Old Style Pallet Desk
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Some times ago, i decided that it was time for me to have my own "hand made" desk. I just moved into a bigger apartment so the place was big enough for a futur "grandpa desk". Ok i'm only 28 but ... my grand son will one day say "It was my grand father desk" ;).
Anyway here the story of the old sewing machine pallet desk ;)
You will need :
- A saw
- An electric saw
- A least 4 pallets
- An old sewing machine (you can find some in flee-market or on ebay - careful..could be expensive !)
- A cabinet with some drawer (a cheap one in metal will be fine)
- A sander (for the pallet wood and also for the metallic cabinet)
- Some glue (to fix the pallet wood)
- Some screws and a screwdriver
- A large board of plywood
- Some table legs (short ones)
- Some black spray paint
Step 1 : the Pallets
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Well... as it is said.. the first step was to find some pallets. My oncle had 4 pallets... they were all blue ! Was a lil afraid of that color was not sure it was going to give me the old style i wanted. But anyway..pallet is pallet...and its free so here we go the hard work start here !
I had to disassemble them. Not the easiest part..
At first I used a regular saw... but then i though it will be faster with an electric saw. So I cut them. At the end only the basics of the pallet was left. See the photo. I did not used those part for the rest of the project... maybe some will say that i could have used them but disassemble those pallet without breaking them was really the hard part.
I was pretty happy with the result. I had many pieces of pallet wood that i can use to make the desk top.
Step 2 : the Sewing Machine
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I had an old sewing machine at my parents house that was my grand grand mother. She passed away 2 years ago and this sewing machine was in the garage since then. I decided that it was time to give it a second life.
I did not like the gold part so I : gave it a "coup" or in english... I sanded it and the metal part came back. The silver color look better with the metal desk !
That is not the hard part but you can expert it to take some times if you want to do it right.
Step 3 : the Cabinet
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As you can see i used the sander to bring back the metal color and to give it a more industrial look.
Here again... not hard... but long ! I had to used many different sandpapers before to find the right one and to finish all.
The I painted the drawers in black (was blue originally). Only a question of taste... and colors. But black fit with everything so... You can see it in the last step ;)
Step 4 : the Pallet Wood
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After I disassembled all of the pallets... it was time to transform them in an usable wood !
4 steps :
- As you can imagine.... the key word in this first step is : SANDING ;) you sand, you sand and you sand ! and then you can go to the next step ;)
- Then I chose the right parts of woods i wanted and where i wanted ! And i glue them on a plywood board. And then i screw the pallet wood underneath. So it wont move too much.
- Then.... I sanded it again to have a falt surface.
- Finally I gave it 2 a varnish layers to give this old wood hue.
And now we are ready for the last step !
Step 5 : Assembly
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Here we are... the finish lane ;)
I used some old table leg I had. I had to cut them a little to match the height of the sewing machine ! Careful... not an easy part ! If its too short.... you'll have to find some new ones ! So make the right measurement before to cut. I know....we all do before... but anyway... be careful ;) there is not second chance ;) !
After that i screw everything to the plywood board and .. here we are ! we have an old sewing machine pallet desk ;-) lets see in the last step the result !
And "VoilĂ " it's done ;)
Step 6 : Let's Work ;)
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Nothing more to say except that it was a fun project to do and that i love this desk !
Hope you will like it too !!
It was my first "how to" and I hope I did not kill you with my poor english but if you do the same please !! Share it here so i can see your work ! I'd love to see many desk like that ! Maybe with something different of the sewing machine ;).
Share, love, peace and take care ;)
Damien