Headboard From Wooden Pallets

A few things the reader should know:

This is my first Instructable.

I am pretty much learning as I go with wood working which is why, along with the pleasing aesthetics, I began using reclaimed wood from old pallets.

I will welcome any constructive comments that will help me better my skills.

Parts you will need:

About 2 wooden pallets worth of wood (I called around to lawn and garden stores and factories in the area to find my wooden pallets.  Most places are happy to part with a few)

Preferred color of wood stain (I used Miniwax Golden Oak)

Polyurethane

Screws (dependent on the thickness of your wood)

4" Bolts

Black latex paint (optional)

Light fixture (optional)

Black Spray Paint (optional)

Tools You will need:

Circular Saw

Reciprocating Saw (optional but will make things easier)

Drill

Electric Sander (also optional but will make things easier)

After disassembling the pallets (by hand at first until I bought a reciprocating saw which made it much easier) I laid the wood out to get a general idea of how much space I could cover.  For my bed it had to start two feet off the ground and be about 4' by 3'.

After sketching out the shape on paper and figuring out the dimensions it was time to cut the wood and sand it.  Once the wood was cut and smooth I began to assemble it into it's final shape.  I have limited space and had to construct it in my driveway which meant I had to move the wood when not working on it.  To remember where each piece went I numbered them with pencil on the back.

As I said I'm not the most experienced wood worker and have been learning as I go.  I thought about how to attach all the wood and decided to use four boards cut just under the height of the headboard to screw to the back.  This worked well and ended up being pretty sturdy too.

Now that it is all put together I applied the stain (Miniwax Golden Oak), sketched and painted the design (with black latex paint) and applied two coats of Miniwax Gloss Polyurethane (sanding in between the first and second coat of gloss). 

I thought it would be cool to have a reading light for the headboard so I purchased a light fixture. After salvaging an inline switch and cord from an old Halloween decoration, I wired it to the lamp fixture.(Note: the neutral wire in the cord is the one with a slight ridge to it).

I wasn't exactly sure how to attach the legs but after walking around the nuts and bolts aisle long enough I found some heavy duty 4" bolts with rounded heads.  After spray painting the heads black (to match the nails, design, and fixture), I drilled two holes per each leg (matching them to holes drilled in the headboard) and bolted it together.

I'm pretty happy with the end result, especially since I learned as I went.  Hope you like it and feel free to let me know what you think.