The main purpose of pallets, or pallets, is neat stacking and safe transportation building materials and any other goods that require extremely careful handling. These products are made of wood and can be square or rectangular shape, slightly differ from each other in size.
Where to get these same pallets? You have three options:
- contact construction hypermarkets;
- order the manufacture of products in a carpentry workshop;
- take the help of friends working in building materials warehouses.
In any of these cases, pallets will cost you the minimum amount.
Craftsmen have long and successfully made a variety of products for the home and economy from pallets with their own hands. Including quite comfortable, practical, aesthetic furniture. Today, we'll show you how to use pallets to create a beautiful sofa that will take its rightful place in your home and help save money.
Making a sofa out of pallets: what is needed to make furniture
What do you need to make a quality pallet sofa for your home, summer cottage or garden? The supporting element of the future product is the pallets themselves. They will need at least 6 pieces, but if you have the opportunity, it is better to buy eight pallets in case of unexpected breakdowns or other force majeure.
In addition, you need to stock up on the following materials, accessories and tools:
- steel corners for connecting individual elements of future furniture;
- screws or nails;
- a hammer, screwdriver or screwdriver, a hacksaw for wood in case you need to slightly adjust the size of the pallets;
- primer, varnish or paint, and brushes or rollers for painting the base of your sofa;
- legs for furniture, accessories, cushions, fabric with any filling. You can also use the upholstery and foam separately - in this case you need a stapler and many, many staples.
Before making your own sofa, you will also need to prepare the pallets. To do this, we disinfect the pallets, thoroughly clean them of any contamination, grind them, removing knots and scuffs, and then cover them first with a primer and then with paint or varnish. The choice of color scheme depends solely on your taste preferences.
The simplest pallet sofa
You can make a corner sofa in the same way. To make it, you need either six rectangular or eight square pallets, which are immediately placed in the corner of the room and equipped with filler and upholstery.
Comfortable sofa with drawers for storing things and bed linen
Now we will try to complicate the task and make a more practical sofa with our own hands, in the lower part of which there will be drawers for storing bed linen or clothes. In addition to the tools and accessories already listed above, for this purpose we also need:
- plywood sheets with a thickness of about 2-5 millimeters. It is from them that you can make strong and roomy boxes;
- fittings - guides and rollers, as well as drawer handles;
- the connecting elements are all the same screws or nails. You can also use quality glue to make the drawers.
A straight or corner sofa is made from pallets in the same way as we described in the previous paragraphs, so we will only tell you how to make and install the boxes:
- we make the bottom from plywood with our own hands, as well as the side and back walls of the products;
- to make the front wall, you can use a pallet board, matched exactly to the size of the box;
- if necessary we paint with our own hands finished goods or we paste over them with a special film to improve their appearance;
- we attach metal guides to pallets located at the base of the sofa;
- we screw the roller to the plywood structure with our own hands.
If everything was done correctly, the drawer should be easy to remove and slide back along the rail.
The pallet sofas presented here are inexpensive and practical furniture, which is not difficult to make with your own hands with a minimum set of tools and accessories. In addition, you can endlessly experiment with the appearance of products - paint the base in different colors, open them with varnish, paste over with decorative foil or wallpaper. The ability to independently choose fabric for upholstery also opens up almost unlimited horizons for you to design future furniture.
Not many of us can afford expensive furniture that would harmoniously fit into the interior of the room. This issue can be resolved. It is not at all necessary to lay out a round sum, you can create a stylish designer sofa with your own hands. How? Of wooden palletsthat are so often thrown away at home improvement stores or grocery stores. A pallet sofa will look great in the interior of any room. Such furniture is original and fashionable, exclusive and unusual. The advantage is that such a design is not worth spending a lot of money on, because everything can be easily done on your own.
Pallet sofa in the interior
If you want to add style and comfort to your room, while spending minimal money, then you can try to make a sofa from pallets. Wooden frame perfectly lends itself to finishing: it is easy to saw, process, paint, and also combine with other materials. You can create a large or small sofa from pallets. It all depends on what size room it is intended for.
