I am sharing a pallet board table. I actually made it to be used as a coffee station. It’s my contribution for this month’s Power Tool Challenge Team project. The theme this month is Pallets. When I cleaned out the woodshed earlier this month I found some awesome pallet boards.
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I can’t remember where I got these boards. They aren’t from a pallet that I dismantled because all of the boards have been sawed. I dismantle pallets using a Duckbill Deck Wrecker not a saw. You can see how I take pallets apart and many more great pallet projects in my post Pallet Projects Plus Tips for Dismantling Pallets.
I needed some lumber to make the base of my pallet board coffee bar. Lulu Mae has hurt her knee again, so I try not to leave her home alone. This is the first time she’s ever ridden on the lumber cart. She’s a trooper!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here’s what you’ll need to build your own pallet board table.
Materials for Pallet Board Table
Assorted pallet boards (I used small thin boards)
Four 2×3’s
Wood Screws 2.5 inches
Paint
Glaze
Tools Needed to Make Pallet Board Table
Drill Bits
Brad nails
Table Saw
Clamps
Orbital sander
While shopping at Home Depot for 2×4’s I found the cutest boards—2×3’s. I felt like they would make my pallet board table not quite so chunky.
Cut List for Pallet Table
Cut list from left to right
- Four legs 33”
- Two long pieces for the skirt sides 38”
- Too Short pieces for the skirt ends 18”
- Two long pieces for bottom brace 35”
Pallet Boards
Your cut list may vary depending on the size of your table. My pallet boards were varying widths.
The size of my table was dependent on the size of a piece of glass I had for years. I was always looking for a table to fit the glass. I finally figured out that I needed to make a table to fit the glass. To design the table I laid out the glass and worked around it’s size.
Build The Table Skirt
Build the table skirt—which is basically a box. I purposely chose to build this table without a Kreg Jig. Many times y’all ask “what if I don’t have the tools you have?”
Pre-drill pilot holes
Because the screws will be near the end of the board it’s best to pre-drill pilot holes to keep the boards from splitting.
Add wood glue
Using wood glue will make this pallet table very strong.
Clamp & secure table skirt with wood screws
Make sure everything is square, clamp pieces and secure with wood screws. Repeat for all three remaining sides.
Attach Table Legs
Pre-drill holes to attach table legs. Add wood glue and secure with more 2.5” wood screws.
Attach bottom braces
Attach bottom braces. I measured up 3.5” from the bottom of each leg. Again, drilling pilot holes will make sure boards don’t split.
Competed Table Base
This was the end of day number one. The table base was completed. Notice that two screws were added from the outside in for each leg. In addition one more screw was used to secure the table leg from the inside out.
Cut pallet boards on miter saw
Trim pallet boards on miter saw. Use extreme caution if nails are still present. Always wear safety equipment when using power tools.
Arrange pallet boards onto table top
Because the board on each end of the pallet table will have a great deal of overhang, I used Gorilla Wood Glue to give a lasting hold. I used the Kreg Multi-Mark tool to insure all the boards were even. All boards were secured with my Airstrike Nail Gun. In order to make the pallet boards fit under the glass perfectly I had to rip some of them on the table saw.
Attach pallet boards to lower shelf
The multi-mark took is really handy to make sure all the boards are even front to back. All boards were secured with the nail gun.
Mark and cut angle for glass table top
This job of cutting the angle was quick and easy with my cordless jigsaw.
Time to paint
I used a pretty aqua paint for this table, watering it down a little to make it apply quick and easy. I used a favorite chip brush to apply the paint.
Paint underneath table
It takes a LOT more time, but I generally try to paint the underside of all of my projects. When someone picks up a piece (like this table) to put it in their vehicle I want it to have a finished look. At this point I had already painted the table top, then flipped it upside down.
Sand/Distress paint
Using an orbital sander with 60 grit sandpaper, I gave the entire table some distressing. I used a scrap piece of wood to test coverage and realized that I liked the “less” paint look. I chose to not sand the pallet boards prior to painting because I wanted the paint to “settle” in the voids.
Glaze table to tone down bright paint
I took this in progress shot to show you how much the Smoked Glaze tones down the color of the pallet table.
I put the Smoked Glaze on with a heavy hand on the table top and really loved the look. After finishing the table, I did a second coat on all of the other parts again.
As I was taking pictures (before painting) I noticed the vertical planter in the background—I think that’s why I grabbled this paint. This picture is a good shot of how different the paint is with and without the glaze.
How to easily clean glass
The glass had been stored in the garage for years. It was quite dirty. Here’s my secret in the shop and for cleaning glass. Because I don’t have water readily available I use diluted dish soap for washing up my hands and soaking paint brushes. My favorite way to clean glass indoors is with a drop of dish soap in a small bucket. In order to clean this very dirty glass I grabbed that bottle of diluted dish soap and a rag.
It worked really well to clean it, however it was a little too heavy on the soap. After cleaning the glass I got a wet and dry paper towel from the house to “shine” up the glass. I am in love with how this table/coffee bar has come together. The color is much prettier than it appears in pictures.
Glass Top Pallet Table Coffee Bar
Do you love it as much as I do?
If you love it too, won’t you pin it before you hop over to check out Wendi’s awesome coastal Whale Coat Rack. She has some really great tips for making cut out artwork.
What have you made out of pallets or pallet wood?
gail
Love your new table Gail! Especially since you made it in one of my favorite shades of blue. Using a glass top is perfect for a level and easy to clean surface for your coffee. I’d love to have one like that in my house. Pinning!
looks really pretty!
We have a ready supply of pallet wood available so we are a bit addicted to it here. Have done an accent wall in the living room and matching treatment under the kitchen bar. Laundry room next up for one wall of pallet wood. Also, made a cute wine rack. Love your table! The glaze really made it happen. Great job!
Does the pallet wood on the wall get dusty or dirty? If so how do you clean it. I think that look is great, a friend is considering it, but was concerned about how you’d dust a clean it.
for my pallet wood projects, if they get dusty or dirty, I would just hose them off and let them dry outdoors. 🙂 That’s the way I roll Jennie!
oops, now I see it’s a wall. That’s a very good question Jennie!
gail
I’ve had mine up for three years and don’t “notice” any dust issues. We used a grinder on most of the pieces before installing to remove some of the pallet wood “fuzz” and even give some boards some extra character.
Thank you Carol…. I am addicted to that glaze. I’m almost out of it, so it’s time to stock up! Jennie has a question about dusting the pallet wall. Can you hop over to reply to her when you get a chance?
thanks!
gail