DIY Kitchen Pallet Table

This week we made a kitchen table. If you remember I painted an old round table and chair set with the Annie Sloan chalk paint (here) but it looked slightly out of place. Due to the kitchen being quite small despite there being floor space a circular table and chairs just wasn't working so I asked boyfriend if he could make a country looking pallet table with benches that slotted under. The house itself is not a modern house and the way it has been decorated (all in magnolia with laminate flooring and spotlights) makes it look bad because it seems like it's trying to be cheaply modern which is probably the most sellable thing for a renter but for me, not so much. The kitchen just needed to feel a little more rustic and homely with the darker wood coloured cabinets and stone tile flooring so it seemed to work in my head.

It took less than a day to make including a few hiccups when we realised the legs we wanted to make wouldn't support the table's weight so without a big re-work we wouldn't be able to slot the benches underneath the table. Instead we decided on vertical legs and the inability to slide under the benches which actually works out fine with the size of the room. It still needs a coat of clear varnish to solidify the top and a little sanding but I love the look of the wood as it is. The holes inside the pallet are built so that if we wanted to add drawers we could (and will, in the future) but the actual surface space itself holds so much more and is even slightly smaller than the round table and chairs. The benches are basically made from legs and a pallet sawn in half and they hold two to three people.

Speaking of dining, it works. It really works. One of my pet hates is when you can't eat and have serving plates on the table at the same time so it's been a nightmare for a while. I like to put everything out and allow people to help themselves instead of serving it up for them and now I can which is rather brilliant. Don't get me wrong, it's not a banqueting table but it does hold a lot in the middle with room on the outsides for each person's plates, cutlery, side plates and glasses so it's one massive upgrade. The table and chairs that were in here have now been weatherproofed to serve outside on the patio for warm days and company so they definitely haven't gone to waste. Plus, the pink really stands out against the greenery of that area which looks great.

What do you think? It's quite rustic and very DIY but I'm surprised to have had so many positive comments on it considering what it is. I, personally, adore it and boyfriend is so proud of having made it.