Day Bed Bench

We are increadibly lucky to have a large terrace with a beautiful view. Mid afternoon the wind picks up and by early evening as the sun sets behind us, the verandah is one of the best places to be during the sizzling summer heat. ( we don't have AC) So after having searched our minds for ideas, we decided we needed a day bed out there. Somewhere to lounge so to speak and to bring a certain Arabic/Swahili element to the balcony.Initially we pumped up a single blow up bed that we had, but the cats had a wee argument on there and managed to puncture it.

Then I went on line looking for second hand wooden day beds, and found nothing in Cyprus appart from the very expensive ' modern PLASTIC wicker' which would not really match with the house. Added to this we really wanted to reuse and recycle. We went to the local skip to see if we could find anything there that we could make it with, but had no luck............

So I was delighted when TBH said ' I have some pallets at work we could cut them to size and use them' and so that is exactly what he did........

Thankfully Tbh's colleague helped him with the design and the idea began to take shape.

Then we used wood glue to stick the pieces for the legs together.

And weighed them down with stones to stick whilst we put everything in place ready to be put together.

If you click on the photograph you will see that we managed to get 3 EUR stamps for all 3 legs. I thought it was quite appropriate being as we were practiacally making it for free aside from a lot of determination hard graft and sweat. ( building furniture in 33 degrees heat is hot work)

Tbh, was fortunate enough to have been able to borrow some tools from work and hence managed to screw all the pieces together and hey presto the Day bed bench was made.

We threw on a sleeping bag to give it some softness along with a throw and some cushions that we had tucked away in storage.As you see one member of the family immediately made himself very much at home. It was a great feeling to have imagined something and to have thought ' out side the box' so to speak to find a way to make it happen using recycled materials. We will try to treat the wood before the rains come and intend to use it as a plant stand during the winter months.

What do you think? Have you ever made furniture from pallets? I would love to know your ideas of what can be done using recycled materials to make furniture. Leave your comments in the comment box below.