You can take an old window and pallets and turn them into a beautiful primitive window hutch. My boyfriend made me this for Christmas one year.
Hardiness Zone: 7a
Debbie in the Draft from Stuarts Draft, VA
A: Debbie,
Wood pallets will work fine. You can disassemble them and dig the boards into the ground a few inches, or secure the frame by pounding a few wooden or metal stakes into the ground on either side of them. Avoid commercially pressure-treated wood that contains arsenic or other toxic compounds that can leech into your soil. Also avoid wood treated with penta (pentachlorophenol). Types of untreated wood that are naturally resistant to rotting include cypress and cedar. Wood pallets are usually cheap or free, so if yours are made from a wood more prone to rotting, you can inexpensively replace them anyway.
I have a friend who did this successfully. I will be trying it this weekend! Email me for photos. lindabaldwin @ remove spaces .
Wood pallets? How does this work? Could I use it for my mini-pumpkins?
Do you have a child that is longing for the bright lights of Hollywood? Do you have a budding playwright in the family too? Well, here is a way to build her or him their own stage so you can enjoy the fruits of their labors.
Where is a good place to get free wood pallets?
So many places it's almost mind-boggling. Good place to start is just going for a drive behind big-box stores like Home Depot.
Wherever you see big trucks making deliveries, whether it's hardware or office supplies or even gardening materials, they're sure to have pallets.
The polite way to go about it is to ask permission and not just take them.
Another source (depending where you live) would be kijiji or craigslist or something along those lines. Try using google and entering your city name and the words "free pallets."
A fellow I know up here in Calgary gets paid to stop by downtown businesses and remove their pallets. He either takes them to the local landfill or drops them off (for a small fee) to anyone who wants them. Perhaps you have someone providing similar services?
Good luck!
Rancher Girl here from A Building We Shall Go! We converted pallets into flooring for our living room floor. We have provided the complete tutorial at the link below.
Get 4 wooden shipping pallets and two 8 foot steel fence posts. Lay two of the pallets on the ground away from the house.
Pallets are often available for free and can be used for many wood building projects. This is a page about making a wood pallet compost bin.
Use pallet wood to install a unique, rustic, and inexpensive ceiling in a garage, shop, or even a studio. This is a page about installing a pallet wood ceiling.
Wooden pallets, which can still sometimes be gotten for free, can be dismantled and reconstructed into an attractive and useful spice rack. This is a page about pallet door spice rack.