In 1999 Deron bought me TWO St. Bernard Puppies. I needed to build them bigger houses than the Dog Houses we had. One day we were driving dog the road and I saw, in these peoples yard, a BUNCH of wooden pallets. Some were 6' long. I asked Deron to stop, I wanted to make Dog Houses for the St.s out of them. Deron thought I was kidding. I was not. I ended up taking home many, many, many pallets from this guy, it seems he had a friend that drove a truck and needed to get rid of the wooden pallets. So the guy who had them used them for fire wood, and was glad for us to haul off as many as we wanted.

So? Number 1. Firewood. I would tell you to remove the nails, but you could burn them and just not use the ashes for getting you out of the snow when your vehicle gets stuck.

2. Dog House. I took the Wooden Pallets apart, saved the nails, and used them for the Dog Houses. I have made more than 75 Dog Houses out of Wooden Pallets. Deron and I had, raised, trained, bred and raced Sled Dogs for many years. Siberian Huskies LIKE the snow. Must slept in it rather than that Dog Houses I made for them.

3. Deron built a really nice strong, long lasting, 6' ladder out of a very large OAK wooden pallet and used that ladder for many years. Then I used it, laying on the ground for training dogs, back foot placement. We still have that ladder.

4. Deron also built a metal shed using the longer oak wooden pallets. Again, we saved the nails out of all the pallets and reused them too.

5. We use them laid down on the ground for a "board walk". Concrete does not do well in the soil we have out here in NW SD. When the equine step on the boards and brake them, we have a wood pile the old goes on and a new wooden pallet is put into it's place.

6. We are off grid and were in WI too. Deron used the wood from the wood pallet to build a little leantu for our generator to keep it out of the weather and wind.

7. Wooden Pallets can be stood up and used for fencing. There are many ways this can be done.

8. A wooden pallet can be used as a gate. Either as is, or torn a part and used as the builder wants to design it.

9. I have a friend that took the wood from Wooden Pallets to make rabbit cages.

10. I know this sounds weird, and I don't think one would last out here, but I have heard of people that build houses out of Wooden Pallets. Used as is. They screw them together for their house frame.....to "Little Piggy" for me.

11. Drag a Wooden Pallet behind your truck with a chain (note the chains on our tires) to clear your driveway or dirt road. We have 6.5 miles of dirt road, used almost exclusively by us, between us and the highway.

12. Set up walls/fencing, short that is, for Dog/Animal Chutes for training or moving the animals.

13. Take them apart and rework the wood to make Horse Jumps or Dog Agility Equipment Pieces.

14. Hold a load down in the back of your pick up truck by setting one or more Wooden Pallets on top of it. Wooden Pallets might just make it easier to tie some loads down, if you top it with the pallets that is.

15. We have come home late with a truck full of feed. We did not want the animals to be able to open the bags while we slept or early early in the morning, so we set a few wooden pallets on top of the feed, until we could unload it safely in the daylight hours.

16. Many people have made Chicken Coupes out of Wooden Pallets. Some use the pallets as they are and add sides. Others take the Wooden Pallets apart and use the wood for the frame and siding.

17. Like "old barn wood", Wooden Pallets taken apart can make very nice Picture Frames.

18. Using the wood from a Wooden Pallet, take it apart and make small shelves with it.

19. Use a Wooden Pallet for Children's Crafts. Teach the kids about Recycling by using the wood from the pallet to make a bird house. Let the kids use left over paints from other projects so that the whole project is made from "throw away items".

20. Strapped for money near Christmas? Use a Wooden Pallet to make small Jewelry Boxes and small item boxes for friends and family. The rough texture can be sanded and or painted.

21. Make a crate with cross pieces for Christmas Ornaments. The cross pieces hold the ornaments in place to prevent breakage while in storage....or worse, as you are getting them out and putting them away.

22. Make a cleaver item to wrap Christmas Lights around for storage.

23. Leave a few out in the weather, in a while it will look like "old barn wood" and could be used for the same type of crafts made using it.

