By Chaya, selected from Networx, Care2

Shipping pallets are a plentiful source of wood to reclaim and build with. Since pallets are rough hewn, they lend themselves to rustic pieces of furniture, which happen to be in style right now. With imagination and some basic carpentry skills, you can turn shipping pallets into all kinds of practical and whimsical furniture. Have a look at nine ideas, all shared by DIY bloggers. A special thanks goes out to Donna of Funky Junk Interiors, a skilled DIY carpenter who built and posted photos of many of these projects.

Garden lounge chairs: These garden lounge chairs look like a combination of extra wide loungers and Adirondack chairs.

Pallet sofa: Most sofas have wood frames underneath the upholstery. With this sofa, the frame is on the outside, and it is built from shipping pallets. It’s just about the least expensive outdoor sofa that you could “buy.”

TV stand: Want to soften up the look of your TV’s cold, hard plastic? Build a rustic TV stand out of pallets. It balances the TV with the natural look of wood.

Dresser: If you need a dresser and have absolutely no budget to buy one, a pallet dresser could be for you. If you can scrounge up six pallets and a bunch of baskets, you have the components of a unique and stylish storage solution.

Tiki bar: When you’re throwing a party but don’t have a bar, you can always build a DIY pallet bar. This project was built and posted by David Rundle, a builder in Tacoma.

Pallet desk: This desk is so stylish. People pay hundreds for desks like this one. Why pay hundreds when you can build your own desk out of scrap lumber?

Picnic table: Be sure to sand the edges well when you build this super cute DIY kid’s picnic table. You don’t want your kids to get splinters!

Coffee table: This is fantastic. Anyone can build this pallet coffee table, which looks absolutely modern and stylish. You won’t have to pay hundreds for an industrial-chic coffee table if you can score some shipping pallets.

Farmhouse table: Finally, a dining table made from shipping pallets. Is this too good to be true? Nope.

Photo of pallet bed by Jodimichelle/Flickr.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/nine-pieces-of-furniture-made-from-shipping-pallets.html

EDITORS NOTE: Go to the above link to view all the photos including instructions on how to make the furniture and click on the nine furniture titles