Wood Pallet Room Divider
Update 7/12/11
Thank you to everyone who finds this page through google, stumbleupon or pinterest (among others). It is by far the most-visited page on my blog! I never thought this project would be so popular! Please leave a comment below with your thoughts!!
—————
Inch by inch, the master bedroom is coming together. We still lack a headboard (looking for the perfect wrought-iron one at the perfect price takes patience) and we are in a rut when it comes to a couple of blank walls, BUT(!) we have divided up the enormous room into half-bedroom half-workspace by constructing a room divider like so:
While in Boston, we saw something like this in a fancy modern furniture store, retailing somewhere between $200-$300. Yikes! Knowing that we could make one ourselves, Doug surprised me one Saturday with pallets (free) which he had assembled like you see here!
After a bit of finessing and perfecting, we moved them into place where they sat blank for over a month. I simply didn’t have enough to hang on them and didn’t want to just do part. So patiently I accumulated New York-themed hangings and finally last weekend hung them on the wall. Using small nails and binder clips meant I didn’t have to buy frames for anything I didn’t want to poke holes in (like the RENT poster). This method of hanging also means I can switch out and add new things easily!
Now if only the perfect headboard would fall right into my lap… actually, that would probably really hurt…
Here is a wider shot of the divider in action. It was the perfect height and length to divide up a huge room into two normal-sized rooms for the office and bedroom.
That’s an interesting style idea–to use the nails and clips. I think it’d be especially good for people who like to theme their houses for the holidays, because of the ease of interchanging the pieces of art/decoration. =D
I think the clip idea would be great for dorm rooms, as well, using push pins and then hanging posters on the push pins utilizing clips. . .
Great idea!!!
so simple and so great! Thanks for posting , I am going to try this for my patio.
Thanks, Heather! I love the idea of using these outside but would be curious if they should be weather treated. I am planning on moving these outdoors when I get a good 1960s style buffet or china cabinet to put where they are now (in my new place).
how did you put the pallets together, hinges etc…are the outside egdes smoothed and finished or just left rough…I love this idea!!! I have a yard full of pallets!!!
The edges are rough, but it helps that the pallets we used are relatively new and clean! I have snagged a sweater on the rough wood when I got too close though.
They are held on top of each other by hinges put on the “wrong” way, two on each set of pallets, although any strong straight metal would work. We used hinges because they already had holes in them.
There are large triangle-shaped hinges holding them together in the middle which means we can change its angle if we need to. Also, it folds in half, which was handy when we moved it to our new place!
Great idea! Do you have a picture of how they are held together?
Hello ,Are these supported behind with anything or do they stand up easily alone ? Thanks
If you bend them where the two panels meet, they are more stable. Of course there is danger of them falling, depending on what velocity they are hit at. Mine were stable for many months arranged this way. I do not recommend straightening them out because then it will be very wobbly. If you want to straighten it out it’ll need some other kind of support, possibly attached to another wall, ceiling, or extensions on the floor.
i am going to build a fence like this
I love the idea of a fence like this!!!
What are the dimensions? I was hoping to do this on an ugly wall we have at our wedding venue. Can’t attach anything so we could make our own wall!
I’m not positive on the dimensions since its currently packed up and put away, but I’d say each pallet was somewhere around 3 to 4 feet? I bet you could make one like this no problem!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing this. I want to separate my washer and dryer from the rest of my garage so I can have my own little space for laundry(rent houses lol) and this would be perfect!
That would be perfect!! You could even screw some hooks onto the pallets to hold drip-dry items!
LOVE the clip idea. Pinned it and plan on using it :) Found your site through Design Milk’s Facebook Page, FYI…
Thanks for stopping by to say hi, and thanks for letting me know it was on Design Milk! Looks like I had a lot of “nays” but I suppose wood pallets are not for everyone. The nail and clip idea, however, I think can be applied in tons of different settings!
I just wanted to let you know that I’m actually using one of these in my wedding! One side will have photos of me as a child, and the other will have photos of my (soon to be) husband. I am so excited, I think it will be one of the most memorable things about my wedding! Thanks for the idea! :)
That sounds totally wonderful!! If you think of it, after the big day, I’d love to share a photo of it with my readers.
I’ll try to remember to do that! It’s on September 21st, so I don’t have much time to forget haha :)
Love this pallet divider!! Gotta have one! Can you tell me what type and size hinges you used for this piece? Thank you so much!
Ummm, “big” ones! I do not remember the size! I think they were like 4-5 inches long on each side of the hinge? Hope it helps!
Thanks, Staci!!! I’m going to have this made in about two weeks and I can’t wait! Your pages are wonderful!!
How heavy do you think these things are? And if I’m looking at them right–they’ve got horizontal hinges as well, right? holding the top/bottom ones together? If they were outside and the wind hit them, would they fold/fall?
o.0 just wondering. Thinking a fence like this would be perfect for our yard.
Great project!
Thanks for all your questions, Leah! I think if you were making a fence out of these for your yard, then you should definitely check with the city ordinances as far as proper fencepost depth, and put fenceposts into the ground as you would with any other fence. Other than that, you could attach the pallets to those using extra long screws!
We happened to attach the bottom ones to the top ones using hinges because that’s what we had on hand, but you could use other metal or wood pieces–something longer would probably be more secure.
Is the pallet divider attached to the wall at all? Or is it free standing?
This is free standing. You could attach it to the wall for added safety.
I’m attempting to make these for a fundrasing event. I was just taking a second look and was wondering if you removed the back pieces of the pallet?
Nope; most pallets have more boards on one side than the other–but they’re there. If you removed them they might get off balance, I think.
What a great idea! I really needed something inexpensive to divide off a workspace from my jewelry shop. Thanks for sharing.
Ah! What a perfect solution! You can even nail some displays to one side. Glad to be of some inspiration!
thanks for share these informative ideas, ……. a lots of thanks.. its very useful.
I hope no one else has asked this… I’m sure I’ve read all the comments… but are you using the pallet as is? You didn’t take them apart at all? So it’s just 4 full pallets? I’ve got them in my garage ready to go… :)
Yep, 4 pallets, as-is. My hubby made sure to get clean ones that were all about the same size, so we didn’t need to do anything to them!