On our local Northwoods Trading Post we read about free pallets. We went down to Rhinelander, WI, with the trailer and the pallets I liked best were the heaviest. Decorating with pallets can be really beautiful after you take them apart and stain them different colors. The hard part is taking them apart! OMG it’s hard! Even with a sawzall and crow bars of all sizes, there is a large risk of splintering the piece making it unuseable. Sawzalling after you crowbar a space with a hammer to get the blade next to the nail is the best method. We used our Sawzall reciprocating saw.
Then I ran the boards through the Rigid Table Saw so they are all the same width. If you mix up some ebonizing potion you will use a lot less stain. My ebonizing potion is white vinegar and steel wool soaked together for a day. The longer you leave the solution, the more it rusts and changes from gray to rust gray. Pallets are all different kinds of wood so they’ll react differently to the vinegar/steel wool. Some will turn almost black and others won’t do much at all. After the solution dries on the boards you can add different color stains to the boards for a variety. The just snap chalklines on the studs that you find with a studfinder and level your first row, nail it in, and keep adding boards from there. A great rustic look that costs almost nothing!
This room is part of the new wing made by turning the attached garage into living space. Follow this link to find out more: