Pallet Wood Side Table With Rustic Style

ByChelsea @ Making Manzanita Updated on DIY, Woodworking
If you're looking for inexpensive furniture, build your own with pallet wood. I love this side table with rustic style.

We love pallets. Like…really love pallets. We have used pallets to build most of the furniture in our home (including our bed and this nifty AC cover)…

True story, I had to talk my husband out of building a pallet couch.

But it is true that using pallet wood is one of the best ways to save money on lumber costs, which are crazy high!

So, when we needed a side table in our living room next to the recliner…we turned to pallets, of course. I love how this pallet wood side table with rustic style turned out.

We always have a steady stream of pallet wood in our scrap wood pile, so we literally spent NO money building this pallet wood side table.

Related posts – my pallet wood projects:

This fun DIY table was my crafty destash project of the month! I love this day every month seeing what all of the other bloggers have come up with using just the supplies they already have in their craft rooms (or garage in my case)!  It always gives me so much inspiration to use up some of the supplies we all have sitting around!

This pallet wood side table post contains affiliate links, but nothing that I wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend anyway! Read my full disclosure here.

Supplies for pallet wood side table with rustic style:

Using crow bar and hammer to take apart wood pallets to create a pallet wood side table

Step 1. Dismantle pallet and lightly sand.

We typically use our handy Pallet Buster to take apart pallets in combination with a crowbar (shown above).

We also lightly sanded the pallets after taking them apart. This helps remove any loose pieces or splinters.

A look at pieces of pallet wood stacked together in the process of making a pallet wood side table

Step 2. Build the base for pallet wood side table.

We created a platform base for the table by making a square and then covering the top with pallet wood planks.

Planks of pallet wood stacked together in the process of building a DIY pallet wood side table.

Step 3. Attach side walls.

We cut all of the pallet wood planks down to the same size and wrapped them around the base and nailed them in at the bottom.

Step 4. Build and attach the shelf and top.

We added a shelf about 5-6 inches from the top. To do this, we drew a light pencil line around the table, cut the pallet wood down to size, held them in place, and nailed them from the outside.

For the top of the side table, We added pallet wood planks to the top of the shelf and nailed them around the edge from the top.

Step 5. Seal.

Seal the pallet wood side table. We rubbed on a finishing wax.

Take a look at the completed rustic pallet wood side table:

A rustic style bedroom side table made from upcycled pallet wood.
A look at the side of the rustic pallet wood side table made from an upcycle pallet, showing the details of the rustic wood.

Isn’t that just the cutest little pallet wood side table you’ve ever seen? It works well as an end table in a living room or event a nightstand next to your bed. It is so versatile.

Vintage books sit on the lower shelf of the DIY rustic pallet wood side table.

Building pallet furniture is a great way to create budget-friendly, unique pieces for your home.

My favorite part about building pallet furniture is that no one else in the world has this side table… ok well, maybe if you follow our pallet wood side table tutorial you’ll have a very similar table! Hehe.

But every pallet is so different so you’ll likely end up with something that looks a bit different.

You can customize this pallet wood table to fit in with your home. The wood can be painted, sanded, and stained and just left natural as we have done.

A full look at the completed rustic pallet wood side table made from upcycled pallets.

I had some fun staging this little pallet wood end table when I was taking some pictures for new inventory in my Etsy shop, Manzanita Exchange. 

The completed rustic pallet wood side table, decorated with vintage books, a metal box and mason jar vase with flowers, and a navy blue vintage suitcase.
A view of half of the completed DIY pallet wood side table decorated with books. Image text reads "pallet wood side table" with an arrow.
Rustic Pallet Wood Side Table

Rustic Pallet Wood Side Table

Active Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Cost: $100

Learn how to make a unique piece of DIY furniture with this DIY rustic pallet wood side table tutorial.

Materials

Tools

Instructions

    1. Dismantle the pallet using a Pallet Buster and crowbar.
    2. Lightly sand the pallet pieces.
    3. Build the base of the side table with pallet planks.
    4. Attach side walls, wrapped around the side table base.
    5. Build and attach shelf and top of the pallet wood side table.
    6. Seal the pallet wood side table using finishing wax.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

© Chelsea @ Making Manzanita
Project Type: Furniture / Category: DIY

Have you ever used pallets to build furniture?

Let me know in the comments !!

Chelsea @ Making Manzanita

Chelsea is the founder of Making Manzanita - a DIY and renovation blog - where it's all about making your house a home you love one DIY at a time. Chelsea and her husband, Logan, have been renovating homes since 2015 and have seen the sweat equity pay off. They enjoy teaching readers how to renovate with confidence. As an influencer, Chelsea has collaborated with brands like The Home Depot, Etsy, Behr Paint, DAP Products, Walmart, Frog-Tape, and Kreg Tools. Making Manzanita has participated in One Room Challenge and was a finalist in the Fall 2019 Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

26 Comments

  1. Nice little side table! I have some wood hanging around that’s perfect for something like this. Currently I have glass side tables & dogs which means I they are always dirty looking!

    Reply

  2. This is absolutely perfect for my front porch fall decor. I can imagine this covered with pumpkins and a little bit of plaid burlap I have left over.

    Reply

  3. That is the cutest! Love that side table & pinned! “We” have done 1 pallet wood project, which is upcoming on my blog soon, so I’m not going to give away what it is yet, but we had a good time making ours. Hubby is the one who had the best time b/c he wants to make a coffee table next.
    Anyway, just love your side table! Especially love the printing on the side. Adds lots of character.

    Reply

  4. I am your new bestie now 😉 Thank you for this tutorial! I am dreaming of making diy pallet furniture for years. I even scored one pallet so far. Problem is I live in an apartment and don’t have a garage. But I have a miter saw lol. I love that I learned from this post that there is a tool to dismantle pallets, I’ll be pinning this project and go check out your other pallet projects right this moment.

    Reply

  5. Wow! I love this. I love palettes too but have never used them because Jeff and I dread taking them apart. I know…we are quite lazy. This just turned out so cute and you make it look so easy. I may have to get that old palette out that is sitting in the garage and make something. I may get hooked, right?

    Reply

  9. That is so cute – I haven’t used pallets but I’ve used old fence boards for a lot of projects (thanks for stopping by to comment on my cornice 🙂 Your other projects are amazing as well!

    Reply

  10. I have never made anything with pallets but I am sure itching to get to that!
    LOVE your table and the formatting of this post. Thanks also for making it easy to tweet. I did!

    Reply

    1. Hi Susan! Thanks for your comment. Let me know if you ever try a pallet project, I’d love to see it. Thanks for comment about the formatting and tweet. I’ve been trying to make my tutorials very easy to skim, read and share 🙂

      Reply

    1. You’ve gotta give it a try. Did you know that Home Depot sells bundles of reclaimed pallet wood already taken apart too?! That is what scares a lot of people away from working with pallets. But I promise I’m going to be doing a post soon on how to take apart pallets if you’re wondering!

      Reply

  13. Thanks for sharing this Pallet Wood Side Table With Rustic Style, will love to try this amazing one. Definitely gonna try this.

    Reply
  14. Pingback: Build For Free With Pallet Wood - 15 Easy Project Ideas You'll Love - Anika's DIY Life