I love the HOME shelf we made from pallets, and it all started with the question. What does it really mean when they say home is where the heart is? I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s all about the little things; a rose my daughter picked for me in the garden, my son’s cheeky smile, a candlelight dinner under the stars, our fur babies, a good book, and laughter. Without the little things, a house can never be a home.
A house is made of walls & beams. A home is made of love & dreams
And our pallet HOME shelf we made last weekend is the perfect place to display some of those special things.
Isn’t she something totally different?
The shelf was inspired by the beautiful LOVE shelf that’s all over Pinterest. Have you seen it? We drew up the plans and started cutting up some pallets.
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How to Make a HOME Shelf From Pallets
You’ll need pallet pieces that are at least 13 cm wide to fit all those little mementos. Cut one long 80 cm (31 1/2 inches) piece to form the backbone of the shelf and then cut and sand:
For the H
- 1 x 20 cm (8 inches)
- 1 x 15 cm (5 7/8 inches)
For the O
- 2 x 17 cm (6 3/4 inches)
- 1 x 16 cm (6 1/4 inches)
For the M
- 1 x 20 cm (8 inches)
- 2 x 11 cm cut at 45 degrees (4 3/8 inches)
For the E
- 2 x 17 cm (6 3/4 inches)
- 1 x 10 cm (3 7/8 inches)
To put the shelf together, start at the bottom with the E. Use a pneumatic staple gun and wood glue to attach one of the 17 cm pieces at 90 degrees to the bottom of the 80 cm piece, then measure up 9.5 cm and attach the 10 cm piece. Make a mark 20 cm from the bottom and staple the last 17 cm in place.
For the O, create a U shape using the two 17 cm pieces as the sides and the 16 cm piece as the bottom.
Measure 20 cm from the top of the 80 cm backbone, dab some wood glue on the ends, and use the staple gun to attach the O to the backbone.
Now the H and the M. The M scared us a little. I think it’s those 45-degree angles, so we left it for last. The H was pretty straightforward. Attach the 15 cm piece to the middle of the 20 cm piece to form a top-heavy T shape.
Attach the H to the backbone so that the top of the “H” is flush with the top of the backbone.
Okay, it's crunch time, we can't avoid those angles anymore ..........
Glue and staple the two 11 cm pieces together to form a V shape.
Attach the V shape to the backbone where the bottom of the O joins the backbone. Sit back and smile because that wasn’t as bad as we thought. In all honesty, that was pretty darn easy :D Do a victory dance around the garden, and consider having a beer to celebrate.
Come back down to earth and attach the last 20 cm piece. Go get a beer and grab the fur babies so they can see how we conquered angles.
Time to Make The HOME Shelf Pretty
We used a dark wood stain and then painted over the whole shelf with Annie Sloan Old White. We had some leftovers from making this cute little side table and this COOK shelf.
Finally, we used 100-grit sandpaper to lightly distress the shelf before sealing it with clear wax.
I’m really happy with how it turned out. What do you think?
All things considered, those angles make it worth it!! Yup, no angle will ever get me down again. Okay, maybe they will ;-) To hang the Home shelf, we attached sawtooth hooks to the back of the “H” and the “E.”
The little HOME shelf and our suitcase-themed dresser makeover are probably my two favorite things we’ve made so far.
Our little HOME shelf is a gentle reminder of everything we hold close to our hearts. Where do you keep your special memories and little keepsakes?
If you like the idea of making a small HOME shelf, don’t forget to pin it for later.
Oh, and before I forget, to save you the trouble of trying to find some of the things we used, I’ve added some affiliate links below. Disclosure: If you click the links, we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry, it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more unique DIY and craft tutorials for you ;-)
Until next time, I hope you have a beautiful, love-filled week. Thank you for popping in for a visit.
Last update on 2026-04-15 / Source Amazon Affiliates
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