kojotutorial: reading chair made from two wooden palettes (part 1)

I love palette furniture. Actually, I think that I love it for the same reason that I am so intrigued by Anthropologie's window displays- the idea of taking something that no one wants and turning it into something useful and/or beautiful resonates with me. An ostrich made out of book pages? Lovely! A giant wreath made from old books? Fabulous!

Which leads us to... a reading chair for Burke's playroom made from a palette and other materials we had on hand! Yes please!

Since the assembly of this little gem was a little... mmmm... involved, I'm going to break this tutorial into several parts. Today, I'll give the info you need to platform of the 'chair.' Stay tuned for part 2 (where we'll make and attach the sides of the chair) and for tutorials for making the custom cushion and cushion cover.

To make a palette reading nook yourself, you'll need:
-2 wooden palettes (check the back of home depot or lowe's... we asked first...)
-scrap pieces of a 2 x , cut into six squares
-3 rolling casters
-sander and sandpaper
-nails
-a foam eggcrate mattress (you won't use this today)
-a soft Goodwill-bound blanket (you won't use this today)
-a Goodwill bound queen sheet (you won't use this today)

1. Choose your palette. Three tips for this process-
a- Choose the most sturdy palette you can find
b- Find a palette that is a square
c- Try to find one with slats that are as close together as possible.
Sand down the palette to the raw wood. Then draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other corner with a pencil.  
*Note- The palette we used had a broken slat. We just used the side without the broken slat for the chair.

2. Cut along this line. We actually used a circular saw to cut along the diagonal line on one side of the palette, flipped the palette over and cut along the same line on the other side of the palette.

3. Reinforce your 'front' edge. Use leftover wood from the side of the palette you discarded (there's already a piece of wood wedged in between the top and bottom layer of the palette, so use that piece since it is already the right size) to place an extra reinforcing piece on each side of the middle board, sandwiched between the top and bottom layers. Nail your reinforcement pieces in place.

4. On the bottom side of your platform, build up all three corners with squares of scrap wood. These will make your chair sit higher off the ground. Attach the casters to each corner 'tower.' Flip over and admire! You're done with part 1.

Remember, this is what you're making-

Stay tuned for part 2...