By the way, you can place it in a country or private house, somewhere in the hallway, living room, veranda or on the terrace. The apartment is also suitable for an original sofa, because it will look great on the balcony or in any other room where you like to receive guests, spend your evenings with tea.
Like any other furniture, a do-it-yourself pallet sofa has advantages, including:
- lightness, so it can be freely moved;
- ease of care - it can be washed freely, the upholstery on it can be changed, since the pillows are fixed with strings that are passed between the boards;
- a pallet sofa can be disassembled - this is very convenient, since you can move it from one room to another;
- high level of strength - do not be afraid that it will not withstand several people, because wooden pallets are used in construction and are designed for extremely high loads, for example, a lightweight Euro pallet 1200 × 800 can withstand a weight of 2.5 tons;
- price - despite the accessories, pillows that you will have to buy, a do-it-yourself pallet sofa will come out much cheaper than any economy option presented in the store, and such furniture will look stylish and expensive.
From wooden pallets, you can make not only a sofa, but also any other furniture: a table, whatnot, an armchair and much more.
Depending on how developed your imagination is, the size and shape of the sofa may change. For example, low furniture that resembles the atmosphere of an Asian home is perfect for a country house. You can also make a corner sofa with your own hands, which will decorate the interior of the kitchen. A straight sofa or lounger will fit into the hallway, living room or on the balcony. In principle, any room with such an original and unusual piece of furniture will look cozy, practical and unique. If the scale of your home allows, then you can even create a sofa terrace that can accommodate a large number of people. Such furniture has three rows of pallets that are attached to each other. Making such a sofa on your own, you can provide a headboard on the upper or lower tier, so that you can not only sit, but also lie. With regard to the size of the sofas, they can be very diverse. It all depends only on your imagination and the size of the room.
Before you make a sofa out of pallets, you need to decide on the room where it will be located. The finishing of furniture depends on this. If it is intended for a summer residence, a terrace or taking out into the garden, then varnish or paint can be used. As a rule, the backrest can have a natural look and not be covered by anything. The seats are often covered with pallet sofa cushions or special covers that perfectly highlight the design of the sofa. If you use fabric upholstery or covers, it will be convenient to wash and care for them. Also, over time, they can be replaced with others.
Diy pallet sofa
Choosing pallets for the sofa
The first step is to choose the pallets from which the sofa will be made, you should pay attention to the quality of the material. If you are using old pallets, they may be dirty and unpresentable or damaged. Make sure your pallets are free of rusty nails, cracks, chips. In addition, if you are going to make such non-standard furniture, then it is best to take platforms that have approximately the same thickness and length, since in overall design such nuances will stand out strongly.
The size of the pallets themselves is also important. The standard design has parameters 100 * 120 * 12 cm. There are also "euro pallets", the size of which is 80 * 120 * 14 cm. Therefore, it is worth calculating everything in advance: use the entire structure or cut off some part. Pallets can be divided into regular and solid pallets. Solid pallets have boards nailed close to each other. If you are not going to cover the sofa seat with soft pillows, then it is better to choose solid pallets.
A pallet sofa can withstand heavy loads, so you can be sure that the furniture will be durable and reliable.
Preparing pallets for turning into a sofa
Before you start making the sofa, you need to prepare the pallets. Initially, the pallets should be cleaned with a brush, and then washed well (you can manually or with a garden hose). Such "washing" will not harm them, since the used platforms have withstood rain, frost, and direct sunlight. If you are using old pallets, it would be nice to sand them. To do this, you can use coarse and fine sandpaper, a special brush on a drill or grinder. This will not only freshen up the wood's appearance, but also remove burrs. It is advisable to process all the details of future furniture, although you can only work with those areas that the body will touch. If you plan to put the sofa in the garden or on the balcony, then it is better to treat it with a moisture-repellent primer to protect the material from water. It will protect furniture from mold and mildew. After all these procedures, the pallets should be varnished or painted.
