighbours are having building word done on their houses, I may have to liberate any that I can find late at night!

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  8. My husband recently made a pallet herb planter, but then I spoke to a lady at the Eco Technology fair in Brighton recently who advises companies on how to make better use of their waste and I asked her about pallets. She said that if you are going to use wooden pallets to grow plants in then it is advisable to find out what they have been treated with as they may have been treated with nasty substances that could leach into the soil... She said UK origin ones should be ok, but if they are coming from overseas you just don't know what they may have been treated with...

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  9. Great work… You can do so creative things with pallets! Have you ever heard of cork laminate flooring? Cork flooring is a product that is gaining popularity all over the world, and durability tested in home around the world. Cork floor tiles are water resistant, resistant to crushing and a wonderful aesthetic that creates an unique atmosphere at the same time providing the comfort of use and caring about our health.

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