Be your own furniture designer with our fruit-pallet shelving

Picture of white shelves made out of old fruit boxes — From stacked fruit boxes to a room divider with intergrated shelves

Difficulty

easy
Cost

85 £
Duration

3 - 8 h

Introduction

Don’t want a shop-bought bookcase, but have lots of books and other bits and bobs to store? Using a few fruit pallets, you can create totally unique shelving that you’ll not find anywhere else. The best part is that it also works brilliantly as a room divider.

You need

Tools

Utilities

painter masking paper or painter foil

Materials

8 old wooden fruit pallets
1 tub of white acrylic paint
Floor protector or cover sheets
3 x 16 T10 Torx countersunk chipboard screws

L: Length, W: Width, H: Height, D: Diameter

Let's go - step by step

Step 1 3

Sand down the fruit pallets

A picture of someone using sander to sand down wood — Sand down the fruit boxes for a smooth finish

You need: Multi-sander, Sanding sheet for multi-sander G120, fruit pallets

To make sure your room-divider shelving doesn’t end up looking like a stack of discarded fruit pallets, you first need to sand them inside and out. This will enable you to remove irregularities like scratches while roughening the surface of the wood ready for painting.

Take the first fruit pallet and sand it evenly without applying pressure, moving in one direction. Once you’re finished, you can simply wipe away any sawdust using a small hand brush.

TIPS FOR SANDING

The grit of the sanding sheet tells you how coarse or fine the grind will be. As a rule of thumb, the higher the number, the finer the surface. If you’re not sure what grit you need, start with an 80-grit sheet and work up from there. When doing so, be careful to never jump up more than one grit level – or you’ll create scratches. So if you start with an 80-grit sheet, you can only jump to a maximum 120-grit sheet. Another tip: to avoid getting sawdust in your eyes, we recommend wearing protective goggles.

Step 2 3

Paint the fruit pallets

Picture of someone using a paint spray system on the boxes — Paint the boxes a colour of your choice

You need: Paint spray system, painter masking paper or painter foil, acrylic paint

It’s now time to give the fruit pallets a coat of paint. Before you get started, prepare your workspace by laying down floor protector or cover sheets. Set the fine spray system to the ‘round jet’ setting and spray the fruit pallets inside and out with acrylic paint. Leave to dry briefly, then give the pallets a second, final coat of paint. Or instead of using the fine spray system, you can also paint the pallets with a roller and brush. In this case, use the roller to cover the flat surfaces and the brush to paint the corners and edges. Again, add two coats of paint and leave the pallets to dry.

Step 3 3

Screw the fruit pallets together to create your shelving

A picture of someone using a scewdriver from Bosch putting the boxes together — Now to fix the boxes together

You need: Cordless Drill, 3 x 16 T10 Torx countersunk chipboard screws

Is the paint dry? If so, you can start transforming the fruit pallets into shelving. Stack the pallets as you see fit, depending on how you plan to use your new shelving. First stack them together loosely and see how your DIY room divider looks. Once you’re happy with the design, screw the fruit pallets together. If you have eight fruit pallets, you will have six screws to use per pallet. Look for the pallet corners that touch, place the screws around 5 cm below the corners, then drill through both pallets using a light pressure. If your shelving still seems wobbly, you can secure the pallets with the remaining screws. Once your shelving is solid and stable, it’s time to put your books in the fruit pallets and start using your new furniture!