Pallet loungers

Some of you may remember a while back when I made these beauties from some pallets.

Someone requested a tutorial and I'm happy to oblige, especially since I was planning on doing that anyway when they were all done. At the time they were only primed white and now they're a bright and luscious red :) So I took a few more pics and decided it was tutorial time!

Ok, maybe tutorial isn't the right word because I don't really have any before or during pics (!) but I'll at least be telling you how I went about it. As you can see from the pictures they're really easy and you can probably figure it out just from looking at them, but here we go just the same.

I can also add that my lack of before and during pics are due to the fact that I didn't know if it was going to turn out well or not. I was originally going to make something more Moroccan looking but it didn't work, not enough pallets of the same size and not the right saw for the job etc. So this is the design I came up with, spur of the moment style.

Materials

Four pallets of the same size, preferably rectangular
One pallet slightly wider than your other pallets, more square than rectangular
Scrap 2X4s or pallet scraps of the 2X4 kind

1. Take your four pallets of the same size and stack them on top of each other two by two. No need to secure them, the weight of the wood holds them in place just fine.

2. Make sure your one remaining pallet is wide enough to fit as a back rest. A pallet usually consists of three layers of wood: the top boards, the middle boards (often 2X4s) and the bottom boards. In this case the top boards need to be long enough to fit as a back rest while still accommodating the 2X4s on each side of the seat. So they need to be the width of the seat plus at least 4 more inches, if they're an inch or two longer than that you don't have to be so precise and it'll make your life easier.

3. Now it's time to deconstruct the back rest pallet and here's where the hard physical labor comes in... Remove all the bottom boards of the pallet and the two outside middle boards. Leave the one or two (depending on how your pallet is constructed) 2x4 boards in the middle where they are to help you keep the top boards in place. Save all the scraps, some will be used later in this project.

The arrow shows the nails holding the original middle board to the top boards, everything else was deconstructed.

4. Cut the remains in two halves. Make sure you cut so the slats will be in the same direction as your seat.

5. Take your 2x4s, either from another pallet like I did or use new from the lumber yard, and attach them to the top boards on either side. These need to be longer than your back rest so they can reach down and fit next to the seat pallets. 

6. Prop your seat back up where you want it to go to determine how much of an incline you want the back to be. I marked the incline of the supporting legs on the side so I knew at what angle to attach the legs later (see below pic with arrow). I just reused the original middle boards (2x4s) from my back rest pallet for this and at this point I was so tired and hot that I didn't even worry about cleaning them up :) They'll barely be visible in the end anyway. Oh, and I attached the support legs to the back rest at this point too :)

7. The last step is to attach the back rest pallet to the seat pallets. I was originally going to leave the back rest unattached but it was a little too wobbly so I put a screw where the arrow in the below pic is, one on each side of the lounger. It's only attached to the bottom seat pallet, the top one is still loose and removable.

Just a close-up of the same thing.

This is what it looks like from the back.

 You're all done!

At this point I decided to prime mine since I knew I wanted to paint them eventually.

And only two months later I finally got to the painting part :) Mostly since bright red paint for the outdoor furniture wasn't a high priority in the spending budget. But last week I found Pratt & Lambert exterior paint in "Red Statement" for only $10 a gallon at our local Habitat store and the rest is history...

Now they just need some cushioning, a few pillows and I'm thinking a drop cloth canopy so we can finally start using them. How about some oranges, yellows and hot pinks on top of this luscious red and probably a serene white for the canopy? Can't wait to hang out here with a cool drink while the kids play in the sprinkler. At this rate I'll probably have the rest done just in time for Thanksgiving :) But there's always next summer for reaping the benefits of this summer's hard work I guess :)

These loungers were free except for the $10 for paint. I barely used a quarter of my gallon so I have plenty left for other projects. Not bad for backyard style, IMHO.

Ps. Linking up with
Beyond The Picket Fence
The Shabby Chic Cottage 
Someday Crafts 
Funky Junk Interiors