SPOILER ALERT!!
I did this: (with MUCH help from my wonderful husband)
As you've noticed (if you follow my blog at all) we built/moved into a new house this year. This spring/summer has been a gradual process of piecing together our "outdoor living space". I watch too much HGTV and therefore, my dreams are grander than they used to be! ;) I mean, have you watched Decked Out??? Incredible. (AND entirely unattainable without finding a massive secret stash of $$$)
ANYWAY, my husband has built us a beautiful large deck that has quickly become a favourite space for our family. We have some cute small table/chairs deck sets (2) but I had a dream (cue music) of being able to lounge comfortably on my deck, sipping soda and watching my children play without any fighting or tears for hours and hours... ;)
I have admired the beautiful sectionals that were on display at Costco for months (knowing that we do NOT have money for one) and I made a casual comment to my sister one day about how great one would look (and feel) on our new deck. My sister (thanks Carrie) introduced me to the idea of making my own using pallets. You see, I'm not on Pinterest. It's one of the few social media spaces I've avoided. I hadn't heard of the concept, but the comment sparked a seed of an idea/desire that took root and grew in me...
I immediately began to look for images of pallet furniture all over the web. I drew inspiration from images like these:
And that was it. It was decided. We needed a pallet sectional on our deck. ;)
(My dear husband took a little more convincing than that)
I began by hunting for pallets around our farmyard.
Often when we buy seed etc. for our crops, they come packaged on pallets, so we have quite a few. I counted more than 20 in several shapes and sizes. Some of them weren't in a "usable" state, so it's debatable as to exactly how many we had. ;)
Much to my husband's chagrin, I hauled a few pallets up onto our newly built deck to check out the size and feed my dream a little more. They sat up on our deck "as is" for a full month before we finally tackled the project. I think Mitch was just seriously sick of looking at old pallets on his new deck that he worked so hard on, which is fine by me if it motivates action! ;)
While in Target one day, I found these blue outdoor mats on sale for half off in the clearance aisle. I liked how they looked/felt, so these brought on my first expenditure for this project. I believe I paid $24.99/each.
Last Saturday (July 26th) we were supposed to be playing in a Slo-Pitch tournament but it was cancelled due to the fields being to wet and unusable after large amounts of rain. Voila! A window of opportunity to begin work on our pallet furniture. Yay!
My husband and I went through the pallets, picked the best ones and began laying them out on the deck to come up with a plan of action. I have looked at many pictures and sites that talk/instruct on how to build a pallet couch and even watched youtube videos, but the problem is with the varying sizes and construction of each different pallet.
Honestly, this was the most challenging part of the entire project. I think I changed our "plan of attack" at least three times as we moved/cut pallets. This drives Mitch crazy! It was like we had our very own marriage course that morning. Communication was the main focus. :) (Isn't it always?) With much restraint and a test of patience, we both worked at carefully choosing words to relay our ideas and encourage/discourage each other. I'm happy to say our relationship survived this test! We were able to work together, complete the task without saying anything too awful ;) and I think we're better for it now.
PHEWWWW!!! (sigh of relief)
I think we used a total of 8 pallets. We debated making the seat of the couch 3 pallets high, but that was fairly tall and patio furniture is meant to be sunk into, so we opted for two. We first made our base and cut off some of the back of each pallet to make them even and narrower. The base is still fairly wide; 33 inches, I think. We were able to use two of the pieces we cut off as the arm rests for the couch. Without much fore-thought, they actually fit pretty perfectly and added a lot of strength to the construction.
We selected the pallets with the widest boards to be the back of the couch and also cut some off to make the back not so tall. Thankfully, we have lots of tools on this farm. We had all the tools necessary to make this project happen. We also had more than half a bucket of 3 inch deck screws left over, so we made no additional purchases in the construction.
Making a "chaise" to put with this couch and make it a sectional was the easiest part of the day ;) We cut it to be the same depth as the couch and fastened them together with several screws. Easy peasy.
I was very happy with how my patio furniture turned out. The blue mats were not quite long enough or wide enough to cover the couch, but this could be remedied with additional cushions. This beach umbrella was a temporary fix for some shade on the space.
My intention was always to paint the pallet furniture white because I thought it would look better against our house and go well with our white trim. I went on a hunt for partially used cans of white paint from past renos and to my delight, I found an UNopened can of white paint in the basement of our old house. It was perfect. This specific shade of white was called, "Forget me not," which I found funny considering it was a can of forgotten paint. Mitch thought I was lame ;)
We used the entire can of white paint. Mitch went over as much of the surface as possible with a roller. (He's a man who values efficiency). I used a brush and worked patiently trying to jam it into as many nooks and crannies as possible. I wasn't sure how much effort to put into trying to paint the inside boards of the pallets. Having constructed it first and then painting, it was difficult to get at several inside spots. I think it's okay, though; especially after putting cushions on. It's white enough. ;)
Jysk has their patio umbrellas and bases on sale already and I was thrilled to find this grey one that goes marvellously with my house/deck. I am a grey lover, I suppose.
I put some extra effort into painting the back of the couch since it's eye level to anyone walking on the driveway below. Until the deck railing gets put on, it will be very easy to see any cracks I couldn't reach!
I couldn't resist putting a little pic of this beautiful plant I bought for half off at Garden Architecture on the corner of Idylwyld and 20th. If you haven't been there, GO! It's gorgeous. I did inquire about getting cushions made for my pallet couch there, but... it would have come to at least $1000 which would defeat the purpose of my economical DIY. I have no doubt they would be stunning, though.
Rather, I opted for the more palatable prices offered at JYSK. ;) Those cute throw pillows along the back were $7/each and the cushions on my "chaise" were $12. The patterned navy/white pillows on either end were $10/each.
There you have it! My first larger scale DIY. I love the way it turned out and already we are parking our hineys there several times a day. It's comfortable to sit on and even though pallets aren't known to be made of the highest quality lumber (my dear hubby informed me of this more than once), I expect it will last several years. I think I will pick up a couple more cushions and pillows yet, but I'm happy with how it is now.
Here's what it set me back:
SO, our marriage successfully survived this DIY. :) We'll see what's next... We DO still have more pallets. Is there a protocol or recommendation for how many projects (i.e. stress) to put on your marriage? Or a suggested interval of time between projects?