Wooden platforms should be prepared before assembly, so that every centimeter of the sofa is processed, the assembled structure will be inconvenient to handle.
DIY step-by-step instructions for assembling a sofa from pallets
It is not at all difficult to assemble a sofa from pallets with your own hands, everyone can make sure of this. The stages of work largely depend on the type of construction, whether it will be an angular or straight model, how the back will be made. Each has its own plan of action. Nevertheless, in many ways, the sequence of actions is similar.
The main general stages of assembling a sofa from pallets with your own hands:
- put pallets on top of each other (usually taken to a height of 1 to 4 platforms); best laid face down;
- fasten them together with self-tapping screws, bolts or nails so that the structure is stable, strong and does not fall apart; for more reliable fasteners, you can use metal corners;
- if you have ordinary pallets, then a sheet of plywood or chipboard will need to be covered on the seat;
If you are going to move the sofa often, then the wheels should be attached to it in advance. You can also put a special mechanism and your original furniture will be folded into a full sleeping place.
Soft seat for pallet sofa
If you want a soft seat, then use pillows. Pallet sofa cushions are usually made of foam rubber. The thickness of the material must be at least 20 cm. You can make a textile cape or cover yourself. If this option is not suitable, then you can simply order pillows from the atelier.
It is recommended to purchase a soft, but at the same time dense fabric as a cover material. These include suede, chenille, microfiber and velor. Thanks to this fabric, you will get a comfortable, high-quality and durable seat that will be resistant to abrasion, fading in the sun.
Decorating options
In order for a pallet sofa to look colorful and harmonious in the interior of the room, it must be decorated. Lighting is often used as a decoration. It can be simply placed on the bottom of the sofa or over all upholstered furniture. This is a rather unusual and bright decoration of a non-standard piece of furniture.
Also, when making a sofa from pallets, additional functions can be provided. For example, in the empty spaces between the boards, you can simply put a sheet of plywood of the desired size. You can fix it with self-tapping screws or furniture glue. So, shelves are formed where you can place any things, little-used items, and so on.
With a little work, drawers can be made. To do this, you need special mechanisms, handles, plywood and wooden blocks. If it is difficult to calculate all the sizes yourself, then it is better to order everything in the workshop.
A pallet sofa is a fairly simple, convenient and economical furniture option that you can create yourself. With a little effort and imagination, you can create the most original, stylish and unusual shapes of sofas that will noticeably emphasize your interior. This is a functional and practical sofa that can be used not only indoors, but also outside, without worrying about the material being damaged.
Video
We have long had a desire to equip an empty corner on the site. Since our house does not have any veranda, we planned to install a table and chairs or benches. In general, arrange a place where you can relax with the whole family over tea. However, there was no way to acquire all this.
While browsing the Internet for photos of other people's sites, I came across several ideas with pallets (or pallets). I really liked the idea and inspired me to search for used pallets. I managed to purchase 25 pallets of them: 10 euros (this is with gaps between adjacent boards) and 15 solid (without gaps) for 2100 rubles.
Euro pallets became the basis for the corner sofa, and solid pallets served as an excellent floor for our terrace.
Stage 1: Materials and tools
10 euro pallets 
Solid pallets List of materials
- 25 pallets (pallets): 10 euros and 15 others, without gaps (gaps) between adjacent boards. Note that they turned out to be different sizes... As you can see, euro pallets are very used, which is why they were so cheap, but they were quite suitable for our purpose.
- varnishes, paints, antiseptics (here already at your choice) to protect wood and give an aesthetic appearance
- fasteners
Tool list
- Cordless screwdriver
- Grinding wheel
- Brush or spray gun (spray)
- Level
- Cable
- Garden tools: shovel, rake, ... (depends on where you will build)
Stage 2: Landscaping
Before 
- Arrange the pallets in their places to see what the terrace will look like.
- Rearranges pallets in places to get the desired shape and fit them together.
- When you find a pallet installation scheme that suits you
- mark the outside of the pallets on the ground. We used a shovel that was stuck in the turf.
