Transforming Old Pallet wood into Stylish Corner Shelves

After lockdown, a friend asked me to make some shelves for their flat. I thought this would be a fun thing to do and agreed. We decided that some corner shelves would be the best way to go. This represented a new challenge for me. I hadn’t really made anything for anyone other than myself before. I was a bit apprehensive at first but also excited for the task ahead.

My parents had an old pallet lying outside the garage that wasn’t being used. I thought this would be a good opportunity to turn this old pallet wood into something new. Using pallet wood to create reclaimed style furniture has become an increasingly popular trend. I was looking forward to seeing if I could do something myself.

The pallet itself was old and dirty. However, once I removed the planks and sanded them down, they tidied up pretty nicely. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the wood underneath, considering how it had looked not that long ago!

After cutting the planks to size, and cutting the 45 degree angles for the corner, I waxed and polished them. Again, considering they had come from an old pallet that had been sitting around on the floor, they polished up really nicely with a lovely golden brown colour.

I cut the planks in a ‘tapered’ style. So that the bottom shelf would be the widest in length, then the middle and top shelves slightly shorter. This would create a nice pyramid style effect.

I needed to buy some brackets to mount the boards together and fix them to the wall. This was the only additional component other than the shelves themselves. Once I had the brackets, up next was the moment of truth…fitting them to the wall itself!

Installing the Shelves

Fortunately, everything went to plan. The brackets were solid, the shelves lined up, and no large holes appeared in the wall.

It all came together really nicely and my friend was happy with the final product. I enjoyed the process of using the old pallet and seeing the wood transform into something new. Not knowing beforehand how it was going to turn out and then seeing the end result was a valuable learning experience.

The shelves created a nice feature in the room, against the plain white walls. As well as giving some valuable storage space in a small flat.

It was also fun to make something for someone else, rather than just myself, as this added an extra layer of pressure to make sure I delivered a decent product. Thankfully, it went to plan.