How to Make a Bed out of Pallets

One man's pallet is another man's bed.

What better way to recycle wooden pallets and enhance your sleeping enjoyment, than to build a bed with them. Sand them down and keep the wood bare of paint for its natural color. Your mattress sits on top of an airy, well-ventilated, firm wooden base, costs you practically nothing and is easy to take apart and transport to your next apartment without having to have two people to shift it downstairs and into a van.

Things You'll Need

• Pallets
• Sander
• Sandpaper
• Hammer
• Nails
• Hemp cord
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Find the companies in your local area that use pallets, such as garden centers, builders' merchants, factories or anywhere that has large deliveries, and ask if you can have eight pallets that are due to be thrown out. Don't take pallets that are rough, heavily splintered or poorly made, and avoid pressure-treated pallets, as they have been treated with chemicals and preservatives.

2. Inspect the pallets at home and check for loose nails, split slats and splintered wood. Hammer in or replace loose nails, and either use hemp cord to splint wooden slats that are splintered, or strengthen them with a strip of wood fixed on with wood glue. Use the sander to smooth all the visible surfaces of the wood.

3. Build the lower part of the bed base by arranging four pallets on the floor. Connect them by cutting a length of hemp cord and tying the corner of each pallet to its neighbor.

4. Put the second layer of pallets on top. Use hemp cord to tie each top pallet to the one below. Loop a length of cord around the struts within the central point where the four pallets meet

5. Cover the pallet base with a blanket to protect your mattress from any overlooked splinters, and place your mattress on top. The pallets are likely to be the standard 40-inch by 48-inch, so you will have a handy ledge all the way around the mattress.

Tips & Warnings

• Pallets have myriad uses, and you could probably build and furnish a home if you had enough. Use them in the garden to make raised vegetable beds, or make chairs and tables and other household furniture.

• Ask for pallets that are nonpressure treated to avoid pallets that have been soaked in preservatives and chemicals, or contain arsenic. Nonpressure-treated pallets are fine to use in the home.

References

• Apartment Therapy: SF Good Questions -- Can I Make a Platform Bed Out of Wooden Pallets?
• Pallet Link: North American Pallets
• The Fun Times Guide: Living Green -- DIY Shipping Pallet Patio Furniture .. and How to Not Die From It.

Resources

• Better Living Through Design: Studio Mama Pallet Furniture Plans