Introduction: Rustic Pallet Shelf - With Scrap Wood

About: Don't take the world to seriously relax a little and enjoy the ride.

The Rustic Pallet Shelf - From Scrap Wood

Sometimes the simple ideas work the best.

This DIY pallet shelf looks stunning on the wall, it's great for holding anything from wine bottles to herbs and spices or can be given as a cool home made gift. This shelf can be made in a single afternoon and entirely of scrap wood.

Materials Needed

  • - A skid or Pallet
  • - Some type of wood stain and brush
  • - Some type of hooks / what ever accessory you would like to add.

Tools Needed

  • - Any saw that can cut the wood like a circular saw or hand saw
  • - A drill and some Screws for mounting to the wall
  • - Hammer

Total Time for project about 2 - 3 hours. In the winter months the stain may take longer to dry so allow a few extra hours if you cant do the project in the back yard like I did.

Step 1: Finding and Cutting the Wood

Finding the wood

If you don't already have a skid/pallet laying around you can usually get one for free but asking around at different department stores or any industrial area of your city.

Cutting the Wood

This is very simple but you want to take a minute to think about the cuts before you dive into to minimize waste pieces. We will want to make a cut so the finished piece will have a back that is taller (more boards) then the front allowing you to have more places to secure the shelf to the wall.

Step 1 - Cut bottom of pallet leaving 1 board on the top and 2 boards on the bottom, if the pieces is laying down.

Step 2 - Using a hammer knock another board off the original pallet which will be used for the bottom. Its important to try to keep the nails from this piece, because we will use them to secure the board to the bottom of the shelf.

Step 3 - Secure the extra board to the bottom of the shelf using the same nails in the original construction of the pallet. Get a few extra nails from the original pallet to make sure the bottom is very secure.

*** Try a few different back heights if you are making more then 1 shelf. I was making two one for myself and one for a friend so I made one with 2 boards on the back and one with 3 boards on the back. Make sure the bottom is secure, once the shelf is up you don't want the weight of the objects its holding to make it fail***

Step 2: Staining and Attaching Hardware

Staining is simple and fast for a rustic shelf like this. Don't bother sanding we want this RUSTIC. Remove any obvious slivers that might catch on something but other then that grab your stain and go nuts.

Step 1 - apply stain liberally don't worry to much about technique as this is a rustic shelf. Allow the stain to dry as long as it takes to be dry to the touch.

Step 2 - After the stain is dry you can attach the hardware. Because I used a dark stain I wanted bright gold and Silver hooks which will hold some mugs then the shelf is up.

Step 3: Attach & Finish / Fill With Stuff

Attaching this style shelf is easy.

Step 1 - Once you have a location to install the shelf. Simply find the wall-studs and screw 2 screws (1 for each board) through the boards and into the wall-stud at 2 - 3 locations along the shelf. If you cant find a wall stud use drywall anchors to properly mount the shelf.

Finished !!! Now add what ever items you want. The images here are from the summer but I have since added some dried flowers along with some hanging garlic to help create the look I wanted.

This Rustic re-used wood shelf was a fun project that didn't take up much of my time and the wife loves it.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable and try it out.

*** The Picture Editor would not let me rotate the first 2 images sorry about that,,, but everyone needs a neck stretch once in a while.***

Homemade Gifts Contest 2016

Participated in the
Homemade Gifts Contest 2016

Shelving Contest 2016

Participated in the
Shelving Contest 2016