Rustic Minibar From Pallet Frames

In our lovely garden we have a nice sunny corner where we barbecue. But there is always too little counter space for both food and beers. So to solve this world problem, I want a piece of furniture that looks nice but also has both storage and counter space.

I wanted to use the rustic look of the pallet frames and started by making a sketch of how I wanted my minibar.

Materials:

• 4 pallet frames
• 1 pallet
• 1 tabletop
• Some spare wood (for the inner frame)
• 4 hinges
• 4 wheels
• 1 lock
• Screws

Tools:

• Hammer
• Saw
• Jigsaw
• Circular saw
• Screwdriver
• Grinder
• Orbital sander
• Crowbar

I found that the pallet frames were too wide for how big I wanted the minibar to be, but I still wanted to use the hinges. I removed the old nails from the hinges, cut the frames and screw the hinges back on.

Of course the bottom had to fit the top, so I adjusted the width of the bottom and used the spare boards to fill out the holes. Then I added some wheels so I can "drink and drive" at the same time :)

I wanted my minibar to fit the normal height of a kitchen table (normal work level from floor to tabletop is 91 cm in Denmark) and cut the upper frame and hinges.

In order to stabilize and secure bottom and top to the structure I needed to make an inner frame.

I had an old tabletop, but it looked rather new next to the old pallet frames, so to make it more "rustic" and "alive" I burned the surface. I think the result was rather neat!

I wanted to be able to use the minibar for storage. I measured the width of a fitting size cabinet door. Then I put in a nail at both sides and used a strip of wood veneer to make an arched top. I made a small hole with a power drill in order to cut out the doors with a jigsaw. Afterwards i sanded the edges. Be sure to make an even cut since the wood from the hole will be used for the doors.

I took the wood from the hole and used it for the cabinet doors. I used some spare wood to assemble and stabilize the boards. Then I used the circular saw to cut the boards in half. Afterwards I assembled the doors again with a little space between them so they wouldn't bind later on.

I put the hinges on the doors first and on the cabinet afterwards. To make the final look neat I made sure the space around the doors was even.

When you are working with rustic materials it is more important to "take a step back" and look at it instead of measuring everything out.