Pallets Become Outdoor Furniture

This has been one of my biggest challenges so far... and I have loved it.  First here is a pretty "after" picture of the couch.  Over the last week, you can often find me out here having morning tea with the kids.

This is how I went about it. 

I found these two pallets at an industrial park on Sunday afternoon.  Can you believe that they are giving these things away?!

I left one as is for the base of the couch, and cut the bottom off the second pallet to make the back rest.  To create the back of the couch I removed some planks, and cut the bits of wood underneath, so that the "back" of the couch could fit into the "base" of the couch.  I hope you can follow my technical language.  :-/



I attached the "back" to the base using screws.  The top of the back rest had quite a few issues as seen in the below picture.

The plank I pulled off early was repurposed and I screwed it along the top to hide the mess underneath.

But afterlooking at it for a few days, I just felt that the back rest was a bit top heavy, and the screws holding it in place may not have been able to hold it.  I got out the trusty hand saw and cut the top section off.  I bought a piece of heavy duty foam cut to size, and I literally sat on the project for a week or two, pondering what I was going to cover the foam with. 

Marine grade material, which is weather resistant, was out of the question...too expensive.  But I needed something hardwaring, as it is outside (although protected), it will be exposed to some weather elements.  I have covered a couch using drop sheet material (as seen in this project).  So I was willing to have a go my self, just I lacked this inspiration.  Then one day when I was getting out of the car I noticed the orange and pink cushions ('cause I had them in the garage).  I had bought them for $5 each several months ago at Target - not because I liked the colours, but because they were cheap inserts.  They were in the garage, because I never managed to bring them inside.

Anyhoo, I threw them against the couch, and BINGO they looked great, and then I remembered I had some left over drop cloth, and the colour of the drop sheet looked good as well.  And out came the sewing machine.

I also added some locking castors, so it is easy to move aournd.  And here is some pretty pictures of the finished project.

The flowers are looking good too.

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