24. Lay several across your driveway to keep others out (at least with their vehicles).

25. Take the Pallets apart, split the wood and use for Tomato Posts.

26. If all else fails, take a Pallet apart and fashion weapons.

27. Set up a safe area in the correct weather and have a big Bone Fire Party.

28. In and out and out war, take the Pallet apart and fashion shutters for your windows. If they work out cute, use them for bad weather. Deron and I had windows broken badly and glass flying in a hail storm one year....I don't want to go through that EVER again. Lord knows the weather is becoming more fierce.

29. Lay out for a sidewalk in muddy weather, stack the up out of the way when it is nice outside.

30. Make a childs Fort, but make it safe by screwing down the pieces. If you make it very stable, the kids could even climb all over it. Call it a Gym.

31. Take a Wooden Pallet apart, use the thinner boards as paw boards on a Tactical Wall to train your Schutzhund dogs.

32. Take a Pallet apart and make outdoor (or indoor) chairs. These would probably sell well too.

33. Use the wood from a Pallet to build outdoor tables and small chairs for a children picnic area.

35. Paint several in different bright colors and stand them up, screwed together and call it art.....why not? There are odd metal structures being set up in "Art Parks" all over the world.

36. Take a Pallet a part and build Planting Boxes. You could do this functional or Decorative and Functional. Use paint or just use them raw.

37. If you are very clever and crafty, you could take the wood from a Wooden Pallet and make a Scrap Book binder.

38. Use the wood from a Wooden Pallet to separate and date (mark right on the wood with a marker) food storages.

39. Lay several Pallets down and teach puppies "proper back foot placement".

40. Build Goat "furniture/play things to climb on" out of used Wooden Pallets.

41. Make small leantus for small goats or other smaller outdoor animals. A Small Wooden Leantu is better than no Leantu.

42. Take them apart and build Whelping Boxes for your dog to have puppies within.

43. In a pinch, wire one to an area of a fence or pen that has been chewed or broken by your animals. Something is better than nothing when it comes to keeping your animals on your own property.

44. Using the wood from the pallets, build a box to store ammo in.

45. If you use Pallet Wood to build a toy box for your children or pets, be sure to sand it well and or paint it.

46. Build a "roughed out" looking dog bed with a cushy pillow for your families protector or best hunter.

47. Have a party on Saturday Afternoon. Tell your friends to bring a few of their wood tools and wear work clothes....let them know it is for fun, not a big project you are having them do....and give each person two Wooden Pallets and a piece of paper and pencil. Tell them the Best Craft Idea gets the biggest steak (and have one really big steak). This party will be talked about for years to come. Make it an annual event.

48. Cut out pieces of wood from the Pallet for Bird Houses to be made from. Take the plans/your plans and the parts to a Church Vacation Bible School or an Old Folk Home. They will love you for it. Make sure the craft could be hammered with nails or hot glued together fairly easily.

49. Make small toys, sanded well of course, and give them out at Christmas to neighborhood kids or your nieces and nephews.

50. Build a Coffee Table to beat all Coffee Tables, one you can put your feet AND your drinks on without coasters.

51. Build a box for the back of your pick up truck that locks for carrying home items when you take the truck to town. Leave it rough, if anyone tries to bother it, they should get at least a splinter!

52. If you do not have a Kitchen Pantry, build an ever growing shelves out of the wood, structurally sound, for your basement or other shelters. The rough texture of the wood will keep the items from moving on the shelves.

53. Build a Trellis for your sidewalk into your home. Make it wide enough for a bench to sit upon.

54. Use the wood for all the things in a garden that need a piece of wood, just that piece of wood for this and that.

55. Make shelves around the inside of a window. Make the frame then add cross pieces to be called shelves. Grow your seedlings there or use it for indoor plants.

56. Make a small bathroom box shelf for fun and pretty items like fancy bottled soaps and colognes.

57. If your small animals have nothing else for shade and shelter, used Wooden Pallets with Tarps between several, to build a shelter for them. It might look tacky so make it extra structurally sound.

