Pallet bed for Beatlekid 1

I made this pallet bed from two 4x8 pallets I got from a local community theatre. They were not in perfect shape, but that partly worked to my advantage. My daughter saw a lighted pallet bed on Pinterest and fell in love. I had been wanting to try out a pallet project so I figured why not. I still plan on making a headboard for it from some trifold doors I got for free from Habitat Restore. I have found if you get there early enough they put some things outside that they have not been able to sell and they are free.
Below I posted some picks of the building process. I don't have each step, but I took pictures when I remembered to. In the middle of making the bed we went on vacation to Orlando, so I was a little preoccupied with trip planning and having the best vacation I have ever had in my life.

This is what the side of my garage looked like after I went a little pallet crazy and discovered the Restore. Thankfully I have a two car garage so my van still fits.

This is the top pallet. I had already sanded it here and I had cut off one of the boards at the bottom because it was broken and as luck would have it Beatlekid1 wanted steps into her bed. As you can see there were also a few other broken boards. Since this was the top pallet I cut the broken board near the bottom and sanded the edges. I may still end up covering the edges with carpet remnants to prevent her from getting scratched. She spends the summer with her dad so I have time to tweak it before she gets home.



I had 1 1/2 cans of this left from an art easel I had built for Beatlekid2 so I used it before buying more so I don't count this in the price of the bed. I spent $15 total on the rest that I bought.

Beatlekid1 didn't want the bed painted a color so I just sealed it and we were good to go.

 

I bought a rope light kit from Lowe's for $20. I could have gone with color changing lights for $40 and maybe I should have, but I still like how it turned out. The lights were easy to install. I just screwed in the hooks and attached the lights it took maybe 20 minutes to put them all in.

I don't have pictures of the second pallet by itself, but here are both pallets after I had screwed them together. 

This is the bed with the bedroom lights out so you can see just how great it looks with the lights on. As I said I still may put carpet on the edges to make it safer for my oh so graceful daughter. I came back after attaching it and cut the side beam off on the end, again, so it is safer for her.

The boyfriend's dog, Chewy, had to try it out. Before putting the blankets on the bed, I had them piled on the couch. When I went to get them, Chewy was curled up in them. I take this as her approval.

I will post more pics of this project as I add the headboard and anything else that might strike me in a moment of inspiration, but I wanted to post this to get this blog started. I have a few more projects I have done that I will be posting over the next week or so. Feel free to give me your comments. I'm still learning how to do all of this, but I want to show that you don't have to be a master craftsman to build something cool. Yes, I am a Pinterest addict, but I can't just make boards and dream. I have to do and the Habitat Restore is so full of stuff for so many different projects, I will be posting my own projects soon.