With the winter setting in, there is little light in the week to get anything in the garden done. But that doesn’t mean smaller projects can’t be completed! In the last week, in the spirit of environmentally building things, I’ve been reading about pallet craft. It’s a bit of a craze around the world – making use of old pallets and turning them into some beautiful pieces of work. Though I’m not quite ambitious (read: crazy) enough to make an entire shed out of the pallets, with the onslaught of the wet weather, my hallway is getting a little wet and dirty due to my bike being kept there, and I could do with a little bike shed out the back to keep it dry and safe out there. I smell a project coming on!

I’ve started collecting pallets from my college, and stripping them down. A bolster chisel and a hammer does the job, but its not the easiest of things to do – pallets are built to last!

With the wood all ready, I’ve got my dimensions of the shed designed to (in mm) 800 deep, 1200 tall and 2000 wide. This should fit 2, maybe 3 bikes which is perfect for my collection! The width allows for some extra storage space, and I might throw some shelves in the side for accessories. The hope is that if it is strong enough, I’ll use it as a sample project for a living roof. The location of the shed will be ideal for a little herb garden, which I will plant on top. Getting the things right, like lining the roof, layering the soil and getting the drainage right will be good practice for the large scale project which I am planning for the summer.

So I’ll be sure to keep this blog up to date on the build! Next week should be a potential build date, as long as the weather is nice – this weekend is looking a bit too wet 🙁

In the meantime, here are some inspirational links to get you thinking about your next pallet build.

Table from pallets

Chair from pallets

Beer crate

Pallet shed (this shows other builds) – Scroll down to the shed built by Kelly Hutchinson, I think thats my favourite 🙂

It’s worth pointing out (especially with the pallet sheds) that there are some people who have concerns about using pallets in the house – it’s a good point that you don’t know where the old used pallets have been and what chemicals they have been treated with, so I’m thinking pallets might be best suited for outside use. Most of the ones I have collected are in a pretty good condition (they are used to transport paper on, so they are clean), but I’d be careful if making indoor furniture with anything which has been used outside – the debate remains open I believe.