I wanted some nice patio furniture. Guess what I learned? Patio furniture is expensive! If I wanted to buy some furniture I would have to wait a few years because we just recently bought some other things.
Well, I am not a very patient person. Luckily I am smart with my money though. So what did I decide to do? I decided to build my own furniture. Sounds pretty crazy but I have Pinterest and a hammer- how hard could it be?
I decided the best course of action would be to use pallet wood and to get the wood for free (I mean I am trying to save money). Naturally, I posted on Facebook asking if anyone in my neighborhood had any pallets that they wanted off their hands. Oh my goodness! Within an hour I had a dozen pallets offered to me! I started with five pallets.
This was definitely the hardest project I have attempted. Pallet boards are built so they can handle a lot of weight, meaning they are sturdy! It was a ton of work trying to get those boards off. I broke a few boards but for the most part, I was successful.
My husband helped me figure out the plan for the furniture we were going to build. He cut the boards to the correct lengths, and as always supported me in my ambitious endeavor.
After two nights of prying off boards and sanding down splinters, I was sooo sore! I was in so much pain! It became very clear that this project was going to take me some time to finish. That's ok! I needed some good time-filling activities.
Our facemasks for COVID-19 came in handy as we sanded all this wood! I am grateful that we had them!
My husband, Ricky took it upon himself to attach the legs. We did but some new wood for this- we just really want these benches and chairs to be able to hold some weight. We started with the loveseat bench first and then did the two chairs afterward.
We stained the seating a darker brown color. We thought that staining them would make them look polished off. We also put two coats of sealant over the top so that the seating could withstand the weather a little bit better.
Finally to finish the project we bought outdoor cushions and pillows from Walmart. The pillows were each $5 and the cushions were $10. The cushions cost us the most for this project. But the price we ended up paying was a lot less than we would have spent if we bought a brand new patio set.
On this bench, I had to alter the cushions (I bought three) so that the entire bench seat would be covered. I think I did a pretty decent job sewing the cushions by hand.
We built two chairs with the help of a neighbor (It's fun to build stuff). I used red cushions on these ones to tie in the red from the pillow on the bench.
Our patio finally feels complete. We can entertain more people and it just looks beautiful. We both feel so proud of our work. It was really fun working together on this project. The design is a little bit confused in places but I am so happy to have built these chairs! I am so impressed with how we made pallets into furniture.
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