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DIY Pallet Headboard

So…I promised this DIY Headboard Pallet Tutorial that we made for my son’s room, several weeks ago…oopsie. I don’t know what took me so long to finally share this…but nevertheless…here it is for those of you who are interested.

I decided to build the headboard after seeing my friend Char from Crap I’ve Made’s pallet headboard for her daughter’s room.

This is one of the simpler projects we have made. The hardest part is getting those darn pallets boards off the frame. Those nail/screws are brutal. We pried a few off and then just ended up chopping the boards off of the pallet with a chop saw…so much easier!

Some people have raised concerns about possible chemicals in pallets. If this concerns you, simply use other boards. You can also google how to make new wood look old.

Here is what you will need to make your own Pallet Headboard:

Materials and Sizes:

2 – 2X6 48 inches in length

1 – 2X4 61 inches in length

1 – 2X4 50 inches in length

2 – ½ inch plywood pieces 10X22 inches

Enough 40 inch long pallet boards to make a width of 61 ½ inches

We made the frame by placing the 61 inch 2×4 piece at the top and 2×6 pieces on each edge of the 2×4.

We then placed the bottom of the 50 inch 2×4 28 inches from floor end of the 2x6s.

Then you will need the plywood pieces to provide support to the connections of all the pieces (we inset the plywood ½ inch from the top and side to make the piece hidden from view on the completed head board).

Flip the frame over and lay out the pallet boards on the frame (we had the top and sides over lap the frame by ¼ inch).

Use wood glue and a staple or nail gun to adhere the boards to the frame. Stain and varnish completed the finish.

boys-room 9

We drilled holes (aligned with the bed frame) in the bottom of the 2×6 posts of the headboard and then bolted the bed frame securely in place.

Boys-room-ideas

That’s really all there is to it. Such an easy project and it has been perfect in my son’s room. To see the entire room reveal you can go here: Boy’s Room Reveal. We also made a fun Pallet Map for my son’s room. You can see that here: Wood Pallet Map.

Wood Pallet Map Tutorial

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Several of you requested the tutorial for the wood pallet map we made for my son’s room that I shared with you the other day. This was a super simple project and cost literally nothing for us other than the cost of the map. You can’t beat that now can you?

wood-pallet-map

First of all we picked up some pallets for FREE at our local nursery. They will allow you to take up to 8 pallets before they charge. Score!

Then comes the tough part. These pallets have some serious nails holding them together. It takes some serious muscle strength to get these planks off. We ended up cutting off the two ends right up to the nails and then just pulling out the middle nails.

Then I took a heavy duty file and sanded down the edges and the rough spots of each plank.

Make sure you have enough pallets to have a bit of overhang on the map so you can see your pallet wood. It gives it an antiqued look. You can cut your map down a bit so that it fits better too, which is what we did.

We connected the pallet planks together with a piece of plywood on the back and then glued them into place with Gorilla Wood Glue (my favorite wood glue).

We found our map on Amazon for a $1! They had a few different styles and we went for a more Old World look.

Trim around the edges in a non-patterned way to give it a more worn look without crisp clean edges.

Then take a candle and burn the map around the edges. We did this outside and had a pitcher of water on hand….just in case.

We burnt the map all around the edges and then even burnt some holes in the middle of the map in some of the less prominent areas on the map.

Lay your map onto the wood pallets. This next part you will need and Exact-o Knife to cut the map into long strips. Now I debated about cutting the map, but I wanted the individual wood planks to show through and give some detail to the map. I was worried that if I just Mod Podged the map without cutting it, it would just be a flat map.

I am SO glad I decided to cut the map. It added so much more detail and un-perfectness to the overall look.

We recruited the kids to help us hold the map into place while we cut it. We did not want it to move at all and mess up the cut.

We cut the map one section at a time. When we had a new strip, we Mod Podged it onto the individual plank.

We purposely left a small space between each plank.

After all the strips were glued onto the pallets, we let it dry completely. Then we put two coats of polyurethane in a satin finish on the map to keep it nice and protected.

