Build a garden bar from a pallet

You need that

1 pallet: 120 x 80 x 14.4 cm
1 glued wood panel, 20 mm thick, 120 x 40 cm
2 glued wood panels, 20 mm thick, 120 x 25 cm
1 square timber: 200 x 8 x 8 cm
2 formwork boards, 200 x 10 x 2.5 cm
Countersunk screws, 4 x 50 mm for side walls and table top angles including screws 4 x 40 mm
1 furniture handle including suitable screws
Wavy foam, approx. 2 x 80 cm
Cool box with removable lid
2 x 750 ml colored paint, suitable for outdoors
Cover fleece, protective gloves, face mask, safety glasses
box cutter
pencil
Folding rule
Screw clamps
Installation glue

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: saw the components

At the beginning you have to decide whether you will cut all the boards to size during assembly or whether you will saw all the components first.

The upper shelf is made from the 120 x 40 centimeter glued wood pallet. For the cool box, saw a section on the left side using a plunge cut. The sawn-out piece later serves as a lid.

The two small glued wood panels become three shelves:

lower floor (120 x 25 cm)
Bottom for the cool box (40 x 25 centimeters)
Bottle bottom (80 x 25 cm)

Now saw five slats each from the two formwork boards to a length of 40 centimeters. These later form the side cladding of the bar.

Then saw off two pieces from the square timber with a length of 80 centimeters, this will later become the corner posts for fastening the side boards and the storage surface.

The boards can either be cut to size during assembly or from the start.

Photo: Bosch

Step 2: smooth the components

With the multi-sander you can now sand all saw edges smooth. It will likely need to be sanded twice until all of the chips are removed. For the first sanding step you should use 80s sandpaper. The second pass uses 120 grit sandpaper.

All saw edges can be ground smooth using the multi-sander.

Photo: Bosch

Step 3: paint the surface white

You can now paint the pallet, the floors and the side cladding as required. In our example, the palette should be white. With a paint spray system, paint first horizontally and then again vertically. Keep about two hands away from the wood and let the paint dry well.

Depending on your preferences, you can paint your palette in the desired color.

Photo: Bosch

Step 4: assemble shelves

You can now screw the existing shelves to the cross struts on the pallet using angles. Start with the first shelf, which is the bottom of the garden bar and is attached to the lowest cross strut. The second serves as the base for the cool box. Pay attention to the height of the cool box and adjust the height of the floor accordingly. The third and last floor is screwed on the opposite side of the cooler to a cross strut of the pallet, which is slightly offset upwards.

The shelves are screwed to the cross struts of the pallet using angles.

Photo: Bosch

Step 5: glue in the bottle holder

Now put some mounting glue on the 80 cm long shelf and press the wave-shaped foam firmly to give the bottles a good hold later.

Put assembly glue on the shelf and press the wavy foam into place.

Photo: Bosch

Step 6: side panel

For the side cladding, five slats are screwed to the pallet with the countersunk screws on the right and left. To ensure that the whole thing remains particularly stable, the fitted shelves are still attached to the side cladding with brackets, and then a square timber is screwed onto the front as a corner post on both sides.

Five battens are screwed on the right and left as side panels.

Photo: Bosch

Step 7: attach the cooler box lid

At the very end, the lid of the cool box is glued to the sawn-out piece of wood using assembly glue. Let it dry well. Now attach the furniture handle in the middle and make sure that the lid closes precisely - your garden bar is ready