Pallets A'Plenty

So, welcome back. I say this mostly to myself, reminding me that I need to get stuff done so that I will be able to actually post some of my projects. So Ta-da! Here is one that I have completed. It is not a step-by-step since I finished this a couple of weeks ago and only have a few pics to show.

My blackberry bush had been getting bigger, and the poor tomato cage (my husband's grandfather had made, which was 10 times stronger than the ones you find at Lowe's or Home Depot) started to look like a mangled web of twisted metal. So I hauled home two pallets from the warehouse at work. Originally I thought that I could use one pallet standing straight up and then just figure out how to make it stay in the ground, but that idea produced little solutions. So I leaned them up against each other to look like an A frame.

I had a few pieces of deck lumber laying in the shed so I cut them to fit and screwed one small piece to the top of each pallet. Then, do the opposite side. Next, cut a longer piece for the bottoms and repeat. I used deck screws since they are made to be outside and weather resistant.

This step is tricky, because you are holding up two pallets with your legs and a drill in one hand, and the screw/piece of wood in the other. Hint: in case you are saying to yourself "there is an easier way to do that" - It's probably true. However, my logic is not that of a rocket scientist and is more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey whimey.

Once you feel that your pallet trellis is sturdy enough, then comes the paint! Whoo Hoo! I chose Krylon spray paint in a TARDIS Blue (This of course isn't the real name, but my view) As if you can't tell, I am a Doctor Who fan. Mine took two cans of spray paint, but yours could take more -depending the size of pallets. I also layered on a clear coat of spray paint to help it last longer.

Once dry, I had a neighbor help carry this bad boy out to my blackberry bush and carefully lift it over. The hard part was interweaving the established branches of the bush around the pallets without breaking them. This can be avoided, simply by creating the pallet trellis before your plant has gotten out of hand.

Now I have a functional piece of art and I saved a couple of pallets! Its your turn! Lets see what you can do!