A common place to find upcycled pallets is in the garden and outdoor areas of the home. They’re almost perfectly suited for quick and easy garden furniture and fittings that one might think they’re created for the purpose. Here are a few ideas to get you going with using pallets in the garden.
A Bench, of Course
Every garden needs a good garden bench. Pick a tranquil part of your garden where you can sit and escape the busy day for a few minutes and create a little sanctuary for yourself using a few pallets. There are many different designs and ideas on how to use pallets to create a bench, so we’ll leave the design up to your imagination. Incorporate pillows or a bench cover with some natural tone colours and create something you’ll want to spend some time sitting on every day.
Patio Chairs
Outdoor chairs have a lot to offer you when it comes to destressing. Stacking a few pallets on top of each other and adding one for back support can make some really nice and big chairs for your patio to relax on with a cup of strong tea in the mornings before you start your day.
A Swing
If you have a sturdy tree with a branch begging for a swing to be hung from it, then this is a perfect idea. Using pallets and shaping your swing to resemble a hammock, with some structural beams to hold it together, you can create a gently swinging space for you to lie on and read a book or scroll through social media surrounded by the gentle natural allure of your garden. Remember to bring a big soft pillow and a quilt to snuggle under. Baby cot mattresses work wonderfully here for a soft bed too.
A Compost Bin
Perhaps one of the easiest things you can do with your pallets is just used four of them and create a compost bin. Make a square from pallets turned on their ends, bury them slightly for support and use brackets to secure them together and you have an almost instant compost bin. Throw all your organic waste into it and you’ll soon have wonderfully rich humus to feed your plants and lawn with.
Walkways
Dismantling the pallets and using the resulting wood planks opens up all-new opportunities for their use around the garden. A popular use of these planks is to create rustic plank walkways over beds and sandy parts of the garden that might otherwise be muddy and unpleasant to walk over without a walkway. The rough nature of the pallet wood blends seamlessly with the dark browns of soils to create a rustic, pleasing weathered look. Best of all, by walking on these pallet planks, you’ll avoid compacting soil that’s wet from rain or watering.
Pallets are versatile and available readily at a low cost or sometimes even free. A bit of ingenuity and some basic woodworking skills and tools can turn the humble shipping pallet into a feature of your garden.
