DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar
Hello OSP readers! I’m Elizabeth, Ann’s daughter. I haven’t guest blogged in quite some time; not since we shared my take on Installing a Rain Barrel last summer. My boyfriend Darren and I recently finished a little DIY project at my house in Columbus, Ohio that my mom thought was “blog worthy” so today I’m here to tell you about my DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar.
I bought my little Cape Cod house five years ago from the children of the original owners. It was built in 1954, and while the entire inside has been updated, the outside is a never ending project that constantly needs TLC. This spring, Darren willingly offered to help me replace the 40-year old concrete patio with a cute new paver patio. Of course, I had no idea how much work and time this project would entail, and I totally thought we could remove the old patio and lay the new one all in one weekend. Delusional, I am. I’m proud to say that almost a month later, the patio is completely finished and Darren and I are still happily dating.
Here we are at a fundraiser, mid patio construction.
Anyway, my new patio pavers were delivered on several pallets. Once the pavers were installed, I could tell that a couple of the pallets were in rough shape, but two of them looked pretty good and matched perfectly. I knew I had seen several crafty ideas on Pinterest that involved pallets, but I didn’t want to use them as furniture or turn them into American flag décor. After several days of pondering, we decided I decided that Darren could make a pretty cute DIY pallet outdoor bar with the two matching pallets. He loved the idea of another project! (Well, not really.)
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Prep
Step 1: The pallets were dirty, so I sprayed them off with the hose first. While they were drying, we gathered our materials.
What we needed:
Liquid Nails
Waxman Swivel 2 inch heavy duty rubber casters (4)
Spray paint – I used this color
Drill
9 x 2 Deck screws
16 inch Wetcast Yorkstone Patio Blocks (3)
Assembly
Step 2: The next step was to connect the two pallets together. Darren spread the Liquid Nails on the back of one pallet.
Step 3: He then laid the second pallet on top.
Step 4: To make sure they would stay together, he drilled 16 screws into the pallets.
After everything was securely connected, we he installed the wheels.
I should note: We debated about installing the wheels, but since the patio blocks on the top were so heavy AND because we’ll have to move this from my patio to the garage before winter, we decided that wheels would make it easier to move the bar. You could certainly still make this without wheels; just keep in mind that it will be heavy and harder to move.
To install the wheels:
Step 1: Measure and mark where you want them.
Step 2: Drill the holes.
Step 3: Pound in the prong tee nut.
Step 4: Insert the wheel.
Painting
Next was painting. Darren set up a spray painting area towards the back of my driveway once the wheels were installed. We decided to prime the pallets first; I was worried that the purple wouldn’t be bright enough without the primer. We used some old primer that was left over from another project.
The priming took about an hour and spraying the pallets purple took about 15 minutes. I should also note that it was 95 degrees outside the day we did this (oops, poor planning on my part), so the paint dried very quickly.
Once the painting was finished, we wheeled the bar over to my new patio and positioned it next to the house where I wanted it to stay. Darren spread more Liquid Nails on the top of the pallets, carefully laid the patio blocks on top, pressed down on them for a few minutes, and then it was finished!
Styling our DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar
I didn’t want to fill up the bar top with too many things and not have room for food or drinks. I kept it simple and just added the ceramic planter, aqua ceramic fish, and wicker candle holder.
I spent about $60 to make this DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar (that doesn’t include the décor on top). If you made this without wheels, you could do it for under $40. I’m really excited to use it – Darren and I grill out several times a week, so it will be nice to have a piece of furniture other than the patio table to put our drinks, utensils, etc.
I hope you enjoyed my most recent DIY project – hopefully I’ll be back again before another year passes. This blog post wouldn’t be complete without a special shout out to Darren for all of his hard work. Darren, thank you for making all of my DIY dreams come true!
For more outdoor bar ideas click HERE!
All photos by Elizabeth Drake
