Kitchen Pallet Peninsula

I finally got around to doing this, you guys! Remember when I posted about the idea, oh, almost two years ago? Here’s my take on the popular pallet wall: the kitchen pallet peninsula.

First things first, separate your boards by width. You need to make sure to use boards of the same width all the way across, otherwise you’ll get funky holes (spoiler alert: I can show you one of these 😂 ).

My plan was to hang the boards on the long side slightly over the ends of the boards on the short side, so to get the positioning right, I dry-fitted the bottom three boards on the short side. Read carefully: I only did the bottom three. This comes back to bite me in the buns.

So guys, I grabbed the Liquid Nails and got gluin’ and nailin’:

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On I cruised. I did, after all, only have 4 hours to enjoy this precious project time while the kids were at daycare. Wait, four hours, you say? Yup. The whole thing only took me four hours.

Well… I guess that’s a bit of a stretch. Somewhere between the idea and the execution (all two years), I prepped the pallet boards. This, admittedly, is not a quick task, although it’s not hard either. Once the pallets are broken down, you have to get out your little nailhead depresser thingy and hammer and pop out the rusty old nails one by one, flip the boards over, and then pry them out the rest of the way.

And then, you also have to sand them. Womp womp. I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving them as rough and dirty as they came right off the cargo boat, but even with sanding, they still have a range of beautiful, worn colors. But anyway, let’s get back to the action.

So remember when I said you could get funky holes? When you’re checking your wood to make piles of similar widths, you should also check them for any pieces that are curved or split, which would cause one end to be thicker than the other and make things all out of whack. Case in point:

Upward an onward until…..

Next I started up on the short side. I wish that I’d planned a little bit more carefully so that I used the same width wood across the entire row, both short side and long side. But hey, once again, when you’ve only got one half-day of vacation while the kids are at daycare to knock out your 2-years-in-the-making project, you do what you gotta do.

Once I got to those top strips, I had to – gulp – rip a board. By hand. No beautiful straight piece of guide wood clamped in place. I had to draw a line and then follow it with my circular saw. Gulp and gulp again. One thing I loved about working with the pallet wood is that I had a bunch of it, so I wasn’t worried about ruining any pieces on my “only chance” at cutting something, and a wonky cut would easily blend right in. I am so proud of the fact that I ripped these little pieces myself. My dad was here and he didn’t even have to help me. Then again, he was snoozing on the couch. 🙂

Then I did the same for the long side and sat back to admire my work. Admire I did NOT. What the heck is going on with that awful edge??!?! I had that sinking feeling. That moment when I realized, oops, I goofed.

Once again I’d fallen victim to lazy, rushed work. I had dry-fitted the bottom three rows on the short side to make sure I placed the boards on the long side just so, but after that, I just lined up the rows above that based on the rows below it. But the problem is that the pieces of wood I was using were different thicknesses, so I wound up with an awful looking joint.

Through some combination of my mom’s input, my dad’s input, and my own thoughts, I wound up putting two boards over the edge and it totally solved the look of it. Just, seriously, don’t touch it, or it might fall off. I definitely fudged this. 🤣 It was tough to get these vertical boards to adhere well since there were only a few good points of contact with the thickest piece of horizontal boards. Ay yi yi. Either way, I love the result.

Pause for a backstory! We used to have these counter stools I got years ago for 50 bucks and painted them for our first apartment. Then when we moved here, I cut them down and added covered cushion seats. Then I re-covered them with a fabric that was easy to wipe clean. So, they’ve lasted and lasted, but Virginia just. kept. tipping. them. over. And it’s a long way down for a little 3 year old. So when Katie Bower posted about these new bar stools, I immediately thought of my not-yet-updated kitchen peninsula and how awesome these would look against the pallet wood. And how little they would tip over. Done! (So much in my house is Bower-inspired! / maybe just outright copied.)

So are you ready to see my kitchen pallet peninsula? Are you ready to see it in its glory? Here she is!! I LOVE it! I love the way it adds warmth to the orange 80’s cabinets and the whole room in general. Sitting in the living room you can look over and enjoy it. Even the weathered gray-blue pieces of wood seem to tie in with our 80’s blue laminate countertop. (Are you sensing the 80’s theme in our kitchen??)

I ran out of time before I had to rush out to pick up the kids, but I intend to fix that waterfall off the right edge of the short side. I think I’ll add a vertical piece there, too. Next time, on This Old House. LOL.

So what do you think? Are you going to take on a pallet wall or kitchen pallet peninsula in your house? Or do you have ideas for other surfaces that would look beautiful covered in magical pallet wood? Let me know!