58. Use them for barter. You might have a neighbor or friend that would love to have a truck load of Wooden Pallets, but has no way to get them home.

59. Have several around, stacked nicely, for emergencies that might come up.

60. If people tell you that they are coming to your place when "TSHTF" and they are not folks you really want to come, tell them to bring Wooden Pallets so that they can build themselves a shelter to live in....it might change their minds about where they are going.....or at least get them thinking.

61. Build a nice well built Saddle Stand, one a person could sit on the saddle for sizing or just because they like to sit in saddles.

62. Build a Saw Buck Saddle Stand for different sizes, goat, llama, donkey, mule, horse, camel..... Build it with a shelf underneath it to hold the Panniers.

63. Most of us have a lot of camping gear. Build and or organize it making shelves and or boxes and such to keep all your camping gear together.

64. Make a Camping Box with the wood from Wooden Pallets. A Camping Box is a Box made to make a Table and or Chairs in Camp, but holds camping equipment at home. When you are ready to go camping, a couple of adults lift the whole box into the back of a van or truck. Make sure you clean and restock any items used on the camping trip so that everything is ready to go when the next Camping Trip time rolls around.

65. Your kids are now teenagers and want "things" of their own in their rooms or your basement. Furniture or Storage items that are just theirs. Make it a Saturday Project spending time and little money having fun and making memories with your kid(s). You will also be teaching them to "reuse", "recycle" and to think out of the "run to the store and buy it" box".

66. If your kids are College Age and need Furniture and such for their Dorm Rooms, Wooden Pallets will give your another opportunity to save money, spend time with your kid(s) and if you "harp" on the "Green" sense of these projects, they will have the KOOOOLEST stuff on campus.

67. Take a Wooden Pallet apart. Tack up a board or two on your barn wall. Staple a piece of Hay Twine to the board and tie a Marker to the other end of the Hay Twine.....make any notes on births or medications or such on the board. You can later burn the board for heat in your fire place or make a bird house out of it, putting the handwriting to the inside....for the birds to read.

68. Build a cute and functional Old Time looking Wooden Wagon for your children, your dog or goat to pull. Deciding on what wheels to add is part of the fun you will have. Just make it very well built and stable.

69. Build a Llama Cart. This could be very Rough Cute for pulling items, or really sanded and painted for people to ride within.

70. Build Shelves under your Bathroom Sink for storage. Leave the Rough Cut so that things do not slide around in their plastic wrappers.

71. Rough Cut Pallet wood makes great small shelves here and there in a barn. The Rough Cut keeps items from sliding around...when barn cats climb past them.

72. Use Wooden Pallets to stack up to make steps up to your Hay Stacks to reach the bales on top. You can take them down, as the bales are used up.

73. If you have really nice Wooden Pallets, take them apart and make a Gazebo or just a Deck out in your yard to keep people higher then the bugs in the grass.

74. Use the wood from a Pallet or two to make a Bicycle Rack for the back of your truck (throw a tie down strap over the top of the bikes from one side of the truck to the other, to stable the bikes as you drive along to where you will ride the bikes).

75. Make a Fancy Wine Rack for your basement. Remember to slant your bottles so that the corks are covered by the wine so that the cocks do not dry out and ruin the wine in storage.

76. Use the Wood for paneling in a room of your home.

77. Cut small pieces and sand and decorate. Cut a small hole in one end. Place a Keychain in the hole. You have made a one of a kind, or make many, keychains. These make nice gifts at Christmas.

78. Use the free wood to build a cute little Kitty bed for your Barn Cats that hangs from the wall in your barn. Decorate it or have a cute little Rough Cut Bed. Your friends will want one or more of these too.

79. Make Growing Boxes for plants by simply nailing or screwing a few pallets together and letting the slats between the wood do the rest. Especially pretty on a stand with flowers growing between the slats.

80. Use a Wooden Pallet with very few changes to make an out of the way shoe stand. Paint to match a room and you have a piece of Working Art!

