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DIY Pallet Bookcase Tutorial

After living with a dated piece of furniture that moved with us from home to home, this is how we made it into a DIY Pallet Bookcase that we love!

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

Do you love pallets?  

I love the rough texture of the wood, the variations in color and the knicks and nail holes make me swoon.

I’ve been known to pull off the side of the road and load up the car when I find a nice, weathered pallet just abandoned, crying out to come home with me!

Since decorating with pallets has become one of the hottest fads in the past few years, this is how we used pallets to update our 10 year old piece into a DIY Pallet Bookcase.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

We purchased this bookcase from Ikea.  

It was so long ago, that I can’t remember the name of it.

It’s a wonderfully sturdy wooden bookcase that has survived our gypsy blood days. It has moved with us from Los Angeles to Tennessee, Tennessee to Vegas, and from Vegas now back to Tennessee in our Almost Farmhouse.

This bookcase has seen it’s wear and tear, but we thought if it survived that many moves, then it deserves some TLC. 

It used to be finished in natural pine, but we painted it off white a few years ago.

This is how we updated it with pallets.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

DIY Pallet Bookcase Supplies

(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

I took all those pallets I had been collecting and broke them down.

well…not me exactly.

There are tons of tips and tutorials online on how to break down pallets if you search for them.

I just sweet talked my strong man, ooh’d and aah’d over his muscles, and stood by ready to wipe his brow while he went to work disassembling. That’s a chore, lemme tell ya! And some of the pieces crumbled apart.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!


We measured them to fit the back of the bookcase and then had Trent cut them to size.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

Next came the assembly.

We simply turned the bookcase over and screwed the cut pallet pieces onto the frame.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

But, not without a bit of tom foolery!

Those boys are peas in a pod!

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

We staggered the pattern to give the DIY Pallet Bookcase a variegated effect.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

Here’s the finished product!

OH, I love it!!

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

*swoon*

We noticed that we had a band going across the middle where the boards laid against the pallet frame.

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!
DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

This only took us a few hours to cut and assemble and now we have a new piece to feature in our home. Sometimes unplanned projects end up being my favorite ones, especially when they are happenstance like this DIY Pallet Bookcase.

There are so many fun things you can do with pallets.  If you liked this project, check out how we created a Kitchen Island with pallet wood, or a unique Pallet Light Box {here} and {here} and here’s a whole post filled with lots of pallet yumminess!

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

For More Pallet Projects, check these out!

DIY PALLET KITCHEN ISLAND FOR LESS THAN $50
FAUX FIREPLACE WITH PALLET HEARTH
A UNIQUE PALLET LIGHT BOX

DIY Pallet Bookcase: How to add Pallet wood to a bookcase for a beautiful transformation!

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25 Comments

  1. This is gorgeous! I love it! Thanks for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned to the Bloggers Brags Broad and my DIY broad.

  2. Saw this on Pinterest, took me forever to find the source… so glad I did! The bookcase is beautiful, as is the rest of your blog!

  3. I so love the bookshelf project, but I absolutely love the picture hanging above it too! It just reached out to me and touched me in such an amazing way. I remember a song that a lady sang when I was a little girl.. "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me"…that is so beautiful!

  4. So so adorable!! I love the idea of adding a pallet backing to this bookcase!! Pinning this for sure. Thanks for linking up at Romance on a dime!!

  5. Just dropping by to let you know I have featured you this week! Come on over and grab a featured button and join us for our third party 🙂

    xoxo

  6. I love the pallet backing to your bookcase! What a great idea. Congrats on the Dear Creatives feature! Do you care if people pin your project as long as it links back to your blog properly? I think people are gonna love this!! ~ Jamie

  7. Your project turned out great! I will be featuring it tomorrow @ DearCreatives.com Drop by to see your feature & thank you for sharing & linking up. Hope to see you often!

  8. Love this! Stopping by to let you know I am featuring your Bookshelf on Made in a Day tomorrow! Congrats and thanks for linking up!
    Kim

  9. Hi! You were the link before me at the Circle of Faith link party! This bookcase revamp turned out so well! Great job! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Cheers,
    Julia

  10. Ficou lindo, parabéns!

  11. Great job up-cycling the book shelf and the pallet! The end result looks awesome!

  12. This is gorgeous! I just love the rich look of the pallet wood with the creamy white of the bookcase.
    xoxo
    Amie @ Pinkapotamus

  13. I'm such a dolt, I forgot to comment on how you used pallet lumber on back of your bookcase. Love how it looks with the variations on the boards. Great job.

  14. I've been trying to tell my hubs about all the awesome things that can be made with pallets. Did he listen, nah. Then he got online, did some searches and he's on board the pallet odyssey with me. We've been able to get some pallets and he's already made two little shelf units. We'll run out of ink printing out all the incredible uses for pallets. Now can we sell them? Sure hope so. People here (Grand Junction, CO) aren't into rustic or rugged or distressing. It's sure worth a try tho isn't it?
    Besides we're two old people that need to make some extra dough. Happy Weekend.

  15. wow, jen! this turned out amazing. i love some good pallet projects (and tom foolery)! Thanks so much for linking up at the Humble Brag!

  16. I love what you did with the bookshelf! Very cool.
    Pallets are a big pain in the butt to take apart. We took a whole bunch apart to put on our kitchen wall. It's well work the work though. We love how our kitchen looks with it and you shelves look fantastic!