Scavenger Chic

Remembering Mom-a Pallet wood Chair Plant Stand

• By Joan
• May 4, 2016
• 15 Comments

This months Junk Revision Challenge is to create a project inspired by Mom or Dad.

So, with my Mom in mind, I bring you my pallet garden chair.  Ten years ago (it was probably more since the years seem to fly by), I was shopping with my mom in an antique/cool crafts/ junky stuff store.  You know the kind of place that has a little bit of everything in it.  The kind of place that you never know what you’ll find if you just do a little digging.

My mom came upon this chair with rough wood, aged patina, very rustic….perfect for a garden she was creating in the woods. My mom had quite the green thumb and loved creating new garden beds. The little garden in the woods was soon filled with plants that loved the shade…it was her secret garden.

She is so like me (or is it, I’m so like her), that when she first saw the chair, her first inclination was, “I can make that”.  So, she gets out her little piece of paper and draws a rough sketch of her future garden chair. 

For the next month she was on the search for what she called “rough hewn” wood. She told me that she would go into the big lumber yards and they would look at her like she had 2 heads when she asked if they had any rough hewn timbers. 

She was not deterred, and I believe she finally found the wood of her dreams at a lumber mill.  My dad put the chair together, and it was the perfect chair for her secret garden in the woods.

When I look at that chair now, I see pallet wood.  We didn’t know about the wonders of pallet wood then, and I’m sure she must have passed hundreds of  pallets on her search for the perfect wood.

My brother has the chair now, the legs of which are slowly deteriorating.  He received the chair after my Mom had to abandon the gardens she so loved and cared for and had to move to an assisted living home. 

My mom is no longer with us, but a piece of her is in every project I make, and in every plant in my garden, I can here my mom’s wisdom and advice. I don’t always heed her advice, but I hear it.

I decided to change the look of my chair just a bit from my mom’s, hopefully you’ll play around a bit with your design.

The bulk of the chair is made up of the side rails of pallets.  Look for pallets that don’t have the notches for the fork lifts…in other words plain 2×4’s.

Pull, cut off or hammer in all the millions of nails. This is a rustic chair and the nails will only add to it’s “character”.

I’ll give you my measurements as I go, but because no two pallets are ever exactly alike you’ll have to measure the cuts for your own chair.

Starting with the back of the chair you’ll need 2 full length side pieces of the pallets. Mine were 42″. Cut them to the same length and cut the corners so it has a picket fence look.

Cut 2 more pieces, 16″ in height.  These will be the front legs of your chair.

Line up all 4 pieces you just cut and make a level pencil mark across all 4.  This will be the mark you’re aiming for to have a cross brace sit on.

Cut 4,  13 1/2 inch pieces from those pallet sides.

Line up 2 of these pieces on those lines you marked in the previous step and nail or screw into place. I used 2 1/2 inch nails from a nail gun but will follow up later with a few screws.

Use the other 2,  13 1/2 pieces for the top of the chair seat.  Nail into place.

The chair seat and chair back get covered in the regular pallet wood.  The seat took 4 pieces, 18 inches wide and the chair back had 3 pieces, 16 inches wide.

The chair was already fairly sturdy but I added a little bit more bracing for the legs. More side rail pieces, about 11 inches long, nailed in from the sides.

Use as a plant stand or as a regular chair.  If you are going to use as a chair, may want to round the corners of the seat and sand.

Happy Mother’s Day and cherish those moms you have. Life is short.

For more projects inspired by Mom or Dad make sure you check out my fellow junk revisionairies below.

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