Extra Cheap Pallet Headboard

Extra Cheap Pallet Headboard 

The San Diego Projects - Oct 2014

After moving with my future wife to a new house in San Diego and looking for DIY furniture, we found some good ideas on Pinterest - Pallets!

The idea was to make a pallet headboard - free wood and the regular stain.

Driving around the neighborhood we asked for pallets at construction site - removing the boards takes some time, and the internet has a lot of ideas of how to remove them, but, honestly, after working with some pallets, I got to the conclusion that the best method varies from pallet to pallet, as there is a fine variety of construction methods for these guys.

Be aware that depending on the pallet condition, you will have to waste more time sanding it or getting rid of some nasty boards.

Well, we removed the boards and rearranged them accordingly, using two screwdrivers and a hammer to remove them, and eventually an electric one to drill the nail heads

After some tough decision on the type of stain , here are a few pictures of how good it gets after the first hand of stain. A good method I found is to wrap your hands with a plastic bag while holding the stain cloth. No more stained nails!

Notice that the two boards on the side. No need to take them horizontally all the way down (as the bed will be there), so I added a couple to the side as the headboard will be wider than the bed.

Before putting the top on, though, I added (no pictures for those):
- Two nut/bolt sets to hold both pallet sets together
- Four drywall screws to secure the piece to the wall (two for each).

The final part was a piece of lumber found at Home Depot and cut right there to the exact dimensions we needed. Also stained and varnished.

A couple screws held the last piece to the headboard, with a small hole drilled prior to the screw, making a path for it. 

This is the final result, sorry for the badly done bed!

Costs of the project:
- Pallets $0 Free
- 1 Qt Minwax Stain (~$9-$11)
- 1 Qt Polyurethane Varnish (~$9-11)
- Sandpaper (~$5)
- Top board + screws ~$8-12

Pretty headboard for less than $40!

Cactus Hanger

Cactus Hanger 
2013 Projects

On a CVS run in Denver, found some really cheap cactuses (or cacti, if you want to be gramatically correct in Latin), bought them and decided to be creative with some leftover wood I had from the mirror frame built recently.

In the picture, you can still see the lines from the previous project. Same stain, and glued the cactus pots in wholes made in the wood. Used some mix of drillbits to cut the wood in an almost 45 degree angle.

These are some pictures of where they stayed in the apartment, next to the window:

Total cost for the project: ~$7 for the two cactuses.

Stained Frame Mirror

Stained Frame Mirror
2013 Projects

This project was an idea gotten from Pinterest. I was looking for something to fill the wall on top of my computer desk.

Got those cheap $7-$9 mirrors from Home Depot/Wal-Mart, lumber, and used the same Espresso Stain used for the coffee table.

Cutting the wood to the right 45 degree angle was not easy, as I had only a jigsaw saw and my kitchen island as a working table, and I was looking for perfection. It isn't bad, though!

For this project, I got a staple gun, a great addition to the tool portfolio and one of my dream tools, hopefully to be used later with upholstering.

To keep the mirror in place was an issue - took the original cheap frame off, and decided to glue it using hot glue. The mirror/glass is too thin and bends easily. You can see the distortion in the picture.

Stain and varnishing to give it a final look.

Total cost for the project: ~$15 for wood, plus a DeWalt Staple Gun and staples (~$35).

Later in life I discovered the Pocket Hole method, that could have been used for this project. Could have been easier? Maybe!

Wine Bottle Lamps

Wine Bottle Lamps
The First Projects - Nov 2012

Your classic Wine Bottle Lamp.

This project was more of an experience. Not the wine guy here, so it took me a while to acquire two bottles.

Followed the instructions online about removing the labels - put the bottles in the oven for some minutes and wait for the label glue to 'cook', very simple. Honestly, I wasn't very happy with the process. It might be something specific to those glues, as the labels were removed, but some of the glue stayed. Don't expect magic from this method. I did not look further for instructions about removing the rest of it, but I have seen plenty of glue removers out there, and I wasn't planning on spending a couple more bucks on it.

You can see how the light is fuzzy through the glue:

The fun part was drilling a whole on the glass. (also shown above) It is a slow process that requires some patience. You will need a special diamond drill for glass (not expensive - got mine at Home Depot), and it will take a few minutes for the drill to slowly consume the glass away.

Be really careful about the debris, and the possibility about cracking/breaking the bottle. Always have safety glasses for cutting/drilling projects. I did hold them using a thick towel, leaving only the space for the drill.

Got the "Christmas lights" at Goodwill. It took me a while to find them, as they usually just pull their holiday material around the dates, and the Christmas lights weren't coming up. Honestly, it is really hard to put them inside the bottle the way you want. As there were plenty of them, and two bottle, I used one set of lights on both bottles. Here is the final resut!

I have also tried some glow in the dark paint on some glass cups from Goodwill, but the result was far from the expected. Here is a picture too.

Wine Crate Table

Vintage Wine Crate Coffee Table
The First Projects - July 2012

This coffee table was a project from Pinterest.
The original details here:
http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com/2012/05/vintage-wine-crate-coffee-table.html



In my version, the center was filled with pebbles from a trip to Washington state.

The crates were purchased at Michael's, with coupons, obviously. Initially, I started staining the crates with the tea/rusted iron mixture. It indeed stained the wood, but not as much as I expected/wanted.

In any case, I started assembling the table, which might have been a mistake - It is much harder to flip the table around once you have it all nailed.

The bottom had the extra boards, to hold the wheels.

Eventually purchased a Expresso Satin stain, to give this great look to the coffee table. The last step would be to put the corks/pebbles in the middle.

Playing around, by mistake, I made a different set up for the middle.

Now the final result,  with the glass on top and the pebbles inside. Bought the glass at Home Depot, along with the cheapest glass cutter. Read the instructions carefully! It isn't that hard to cut glass, but might be pretty dangerous.

Gallery Wall

Frame Ideas
The First Projects - July 2012

A simple frame collage. The initial idea was to keep everything in black and white, and photoshop a few pictures into a B&W with a splash of color. The second part never happened...

Goodwill in CO had a lot of products from Target. Found that cool trio of framed mirrors (Target) at Goodwill, as well as the nice Eiffel Tower frame, the 4-piece frame (Target), and both black and white San Francisco posters in the second picture. The Schnauzer and the other frames and posters were purchased new.

Platform Bed

Platform Bed
The First Projects - July 2012

Not exactly a DIY project itself, I found this bed on Craigslist for $80, disassembled it at the person's house, and put it back in my new apartment. I would say it is a pretty good bed frame, since it sustained two more  apartments with a lot of unscrewing and screwing the boards back together.