DIY Pallet Wood Headboard
We’ve had this large pallet sitting under our carport for almost a year now. It’s not really been in the way, but we knew that we had plan for it eventually, so there it stayed. We’ve also been collecting random pallets for a while, we get them from the best pallets in Santa Ana. So, when the hubs took off a week and a half at Christmas, we decided it was well past time!
Keep in mind, that even though I have access to a professional photographer around the clock (The Teen), I’m not always the best at remembering to utilize her, so my photos of this project are primitive at best!
First, we started off by measuring this large pallet for our frame. If you don’t have one of these pallets, I would suggest measuring your area and building a frame out of the pallet wood you already have. This heavy duty pallet came this way, so we measured it and made it work!
DIY PalletWood Headboard
90in W x 48in H frame
Aside from knocking the dust off of the frame, we really didn’t do any sanding to it, because it would all be hidden. We pretty much just made sure that the end boards were clean and splinter free by using a sandblaster Perth. After the slats are attached, it’s attached to the wall (yes, the wall), and the slats are up, non of it is visible.
We then enlisted the help of The Minion. He’s really good with a tape measure, and he love to help! We just started laying out slats until we reached our 90in goal. The wood from this headboard came in different sizes and types of wood. Some pieces were really dense, some were cut differently. We loved and utilized all of it! (Filthy, filthy pallets!!)
After we measured it all out, we decided that 4ft (48in) was too short of a headboard for us, because we want to eventually go back and add small shelves on it (maybe), but also be able to add a light behind it without it being seen. We went ahead and decided that we’d make it 5ft (60in) tall, so we came up anywhere from 9.5-11in above the frame.
We decided which side of each slat needed the least amount of work, and we used screws and a drill to attach each slat to the frame. So that it wouldn’t look weird, I did the top part pretty unevenly so that it wasn’t straight across, but the hubs didn’t want them too offset. The Habit of Woodworking gives us a guide on the proper making of this DIY.
That’s when the real work started! I used a whisk broom and brushed off most of the dirt, and then I got out my handy dandy trusty orbit sander and started sanding away.
(obviously an Amazon stock photo, because I’m no photographer! as well as an affiliate link)
I sanded and sanded and sanded until I couldn’t stand up straight and my arm fell like it was about to fall off! It was getting later into the evening, and the temperature was dropping, so I after I sanded, I left it until the next day!
Some if it is pretty uneven on the bottom, but that’s ok, because we knew just how much the bed was going to cover. If this was something we were doing that we were going to sell or give to someone else, we probably would have made sure that everything was even.
The red arrow shows you where we added slats on the back to attach to the wall.The 4×4 posts on the end of the frame made it impossible to screw into the studs, so we had to have something that was flush against the wall.
At this point, after everything was sanded, brushed off and clean, it was time to mix paint. For this project, and all of my projects, I use Chalky Paint. Chalky Paint is awesome, because you take any acrylic or latex paint, add Chalky & Company Painter’s Powder. It’s an awesome and extremely affordable way to get the consistency of the Chalky Paint you love!
The color I chose for this project was an exclusive color for Chalky & Company Consultants (Yay! Ask me about it! It’s awesome!) called Wild Bayberry. All it took for this whole headboard was about 10 oz. of paint! That’s it!
The Painter’s Powder instruction are on the bag. You follow the amounts on the bag by mixing powder in water and then mix that into the paint. That gives you Chalky Paint!
Because we had to attach this to the wall, we decided that the best way would be to measure, find the studs, and take out the slats in front of the studs. (Actually, I measured while the hubs was gone, so I did it ALL wrong. We ended up using different slats, but that’s why this next photo doesn’t have slats!)
The good thing about Chalky Paint is that it dries quicker than other paints. Another good thing is that because I knew that I was going to distress it when I was done, I didn’t have to worry about all of the imperfections on the wood as well as missing spots with the paint. That’s one of the hardest parts when you’re doing projects that you know you’re going to distress anyway. You have to keep reminding yourself not to overdo it on the paint and not to worry about getting paint in every little nook and cranny. I love the knots in the wood!
Then, I sanded. I sanded, stepped back, looked, and went right back to sanding some more. Every time I’d think I was finished sanding, I’d go do a little bit more! It was pretty awesome, and it was great to just let go and sand. There was no right or wrong move. I made sure that I sanded down the corners and edges paying special attention to making sure that there would not be any splinters once I did a finisher.
After sanding, i added a Flat Out Flat Top Coat to my paint to seal the paint in, but also because I knew I was going to glaze it. The glaze is water based, so if I didn’t like it, it was easier to get a wet cloth and wipe it all off and start over again if there was a top coat on it.
For this project, I chose the Winter White Glaze that I purchased from Chalky & Company. It’s so easy to use. All I did was wet a lint free cloth and dabbed the cloth in the glaze and just start rubbing the headboard down. If I put too much, I just got a clean wet cloth and wiped it off. If I got too little, I just added more. It’s SO easy! I can’t believe I was so scared to jump in and do this! Once I had it exactly the color and glaze I wanted, I let it dry and did one more coat of Flat Out Flat Top Coat!
Don’t confuse a glaze with a shiny finish. A glaze is a translucent, water based color that can be wiped off before it dries if you do not like it. Chalky & Company carries black, brown, and white. The glaze is what helps with that rustic look after you distress your project.
Now, we’ve had a lot of people ask us why we didn’t leave the natural wood color and just seal it. It would have been really nice that way, however, to get all of the dirt out and all of the rough edges sanded down enough for daily use, it would have taken a lot more sanding than I was willing to do. This way, we just painted it the color we wanted, and it it’s really smooth. We have the distressed look we want without all the splinters!
My next project just might be our dresser. Now that I’m out of the color we used for the headboard, I may end up using a vintage white on the dresser and distressing it since it’s a really dark wood. The good news is, with Chalky Paint, I don’t have to stand it down to get started!
Thank you for checking out our DIY Pallet Wood Headboard! I hope this has inspired you to do something with the pallet wood that you’ve been collecting!