Pallet Headboard

 I decided to redo my room last summer.  It has been a long process because the key was figuring out how to shuffle around the furniture that was currently in my room that I didn't want to get rid of!  I wanted a bedroom that reflected more of who I am....apparently junky and old.  Lots more on the before and after, but here is the second project I tackled (the first were these faux mercury lamps I blogged about here).
You can find pallets that are up for grabs on sites like Craigslist.  I found these by the dumpster of a gym that was being built near me.  Just make sure they are planning on getting rid of them and not planning to reuse them...
I wanted some that looked a little aged.  There are some strategies for aging wood, but....I think this was a big enough project to tackle for now.

 The tricky thing about pallets are getting them apart, they are made to hold tons.  Literally.  So those nails are in pretty tight.  There are some tools you can buy to pry them apart.  I bought a saw for 8 bucks that goes through metal and just sawed between the wood and the nail.
I'm not going to lie....it took me awhile, so it was a project I tackled a little at a time.

 I bought a cheap piece of wood.  I have a queen, so I cut it to 5 foot 3 inches for the length and 3 feet for the width.  I also bought a 2x4 and cut it in half for the legs, or you could use some super duty hangers to just hang the wood directly to the wall.

 My helpers were in full force for this project.

 I cleaned the wood with a brush, but I really didn't sand it much because I decided to seal it later.

 I started nailing the wood at random patterns.  The nails were longer than the wood and backboard, so I just nailed it down and bent it in the back so it would lay flat.  It's not pretty, but nobody can see the back.  I could have covered it with a piece of foam board or something, but I'm going to leave that detail to the perfectionist.    I tried to keep the row about the same width, but I varied the size of wood from row to row and, again, sawed the sides that hung over the bottom base wood.  There were a few gaps, so I just stripped some wood from old pieces that had cracked and used some wood glue to stick the wood into the gabs and hold it into place.

 I then got a little can of polyurethane.  I put three coats on and then let it dry.  This helped seal those little splinters.

 I nailed the whole thing to my two post....I dig it....and I was able to throw it all together for about 20 bucks.