Shipping Pallet to Coffee Table and Finishing Tips

[pinit]Repurposed Wood Pallet Furniture; DIY Coffee Table @savedbyloves[pinit]

Today’s project is a fun, quick DIY coffee table from wood pallets.  My building partner in crime and I whipped it up in an afternoon.  The plan we used is this Factory Cart Coffee Table from Ana White.  See how we adjusted the plan to fit the pallet scraps on hand, and how we finished the table to a lovely, united weathered gray look.

Repurposed Wood Pallet Furniture; DIY Coffee Table @savedbyloves

TUTORIAL:

Constructing the table

We followed Ana’s plan linked above with the following adjustments:  Instead of 1×6 boards we used thinner pallet slats across the top and the wider pallet slats for the sides.  We just laid out the top slats until the table was the width we wanted, and measured that width.  It was 42 3/4 instead of Ana’s 44 inches, so we adjusted the rest of the cuts accordingly.  The long side boards we cut to 44 1/4 (42 3/4 + 1.5 inches for the thickness of the short side boards ).  The short side boards  and bottom boards were cut to 23 1/2, per Ana’s plan – the same length as the pallet slats making the top of the table.

We used 5 inch diameter casters that we picked up just for this project at Menards.  Casters are more expensive than I had hoped, but considering the wood for the project was free, we still created this awesome table for less than $50!Repurposed Wood Pallet Furniture; DIY Coffee Table @savedbyloves

Finishing the table

I applied Minwax wood conditioner per instructions on the can.  It went on super easy.  I let it sit for 15 minutes, wiped away the excess then stained with Minwax Classic Grey Wood Finish.  This was my first time using wood conditioner, and it made the stain take beautifully.  I will probably use it every time I stain from now on.  It is quick to apply and makes a huge difference, for me anyway.  I usually have blotchy, uneven outcomes when I stain.

To seal I used Minwax Finishing Wax.

Repurposed Wood Pallet Furniture; DIY Coffee Table @savedbyloves

Not bad for a pallet on it’s way to a landfill!

Check out our Wood Pallet 50+ Roundup for more inspiration:

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