Make a Pallet Wood Bookshelf With 3 Easy Cuts!

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One of my friends has a baby shower coming up and asked me to make them a homemade gift. More specifically, this pin she found on Pinterest. I wanted to link to the original blog post, but it looks like all the images have been taken down. In any respects, I thank the clever person who had this idea and I am excited to share with you today just how to do it! You can make a pallet wood bookshelf easier than you ever imagined. First, find an old wood pallet that looks like this:

I found mine curbside driving through an industrial park. Yay free! So the next step is to use a circular saw (or hacksaw if you do not have that power tool) to cut as shown on the picture below.

You only need to cut in three places! You can also cut one off the other side and make two!

The next thing I did was flip it up on end and fit a piece of wood to the bottom. This is actually a piece of MDF leftover from when I encased the newel post on my stair railing makeover. When you have your wood cut to size for the bottom, secure it to the pallet with wood glue and screws.

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This bottom forms a little cubby to store the books in. The next thing to do is sand the whole piece with 60 grit sand paper. I do not have a picture of me sanding, but I do have a picture of my little girl who loves to help me build!

The last step is to stain! I used an old rag and dipped it into an espresso stain, then rubbed it into the wood following the grain. The lines in the wood will tell you which was the grain is and which direction to rub. Be sure to use gloves to protect your perfect manicure (NOT) on this step. I did not put a seal or poly layer on the bookshelf because I’m really not worried about it getting heavy use.

Pallet Wood Bookshelf

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It is truly that simple! Here’s my finished bookshelf. If you do not know already from my blog, our family really loves Dr. Seuss! I even painted a mural of the Lorax in my son’s room and hand painted Cat in The Hat furniture. So, of course, to demonstrate I filled this bookshelf up with Dr. Seuss stories.

But here’s the cool thing: this shelf can also hang on the wall for other uses. I threw flowers in mine to show how it can be an indoor wall planter. Also, the width fits a bottle of wine perfectly! It would be a beautiful wine rack for a rustic or Tuscan decorated house.

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I think my friend will be happy with how this turned out and I am happy I could make one so easily to give her as a gift. You may remember this baby shower gift I made with the footprints or this wedding gift I made from pallet wood, too. In other words, if you want to be my friend, you will be rewarded with handmade things.

Oh and here’s a quick time-lapse video of how I put the pallet wood bookshelf together. Proof it’s super easy.

Don’t forget to pin this idea and share it with your friends!
See you next week when I finally share my fall home tour. It only took until October.