Reclaimed (wood pallet) Wood

I’ve seen so many blog posts and magazine articles written about reclaimed wood, and each and every article has impressed me.  I love the look and am always happy to read about preserving wood — preserving anything for that matter.

I was sitting at the kitchen table one day reading one such article and thinking about where I could put my stamp on reclaimed wood in our farmhouse.  My wheels were spinning.  Before I knew it, my mind had that wood everywhere.   But I tamed myself and decided that the kitchen would be the best place to start.

The kitchen has a chair rail molding all the way around, and beneath was grasscloth wallpaper.  I am a fan of grasscloth wallpaper, but this stuff had seen better days.  Keeping our ever-present small budget in mind, wood pallets was the “reclaimed” route I needed to go.  So, I loaded the kids in the car and set out looking for “free” wood pallets.  Found some, loaded two in my car.  Dropped off those two at home and went back for another two.  Then another two.  And two more for good measure.  All of this “two” hauling made me feel like I was building an ark!  Still,  I didn’t mind the back and forth, but the kids were bored silly.  I was happy with my loot.

I had leftover paint from the kitchen walls.  I diluted the paint with water to the consistency that I wanted, and started to dry brush the paint on the pallet wood.  I kept the pallets in tact only because I couldn’t find the saw (naturally) and I wanted to get started painting right away.

Once they were all dry brushed and the saw was found, we cut the wood to the size needed and installed all the way around, using some wood glue and a nail gun.

The project cost was relatively nothing.   If you count the gas I used making all those trips and the cost of the nails we used for the nail gun, I’m guessing this project was less than $15.  Done!  And done!

I would love to hear about a project you have worked on using palette wood!