DIY Pallet Wall

There is something exciting about a project that grows step by step. Piecing together and putting up a shiplap type pallet wall is just one such project, due to the nature of how it is carried out.

For some time now, my husband has been steadily working away on the first of two decorative timber walls we are planning on creating. It is definitely a build-as-you-go project, because the walls are each being created by re-purposing wood sourced from free wood pallets in our local area.

Businesses are often very happy to pass on surplus wood pallets freely when asked. If you are happy to do a bit of foraging through the piles of various pallets they have spare and available, you can find some good pallets amongst those they offer you, and which will in turn be great for your particular re-purposing project. 

Since wood pallets invariably become damaged, the business owner will have no wish to re-use them or send back to their original supplier. It is a win-win situation for both them and for you, when you are looking to source wood for projects as cheaply as you can.

This particular home DIY project has definitely been a project that involved committing a bit of time and energy when preparing to carry it out, because you are re-purposing and recycling previously used materials. However it has been worth it. 

My husband has had to pull apart each pallet gently with a crowbar, strip the resulting pallet planks of all their nails, and in turn each plank has been sanded down a little also. Still, the timber has been free, and it has been perfect for the overall vision we have set sail with.

We also recycled cupboard doors that were surplus and used them as a layer between the original gibboard wall and the pallet panelling. These were trimmed down and attached to the wall. Each prepared door was specifically aligned to be attached to actual underlying wall joists. We have peace of mind that everything to the wall overall will be held securely, because we chose to align everything with the internal wall joists.

The beauty of using the cupboard doors as an underlying foundation over the original wall, is that at any point in the future the whole project could also be dismantled and removed, with very little overall damage to the original existing house wall. Rather than hundreds and hundreds of screw holes to putty up in fill, we will only have to deal to those that occurred due to putting up the actual lengths of re-purposed doors.

We have chosen to use screws rather than nails for attaching all the doors, as well as the pallet planking to the wall surface. I plan to add decorative door knobs for a certain purpose later on, and it will be so much easier to take off and then replace any particular pallet board again later on (More about why these door knobs are being added will be revealed later on). 

Rough edges have been sanded down on each length of planking as mentioned, and where possible we have made the most of using pre-existing nail holes also. The variation in wear and tear across the panels of planking creates wonderful visual interest.

We have endeavoured to select interesting wood also when choosing the planks for this project. The variaton in colour and natural wood patterning also adds quite a lot of visual interest. 

I absolutely love how it is already looking and am excited about how the overall end product is going to look in this particular space! 

The beauty of using pallet wood is that it makes it virtually a free do-it-yourself home decorating project. I am still deciding just what colour (or even colours) I will stain or paint the completed wall in, but it will definitely compliment what else is going on colour palette wise in this particular space.

I will keep you posted on the progress!

Feel free to go on over & like the Household Logistics Facebook Page and catch up with our previous DIY home decorating projects. 

Here is the link to the Household Logistics Facebook Page: /https://www.facebook.com/householdlogistics/

The Kitchen Swap Party # Part 2

The Kitchen Swap Party really was a fun event to host.

In the previous Blog Post about the actual Kitchen Swap Party Event, I explained and illustrated with photographs how the actual Swap Tables were set up.

It worked out very well having a variety of items on offer.

In order to make sure everyone had an equal opportunity to see and obtain items that were available to be re-homed, I organized and ran the swap exchange as explained below. It seemed to work well for everyone running it this way.

You might like to consider hosting and running your own Swap Party the following way also.

This is how we ran the Swap:

As people arrived, they counted the total number of items they had brought along to contribute to the Swap.

Having determined how many items they had brought along, they then put the items out on the Swap Tables for everyone to view.

They were instructed to then write their name or initials on the equivalent number of ice block sticks.

One named or initialled ice block was equal to one offered item.

Everyone who attended the Swap, ended up having their own little bundle of sticks.

These ice block sticks would later be used by each person to indicate what items they were interested in having from everything on the Swap Tables. (You will see how this works soon.)

Once everyone had arrived, put out their items, tallied up their contributions and got their allocation of ice block sticks, we all had dessert from the Pot-luck Dessert Buffet.

While everyone enjoyed having dessert, there was the opportunity to go around and look at all the Swap Tables and all the Swap items.

Having had a good look at what was on offer, and after hearing how the actual swapping component of the evening was going to occur, everyone then went about indicating what they were interested in acquiring.

To indicate what they were interested in, you had to put one of your ice block sticks on or under (whichever worked best) the particular item of interest.

In this photograph, you can see some ice blocks sticks placed on a couple of jars of jams.

This shows that there are people wishing to indicate that they would like to acquire those items.

If there was just one ice block stick on an item, it meant that person would get that item when it came time to hand out everything to everyone.

In some instances, as you can see in the above photograph, several people were interested in an item.  You can tell this, because you can see here items that have more than one ice block stick with them.

When that happened, to make it fair we had a draw. When someone missed out on an item via the draw result, they could then go and 'shop' again for an alternative item.

After everyone had swapped the equivalent number of items that they had contributed, there was also the opportunity to choose further items from those still left out on the Swap Tables.

The Kitchen Swap Party was an enjoyable event to host and to attend.

Lots of happy swapping occurred, and everyone enjoyed going home with new-to-them items on the night.

At the end of the evening, as mentioned in the previous Blog Post about the actual Kitchen Swap Party, there were just two boxes of items that would now be passed on to charity.

There is a lot of interest in attending more of these Swap Events. I am planning to host another one soon.

Swap Parties. They are a fun, friendly way to re-purpose and recycle things you yourself no longer require. It is a great way to pass things on to others, to help out a friend, who might be needing just such an item for their own family and household.

Swap Parties. Highly recommend them.

The Kitchen Swap Party # Part 1

The Kitchen Swap Party was such a lovely event.

Here are some photographs showing examples of the various items that everyone contributed, and how they were displayed.

In the entrance I created this display.

The bunting was made from an old recipe book. It looked very cute and helped create some fun kitchen-themed ambience for the evening.

There was a huge variety of items offered at the Kitchen Swap Party. When there is a variety of items on offer, it means that there is sure to be something that appeals to someone.

A Kitchen Swap Party is a very practical way of recycling and re-purposing items you and your household no longer require.

At the end of the evening, there was just two boxes of items to be passed on to charity.

Everyone who came seemed to be delighted with their newly acquired items.

There were comments expressed about how it was nice to know that your no-longer-required items were able to be of use to someone else.

It was lovely to think that someone had positively benefited from your contribution of that particular item at the Swap Event.

Here is a photograph of some of the delicious desserts that people brought along for the Pot-Luck Dessert Buffet.

The Kitchen Swap Party was a lovely event to hold. I would highly recommend hosting one!

Coming soon....

A Blog Post about how the actual swapping component of the evening was administered and how it occurred.