If there’s one thing that the world seems to have a lot of, it’s pallets. You know what I’m talking about, right?

“…sometimes called a skid, [a pallet] is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, front loader or other jacking device. A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load which allows handling and storage efficiencies. Goods or shipping containers are often placed on a pallet secured with strapping, stretch wrap or shrink wrap and shipped.” (Thank you Wikipedia!)

img via Brainstorm

We are renovating our home (I’ve been writing about the process on my personal blog) and pallets have been making an occasional appearance on our driveway. And this got me thinking… how can we repurpose wood pallets and turn them into something cool to use around the house? 

And that is when I turned to Pinterest, because that’s where all the good ideas live. It turns out there are hundreds of things you can do with the humble pallet. Here are a few of my favourites:

• You can paint it white and hang stuff from it in your mud room
• You can make a cool potting bench
• A fabulous herb garden
• A bookshelf
• Adorably rustic furniture
• A lounger
• A swinging chair! Here’s a different one that’s really cool too.
• A patio. Wowie. I love this one.
• And although this doesn’t use the whole pallet, it uses part of it. Look at how this person used pallet boards to change up the look of an old bookshelf.

Neat eh?

The question remains, where do you find old pallets? Well, I definitely don’t recommend skulking around construction sites. Check your local Used listings instead. They do crop up every once in awhile… usually under the “free” tab.