Today I have a post using the all so wonderful (and free!) building material we all have heard so much buzz about on Pinterest: The Pallet.

My husband and I looked around for this lovely, pre-aged, free material & hit the jackpot when we drove by a local pool company who had a huge pile of them. They were very clean & had such lovely coloring to them. So after asking permission from the company, we brought back like 7 of them. And you know what, we used them ALL! I need more!!!

After using them to update THIS DRESSER, I fell in love with the look and decided to make a rustic-industrial crate with pallets to go in the baby’s room.

Here’s the how to:

First, I lined up 3 sets of boards that matched in both length and height. Then I cut one of these three sets down the middle, and those became my “short sides.” Next, I screwed the two remaining “long sets” together using a 2×2 board on each end, as shown above.

Next the sides were screwed in place on the 2×2’s.

After all four corners were attached together, my husband cut out a base for me out of a really nice, solid, reclaimed shelving board that we found on the side of the road. That’s a $20 material right there people!

I considered adding the “feet” of the pallet onto the bottom of my crate for added interest, but we decided against it and went with these awesome used caster wheels I got from ebay instead. It was gut wrenching to dish out $40 on wheels, because the rest of the project was made from completely free (and on hand) supplies that we had just picked up on the side of the road. But I wanted statement wheels & when I saw these 5″ ones, I just knew they were perfect for my crate.

Some tips on finding Castor Wheels: I personally don’t like the style of the ones at Lowes, so I prefer to look at places like Habitat for Humanity for cheap used ones… One idea is to “steal” them off of an old recycled grocery cart (If anyone knows where I can find used grocery carts tell me, because I am a wheel hoarder now!!!

I seriously CAN’T.WAIT. to show you the other project I used a set of $60 wheel castor’s on. You are going to freak out on how awesome that one is. But in the meanwhile, it has to remain a secret, and you need to shift your mind back to the current tutorial.

#endofrantaboutcastorwheelobsession

The husband did the hard work from me by drilling the holes into the bottom of my crate & attaching the wheels. I love him. He goes along with all my crazy projects. He’s a keeper!

And yes, in case you are wondering, I kept the rustic green that was already on the bottom of the reclaimed board, because I think it’s actually a really cool touch.

I added some braces to the sides (mainly for looks!) and sanded it down really good to make sure it is as un-splintery as possible, because the plan is for it to go in the nursery.

And there you have it. A DIY Pallet Crate, that would have been completely free if not for a set of gorgeous castor wheels. 🙂

If you love pallets, you may be interested in these posts too:

I just love how raw naturally aged wood looks, but if you can’t get your hands on any of the free stuff, or would rather start with new wood, check out my post (HERE) about how to age your wood with this super cool staining trick I used on my DIY desk (found HERE)

Also, be on the lookout, because I’m going to be doing a post about everything I’ve learned about using pallets soon: The Good, the Bad, and the Splintery! I’ll talk about where to get them for free, which ones to avoid, and how to disassemble them, etc.

Have a lovely day everyone!