I just moved to a new city after storing all my stuff in a friend's basement for 8 months. To keep the moving costs down most of the furniture had to go! Sadly this meant that upon moving into a new place I was sadly lacking a number of common furniture items such as bedside tables, end tables, and random shelves.
Thankfully, my wife is a freaking genius and suggested we make our own furniture. Sure you say, but what about material costs? That's the true genius of the idea-wooden pallets are free and plenty of businesses are desperate to get rid of them. A little time on Craigslist yielded a nice crop of pallets and a few hours in the backyard with a couple of hammers turned those pallets into a nice stack of wood. The key to making all this new furniture has been spending a little time sanding the wood to make it look nice instead of all janky.
To date we've made:
2 bedside tables with working drawers (the first one was a real learning experience!)
1 shelf above the sink
1 living room end table
1 outdoor table
Total Cost: $62, includes an orbital sander, wood glue, nails, nuts & bolts
And I get an immense feeling of satisfaction every time I open the drawer next to my bed. Sometimes I just open it a few times in a row just for kicks.
