Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Real Life Woes of Constructing Pallet Tables

...as told second-hand by the wife of the one who did the constructing.

I love pallet tables. Don't you? The rustic, imaginative use of those ugly, industrious pallets made me want one from the first time I saw one on Pinterest. I told my husband so, and he wasn't sold on the idea.
I couldn't believe it! What could be better than a table you would have to pay virtually nothing for?? We needed a coffee table too, and I knew that the mixed styles of our living room right now could benefit from a table that was at once farm-house quaint, like the East side of our room, and a Dark Walnut color with clean lines, like the West side of our room.
But my hubby still maintained that a pallet table would be more trouble than it was worth, and that to find a pallet made out of good, solid wood, that would still be straight enough to use, would be quite the feat.
But to please me, there's not much my husband wouldn't do.

Ergo, our new pallet table!

Turns out, Matt was right - it was a pain in the butt to make. Out of the four pallets that Matt brought home, so many of the boards were prone to splintering and cracking that he was worried we'd have to find a fifth pallet to part out. Lots of the wood was bowed and rough and the slats were a variety of widths and lengths, and three of the pallets were seemingly 'identical'. Some of the pictures on the internet of these pallet tables make it seem like people just pick up a pallet, spray paint it, and display it proudly in their living room. The reality is that, except perhaps for a couple extremely lucky people who find a perfect pallet, to get something that will even hold a cup of coffee upright, and not give everyone splinters, there's a lot more work to it than that.

So, after tearing apart, reconstructing and sanding, our pallet table is finally put together! We still have yet to stain it, but that will be another day's project!

But until then, I will revel in the fact that I have a gorgeous pallet table sitting in my living room, which not only gives me a convenient place to display my most current magazines, but it will also give me another surface to grace with seasonal decor!

And what was I doing while my dearest darling husband was building me things with his bare hands (and power tools)? I was sewing together a soft case for his bow! Well, I was prepping it for sewing, rather. By the time I got around to it, it was far too late to get my machine all set up. It's odd though how much less time it will take me to actually sew the stupid thing, compared to how much time it took me to prep it. Matt had a pair of camo pants that weren't fitting him well anymore, so he sacrificed them to the cause. He wanted it lined somewhat for a bit more protection, so I donated some felt to the project. The legs of the pants will be sewn together to make a long, draw-string bag for his bow, and the cargo pockets from the pants will stay intact. So today was the day of cutting, ironing, marking, pinning, and more cutting. If I get a chance tomorrow, perhaps I'll do the 10 minutes of sewing that will actually be needed to sew the lining in and then attach the two legs. By the way, this is the exact reason that I hate quilting. I love sewing, but I detest the prep work, and in quilting, if you fudge the prep work, it will show. And, as we all recall, Blood, Sweat and Tears are all byproducts of quilting prep. Bah.

Well, it's getting late and I've got a meeting over here tomorrow, which means that I'll be waking up early to make something yummy for everyone! I wonder what fun ideas Pinterest has right now...

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

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