81. One a Snowy or Wet Day, perhaps Thanksgiving or Christmas Day, place an old blanket folded over with a tarp between the folds, on the floor at your door where your company will come in. Place a nicer or even painted Wooden Pallet over the blanket for shoes and boots to go onto. The Pallet will let the wetness fall off the shoes and boots so that when your guests put them on to leave, they will not leave a wet mark away from the area designed to catch all the mess. This will make your guest happier with dry socks and you happier with all the mess in one, controlled area. If you have a smaller home or fewer guest, or just want to use this for the family, cut the Wooden Pallet down to the size you want.

82. Use matching Pallets, as in the idea #80, for a stool or bench for people to sit on as they put their shoes or boots on. Store the stool or bench on the Shoe Pallet when not in use.

83. Make a FREE WOODEN Rack for at your door for coats and jackets.

84. Make a hanging rack for dog leashes and keys to hang by your door using the wood pieces from a Wooden Pallet.

85. Using the Wood that was taken apart from a Wooden Pallet, build a small Storage Shed for Tool and your Lawn Mower.

86. People are using Wooden Pallets to make Bicycle Trailers out of. I borrowed this photo from the Internet. You would have to have several tie downs to make these useful, but very clever indeed. I have to admit, I borrowed this idea and the photo from the Internet.

87. If you have the room in your backyard or a field, build a Maze using the Wooden Pallets. When you have a Backyard Party the kids will have a blast with the Maze. If you serve Alcohol, later the adults will also have a blast with your new Maze. Build it very stable to avoid accidents. Remember, people will climb on it it find their way out.

88. If you are very clever, and even if not, build serious or silly Musical Instruments using the Wooden Pallets. Again, a fun thing to have sitting out at a Saturday Night Party.

89. Build a folding Shelf, one that folds down for use and up out of the way when not in use, for your Laptop Computer, on your barn wall. Your computer will remain up and out of the way of the animals as you record your business on a comfortable and free wooden shelf.

90. If you are "strapped for cash" use the FREE wood from the pallets and make some crafts to sell. People love the idea of the Old Barn Wood and the Green of the Recycling of Pallets. Use ideas here or come up with your own.

91. Take a pallet apart and chop up the wood into small pieces. Keep these pieces of wood in a dry place to use as as Fire Starter in your Fire Place at home or at your Camp Site for the fire there.

92. Need an Outhouse at your or on your property "in the country"? You could use the wood to build a little Out House. Make sure "seat" is not rough, but sanded down.

93. If you have young children that like to "help" you as you are building barns and other items, cut them some pieces of wood from FREE Pallets to "work on" beside you.

94. Build a "Green" Rocking Horse, sanding and sanding and sanding it to be smooth for children to rock on.

95. Use the wood to make a nice handy Spice Rack for your Kitchen or Bar-B-Ques area. Leave the wood rough so that the bottles do not slide easily..I would still put the little front piece on the rack so that the spice bottles do not easily fall out.

96. For Outdoor Winter Parties make crude tables for the food to set on at Dinner Time. Use the wood later that evening for Firewood.

97. Build a Changing Area at your Lake or River Front Property for people to have a place to change their clothes with swimming. Have Pallets down inside the structure so that it does not become a muddy mess.

98. Cut pieces of the Wood from a Wooden Pallet to make a square or rectangle for the wall in your teenagers room. Make the piece so that it hangs for removal for painting. Your Teen can hang posters from it (saving your wall) or paint the piece with their own art.

99. Use the wood from a Wooden Pallet to build a fence/barrier around your water tanks or water catchers.

100. Use the FREE Wooden Pallet Wood to build a well sanded Bench for people to sit on all the way around your deck. Add a few Coffee Type Tables and your Benches and Tables will be the start of many conversations. And could become the envy of your friends and family as well as neighbors.

101. And for the Green of all Green ideas.....Build a Compost Bin with the Wooden Pallets, saving the environment in several ways!

-- The Far Out Living Team
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:16:33 -0500