Making the best of it with pallets

When I moved to Hamilton I was blessed to find a good mattress cheap and then was horrified to discover the price you had to pay for a bed base.

My horror mounted when I tried to get one second-hand and found the charity stores seemed to have a monopoly and had decided mauve and floral were the ultimate combination.

My days of sleeping on the floor are over. Already finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning I find it almost impossible if that means going from totally prone to totally standing in one movement.

So I turned to the upcycler's best friend - the humble pallet.

To find some decent pallets just Google the location of your local freight stations. They will invariably have a pile of damaged or awkwardly sized pallets just ripe for the picking.

You won't even need to steal them. Just ask. The sleepy security may even be able to give you an impression of what the pallet carried, which is great because you don't really want something that has been transporting 1080 to DoC.

I have heard people claim pallets can be treated with toxins to preserve them against the weather and keep off unwanted visitors from other countries. I understand this is a load of rubbish, but it is still definitely worth giving them a good sand and a water blast. Try to find one that has been heat treated if you're worried.

Fortune apparently favours the tight-fisted, and I was able to find a base which was the perfect size for a queen mattress - it even had a narrow border, perfect for your nighttime reading or a glass of water.

I cut a second pallet in half to make a headboard and then it was a simple case of screwing this into the frame.

The thing I really like about this design is the construction means there is built-in storage space below the bed. I filled mine with books and magazines. This revealed a second unexpected advantage to the bed - when you finish a book at night you can have the next one stowed away within reach. No longer will you have to get out of bed and make that arduous journey to the bookshelf.

There you have it: the pallet bed, made for the price of eight screws.

For more upcycling ideas go to www.studentupcyclist.wordpress.com