How to Make a Pallet Potting Table | Diapered Daze and Knights

I’ll say I got in on the pallet repurposing craze last Fall…which actually means I picked up two abandoned pallets from my local Ace Hardware, tore them apart, and then let the pieces sit in my garage for a good five months.  My husband hates when I gather materials and let them sit in the garage – but sometimes I am not quite ready to start my project the moment I get the materials.  Pre-kids, the project would have be finished last Fall, but finding time to use power tools with two tots in the house isn’t easy.

Disclaimer: Dismantling a pallet is a lot harder than it looks.  The picture below shows my husband breaking out the saw after we spent hours trying to gently pry the boards without breaking them.

1. After tearing apart our pallets (and taking a winter’s long nap), we found a photos on The Design Pallet of some sweet, rustic outdoor potting benches.  Given that we have added a backyard farm to our house this year, it seemed like a potting bench was only necessary (Note: I have already used it twice this spring, and only my hardy veggies are planted).

2. We laid out four pieces for the legs and four pieces for the front and back “plates”.  We also laid out thick boards for the top of the table, and thinner boards for the lower shelf.

We used the following boards:

- four 37″ boards (for legs)

- four 37″ boards (for front and back “plates”)

- seven 18″ thick pallet boards (for top shelf)

- eight 18″ thin pallet boards (for bottom shelf)

3. First we attached the front and back “plates” to the legs.  This was the tough part, as we did not have a vice.  My handy husband was able to do it nonetheless.  We eyeballed the height of the bottom shelf, as we didn’t have a specific height in mind.  The base of the front, bottom plate is about 2-3 inches from the ground.

4. The shelves were the easy part.  Once the frame was in place, we used the nail gun to quickly put the boards in place.  We did not leave any space between boards on the top, as we wanted a solid surface for working; but we left some room between the boards on the bottom so that dirt and water could fall through.

It turned out lovely, don’t you think?  I especially like the color variation on the top shelf.  We added two hooks on the side to hang a garden rake and shovel – easy access for all our gardening needs.

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