I LOVE it! And so does my son! He wants to pin the places he has been to on this map as well. What do you think?

boys-room-decor

I was inspired to make this map when I came across this image (below) on Pinterest. I searched all over to find the original source of the map so I could link back and give credit to who made this and I could not for the life of me find out where it is from.

My search led me to believe that it may have been sold at Hobby Lobby a while ago. If anyone knows where I can find the original site for this I would love to know so I can give them credit and a link!

February 20, 2013 · Filed under: Boys, DIY Tutorials, Home Decor, Home Remodeling, Tutorials Tagged with boys room decor, map decor, pallet art, pallet projects, what to make with pallets, wood map, wood pallet map

Boy’s Room Reveal

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We finally got around to re-doing my oldest son’s bedroom and adding some fun boys room decor. He and his younger brother have shared a room since the time the younger one was 18 months old. My second and third children are 19 months apart in age, so my son was forced out of the crib and into his brother’s room.

As they got older, and bigger we decided to turn the guest bedroom into our oldest son’s room. It didn’t make a lot of sense to keep a room empty for guests when our two boy’s were crammed in one room on top of one another. So we just moved him over into that room but had essentially left it the same…with yellow walls and a flowered bedspread.

He has been in the room for over a year and a half now. And I will tell you what…this kid is not a little boy anymore. He has grown over 9 inches in the last year or so, taller than my height of 5 foot 9 inches and quickly gaining on my husband’s 6 foot 4 inches.

He will be turning 15 here very soon and I think I am having a bit of a “mom meltdown”! Where has the time gone? In three very short years he could be out of the house and serving a mission for our church or off to college. THREE years!?! I have only THREE summers left with this kid before things change. Three years goes by so fast!

So, I made it a priority to get his room finished so that he could actually enjoy it while he is still around…sniff, sniff!

We put the other furniture in storage (the headboard and dresser which were ones that my parents had bought for me when I was a teenager) and made a headboard out of some old pallet wood. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some pictures of this process. I will share a full tutorial for how we made it here shortly. Best part…the headboard cost us NOTHING but a little elbow grease! You can’t beat that!

We picked up some shelves at Lowes and some décor at Hobby Lobby to add some color to his room. My son’s favorite color was orange. He wanted orange walls…I did not. Orange is my least favorite color. So we made a compromise…I got my gray walls and we found him this fun orange bedspread at Target. It is still there right now if you are interested. And…I actually really love the bedspread…and so does he!

We picked up these awesome gray lockers at the NPS store in Salt Lake City (a salvage and freight recovery company that sells used industrial and office items at a great price). We picked these babies up for $25. They had a dent on the side, but it popped right back out with a good hit with a mallet. There were a bit difficult to maneuver into our basement and through a freakishly weird hallway. We barely got them in with a fraction of an 1/8 inch to spare.

This kid loves maps and geography so I knew I wanted to work that element into the room somehow. I found a map on Amazon for $1 (with a $3 shipping fee haha), but it was perfect.

We bought it and then put it onto some of our left over pallet wood from the headboard. For the Wood Pallet Map Tutorial click here: Wood Pallet Map Tutorial

I am so happy with how it turned out. I was inspired by a picture I found on the internet and will share that with you when I share the tutorial. It is one of my favorite parts about his new room.

This kid LOVES to be around the water. He is on the High School swim team and just this past week started playing Water Polo with the High School team. He is still in Jr. High here but is a freshman (Jr. High is 7th through 9th grade) and is allowed to play on the High School teams. It keeps us busy, but we are enjoying watching him become a man-child ;)!

We didn’t want to buy him a new dresser since most of his clothes are stored in his closet. But we found a great deal on a tool chest drawer set over Christmas at Sears and are using that as a dresser. I figure he will be able to take it with him when he moves out. He is pretty handy and helps quite a bit on the projects we do around the house.

I am so happy this is finally finished. And, now that his room is finished, we have moved on to repainting and refreshing my younger son’s room to make it his own. And at 12, it might be time to get rid of those Mickey Mouse sheets…!