Home decorating can be soooooo expensive, don’t you think? You populate your beautiful pinterest boards with velvet sofas and marble tables and before long you’ve got a serious budget mismatch… But luckily not all designs and trends are going to completely blow your budget. Take, for example, the pallet bed!

You’ll know lovely Nicola as the face (and trigger finger) behind lots of the pics on this blog – I just love working together (stay tuned for a creative escape we’re embarking on soon!). Recently I noticed she had put together a crazy simple pallet bed in her room and I really wanted to share it with you guys. Although she’s usually behind the camera, I persuaded her to come out and show us!

How cute are these simple DIY shelves too? Nicola really killing it on the inexpensive decor front!

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DIY Pallet Bed

Tips

A pallet bed is a simple, inexpensive option for a nice looking set up that won’t cost the earth, or anything at all actually. Free bed! Obviously there are some drawbacks which relate to sourcing and potential for splinters, so we’ve suggested a few ways to approach it.

Choosing the pallets

– There are a few different types of pallet styles, Nicola used (what she could find) which was the 4 way block pallet (notice the blocks between the two layers of wood?). This gives good support and also means you can store shoes and other items underneath.

– Pallets are used for shipping items, so when you buy them, consider what items they have been associated with – try to avoid ones that may have shipped chemicals or anything like that because you’re going to be sleeping on top of it.

– Try your local hardware, supermaket or pet store for pallets.

– Nicola went with a single layer design, which means a relaxed, close to the floor design. If you wanted to bring the bed up another level you could use another set of pallets.

Preparing your pallets

– Make sure to sand your pallets down once you get them home, using some heavier sandpaper first to remove any large splinters and then some lighter sandpaper after to smooth it well.

– Another way to avoid splinters is to line one side of your mattress up closer to the edge of the pallet, and you can get out of bed this side.

– You can paint your pallets if you like, a nice coat of white paint would look great in a bright white bedroom.

Making up the bed

– Four pallets make up a queen size bed, with some room around the edges for storing items.

– You can add a pretty rug underneath to make the bed set up extra cosy.

– Place a nice comfortable mattress on top – one with springs and good support is pretty essential because the pallet bed isn’t that supportive – but you saved loads of money on the base so you can afford to splurge on the mattress!

– Put some really comfy, soft linen sheets on your bed, because this is what’s going to take it to the next level completely!