Faux Pallet Gate

Transformation Tuesday - Post #5

Today I thought I'd share an easy peasy tutorial with you.  I gave you a sneak peak of it last week when I shared my cabinet door turned coat rack.  Which by the way, I'm still loving!  (And you'll see in some of the pictures that I've been decorating that little spot in our foyer.)

Using a few pallet boards I built this awesome faux gate that now hangs in what was a huge empty wall in our foyer.  I am so happy with it!  It makes such a statement when you walk in the front door and is a great compliment to the coat rack!  AND it only cost $12 to build!

Now, let's talk about just how easy this really is to do!

Step 1.  Cutting up the pallets.  I started with a couple of pallets just like this one.  Broke out the sawzall and began taking them apart.  The sawzall cut right through the nails on the ends but I had to use a nail pry bar and hammer to remove the nails from the middle section.  And of course some of the boards split when prying/beating on them.  Oh well.... what is a girl suppose to do but tear apart another one.  It took a couple of pallets to get enough "good" wood to create the faux gate but it happened.

This is the step that took the longest.  And it was definitely a workout!  But "Girl Power" prevailed and got the job done!

Step 2. Attaching the boards.   I laid out my boards in the pattern that I wanted and dry fitted so to speak my horizontal boards across the top and bottom before measuring and cutting them.  All pallet boards are not created equal so it's important to measure both top and bottom.  I used a nail gun to attach the horizontal boards across the top before turning the gate over and using wood screws to make sure everything was good and secure.

 

 

Step 3:  Paint.  I used slightly watered down ceiling paint and dry brushed the middle of each board.  I love ceiling paint because of it's great coverage!  This took all of 15 minutes at most. 

 

 Step 4.  Add hardware.  I added two 5 1/2" hinges that I purchased at Lowe's to the horizontal boards.  I looked for some old hinges at a few local antique stores but couldn't find any...  Oh well, these work just fine and they were only $6 each.  I guess I could have tried to make these look at little aged by spray painting and sanding them but it really isn't that big of a deal to me.  I may do it later but I doubt it.  I then added two large D ring picture hangers to the back.

 

 

Step 5.  Hang and Enjoy!  I used two heavy duty wall anchors to secure it to the wall (because of course there weren't studs where I wanted it).  It's pretty heavy! 

 

 And that's it..... Easy Peasy!  For now, I added a fall wreath but I have lots of ideas in my head about how to decorate it from season to season, especially as Christmas quickly approaches.  By the way, I've been working on a ton of Christmas projects and I'm excited about sharing some of them in the next few months!

Hope you're having a great day!  Take care and thanks for stopping by!