DIY: Pallet Headboard Tutorial

I LOVE  the rustic/chic look. Give me the rust, chipping paint, and barn wood!

Pallets, the new DIY craze! Pallets are a great way to make creative projects, on a small budget.

When it came to choosing a headboard, I knew that I wanted something with a rustic look, and went to Pinterest to hopefully find some inspiration! I was shocked to find out that the headboard I wanted sold for $500! How crazy is that! 

So, I decided to put my big girl shoes on, find a pallet, and asked dad where the power tools were! ;) 

Here is my DIY tutorial on how to make your own pallet headboard under $20!

Step 1.) Find a pallet, clean, and let air dry (**If you don't have a pallet laying around your yard, many stores have stacks that you can often ask to take one for FREE!)

Step 2.) Now begins the challenging part, tearing apart the pallet. The easiest way to do this is to take a  jigsaw, or a sawzall and cut each board of the pallet off of the two ends. (**Make sure to keep all parts of the pallet!) 

You will need to do this for both sides of the pallet.  Below is a picture of what your pallet should look like after cutting. 

Step 3.) Pull out your muscles, a hammer and a small crow bar! It's time to rip the boards off of the middle support boards. Try not to split the boards when taking them off the middle supports, but if you do split a few it only adds character! 

Step 4.) Once you have your boards off the pallet, you will need to pound the nails out of the boards. I recommend keeping these nails for later use! 

Step 5.) Stain. When choosing which color to stain your pallet boards, remember that the stain will be much darker than it appears on other woods, because pallets are a rough wood, and soak the stain in fast! (**I choose Early American, it is a darker stain, but a very rich color!)

Stain each board, and let dry overnight. 

Step 6.) After the stain has sat over night, begin laying the boards on the ground how you like them. It's like a giant puzzle piece trying to figure out where each board fits the best! (**I wanted to make my headboard look more like a barn door, so I also added one board going vertically.) 

 

Sizes: My headboard is for a full sized bed, but here are other headboard sizes!

Twin: 41" wide
Full:  56" wide
Queen: 62" wide
King: 80" wide

Step 7.) Nailing. If you choose to put a board in the front like I did begin nailing the top board to the rest of the boards running horizontal. I recommend nailing four nails in each board. I used a nail gun, and it saved a TON of time! 

One the front board is nailed onto the horizontal boards, you will need to flip the head board over, and put 3-5 additional support boards on the back of the headboard. Add support boards until entire headboard feels sturdy when lifted. 

Here are my support boards. They don't have to be perfect or pretty, because no one will
ever see them!

Step 8.) Now it's time to add the headboard legs. For the legs, use the end pieces that you cut off from the pallet.

Take all of the nails out of the sides, leaving no extra wood on the main piece.

Step 9.) Attaching the headboard legs. You will attach the legs to the headboard. I recommend using screws, so that they can be easily adjusted if needed! I used black screws and they blended in well. Every headboard height should be the same, but just in case! The height should be 49 3/4" high.

Here is my finished pallet headboard! You can add barn hinges if you want! Or even some burlap or twine! Make it your own! 

Throughout this project I learned three things:

1.) I better marry a man who knows how to run power tools..because I struggled!

2.) I can do things by myself if I set myself to it!

3.) DIY is fun, challenging, and rewarding all at once.