- remember the location of each pallet, you can number them. We took pictures to remember.
- Remove pallets and remove all sod in the marked area.
- Using a shovel, rake and maybe a hoe, level the surface and tamp it. To control the use level.
- We lay out the pallets
- we lay out the pallets one by one, carefully leveling the height
- we twist pallets with each other
- it is better to do it together with an assistant
- We use grinding wheel for cleaning the resulting surface. To check, you can walk barefoot, of course, if you are sure that you have thoroughly cleaned everything up and will not get a splinter 🙂
- We saturate everything with an antiseptic, if there is a desire, it can be painted (after the antiseptic has dried)
So, we have finished the floor of our terrace. It took all day and I was sunburned, but it was worth it.
Stage 3: Sofa
Each euro pallet is 120cm x 80cm in size.
Our country sofa consists of three sections. Each section consists of two pallets (stacked on top of each other) as a seat and one pallet as a sofa back.
Thus, from 10 Euro pallets we can make a corner sofa 200 cm x 240 cm. Three sections of 3 pallets each + one pallet for the backrest in the corner (see sketch).
We twist the pallets together, but we do not put the sections together, we will do this when we move our sofa to the terrace.
We painted our sofa with spray paint. This gave a pretty worn and antiqued effect. In addition, it is much more convenient to paint from a spray can, you can reach hard-to-reach places and adjust the amount of paint.
Stage 4: Install the sofa on the terrace
We installed sofa sections on the terrace and secured it all together.
We have three small pallets left that we can stack on top of each other, and we have a great table.
The photos show that the sofa is not fully painted and there are no cushions on it. The fact is that we have run out of paint, and the mattresses have not yet been purchased. But after two days of work, we were so eager to try our hand-made pallet sofa that we collected our pillows and mattresses from the house and laid them out on the sofa. In the evening with candles and lamps it was very cozy.
Stage 5: Finished sofa on the terrace
After a few days, we painted everything else and bought pre-made seat cushions that are commonly used for garden chairs. They fit nicely on our pallets.
We thought about using foam mattresses or special garden mattresses, but they were too expensive. You can use regular old wadded mattresses or buy new ones for inexpensive. Initially, we assumed two mattresses on the seat (see sketch), one measuring 160 cm x 70 cm, the second 200 cm x 70 cm. Together they cost about 1300 rubles. There was a decent selection of colors, not just striped ones, as we are used to since Soviet times J. But then we found these wonderful beddings.
Of course, we have to remove the mattresses or cover them when it rains.
Surely many of you have seen a photo of furniture made of wooden pallets, the so-called pallets, which are designed to transport building materials. Such designs can be purchased at a very symbolic price. Thanks to this, furniture, for example, a sofa made of pallets or other furniture, is relatively inexpensive, and their main advantage is that each element is individual, made exclusively according to your order and fits into any even the most extravagant design.
With your own hands you can make not only furniture for a summer residence, but also interior items that will decorate city \u200b\u200bapartment... So, if you are inspired, consider in detail how to make a sofa from pallets with your own hands step by step.
Work front
- First of all, you need to imagine how your new sofa will look like (it is advisable to sketch a diagram). What will be its size and shape, color and texture of the finishing fabric. Perhaps it will be a corner sofa. Do you know what a modular sofa is? This one is easily transformed, thanks to the separate elements, and can be adapted to any situation. This option is preferable if you plan to equip an extensive recreation area on the terrace of a country house.
The preliminary stage is very important, it largely determines your further activities. The final result depends on how carefully you think over all the points.
- The next stage is the preparation of materials. You will need:
- suitable pallets. It is necessary that they are made of high-quality material (no cracks and mold), that they are resistant, otherwise your new furniture will very soon become unusable;
- sander. If there is none, it will do sandpaper, which is used to treat wood or metal surfaces;
hacksaw; - self-tapping screws and a screwdriver are needed to connect the parts;
- for decor - pillows, mattresses, blankets and more. They can be purchased ready-made or, if you have certain skills, make them yourself.
