Yesterday I shared a list of tips and thoughts on how to make your office super awesome. And, in case you forgot, Tip #4 on that list was…
DO ONE SUPER COOL THING.
If you recall, I mentioned that our youth ministry offices are pretty awesome. But it’s not because we’ve spent a ton of money on them. It’s because we’ve tried to come up with a few really cool and functional things to do with the space we have.
So you see that guy over there to the right? That’s Austin. Austin Barnett. Austin works in our High School Ministry as the Music and Events Coordinator. He wears a lot of fanny packs. And, since he oversees music stuff, he has a lot of guitars – guitars that were taking up a lot of space in his office.
So, because he wanted to clear some floor space in his office (and because it would be freaking awesome) Austin decided to mount those guitars on a wall. A wall made of pallet wood, to be exact. Here’s the finished product…
Pretty fancy, right? Here’s how to make it for your office.
First, gather up all the stuff on that list over on the right. You can find wooden pallets for free, if you know where to look. And everyone has drywall anchors, screws, and nails laying around, right? So the only things Austin actually needed to buy for this project were the sheets of plywood and guitar mounts. Here’s how to replicate it…
1. CUT SHEETS OF PLYWOOD TO THE SIZE OF YOUR FINISHED PALLET WALL. The plywood will serve as a backing for the pieces of pallet wood – the layer between the wall and the pallet wood.
2. HANG THE SHEETS OF PLYWOOD ON YOUR WALL. Austin just used basic drywall anchors and screws for this. Nothing fancy. Remember, you’ll want the plywood to cover the exact area you want your finished pallet wall to cover.
3. PREP YOUR PALLET WOOD. First, you’ll need to tear your pallets apart with a crowbar. Don’t worry about removing all of the nails. A spattering of nails (and nail holes) will give your wall some cool texture. Then start strategizing the placement of your wood. If you have pallet wood in a variety of ages, hues, and textures, you’ll want to mix them up.
4. NAIL YOUR PALLET WOOD TO THE DRYWALL. Nothing fancy about this process. Just get your hammer and nails and get to work. Austin started placing his pallet wood near the center of the plywood, nailing full-sized (uncut) planks of pallet wood to the plywood and working his way out toward the outer edges of the wall. Once the plywood was covered except for the outer edges, he measured how much space he had left to cover and cut the remaining pallet wood to fit.
5. ADD GUITAR MOUNTS (OR OTHER FUN DETAILS). Austin used his pallet wall to hang his guitars, but the possibilities for how you can customize this for your office are pretty endless.
And, done! Want more tips on how to make your office super sweet? Check this out.
And want more ideas on how to recycle used pallets? Check this out from DesignRulz.com.
What do you think? Think you’ll try it?