Smoko – In Praise Of Pallets

Apologies for the lack of posts in recent times. We’re very busy these days; T with her PhD, me with planning, building, and organising some events in Brisbane, and both of us with the little lad, who gets less little and more laddish every day.

But, given the massive amounts of rain we’ve had recently, which has put a stop to a lot of building projects (even the indoor jobs get put on hold as we don’t run powertools when the solar isn’t charging), I thought I’d write a quick blog, in praise of pallets.

We’ve gone a bit pallet crazy round here recently (and woe betide anyone who goes to town and doesn’t bring at least a couple back without a good excuse), having discovered a myriad of ways online to recycle (or upcycle) them.

Here are some different shelf units I’ve knocked up recently. We also made a bed for T’s mum, but she’s in it right now so I can’t take a picture. Well, not a publishable one any way… 😉

This is the second or third unit I built, to clean up the veranda a bit. (Incidentally, it also houses most of our new sound system, which more than adequately solves all the problems I wrote about in a previous post. I’d tried running an 18” (like the bottom one in the pic) at my house some years ago, while living in Brisbane, but the police came. Out here, I can crank it as hard as our little amp will allow (pretty bloody loud) and no neighbours can hear. Gotta love the bush!):

Office bookcase:

Already overused tool shelves. It has, as I said, been raining ridiculously heavily for days, so it’s a wee bit messier than usual, but probably only a wee bit:

And today’s effort, a new spice rack, freeing up some much needed bench space. Now I’ve discovered how to efficiently strip pallets apart (a reciprocating saw and a trade quality 12” blade…beats the hell out of (but doesn’t totally eliminate the need for) a mallet and crowbar) things can get a little less chunky when needs be:

I also will be using pallets bolted together as a stud wall frame in the new shed/annexe we’re putting up on the east side of the house (to hold the tool and materials overflow), and there’s a good chance they’ll feature heavily in the fittings of the new guest room / office.  Will try to blog about it when it’s done!

Cheers! J

 

Smoko – quick cubby

So I haven’t written anything for ages because I don’t think that much has happened that is worth reporting*. We’ve planted a few trees, strung a fence or two, built a bridge over a seasonal (but when she goes she goes) creek, and steps down the hill.

Work has progressed on the shed up the back, but I’m in need of some extra muscle to help with the next stage and have found myself happy for the break from it. I’ll update once the roof is finished.

But recently we decided to build the little fella a cubby house down the hill a bit. Our house isn’t very big, and given that his cardboard box kitchen seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the middle of the floor, it was time for an extension.

Take one tree, a couple of 4x4s, two pallets we found by the side of the road, half a leaky tank and a handful of screws and voila! I’m a bit proud, hence the blog, and the little man loves it, thank god.  The underside will eventually be levelled off and walled/windowed to make another room.

Bit of a gap in the picture taking here…imagine lots of sweating, swearing, running to recharge the drill every 5 minutes cos I left the spare battery elsewhere, and a fair bit of scrubbing paint out of someone’s hair.

*And also because that last blog was a wee bit embarrassing, thanks love, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever come back here… And also because I’m lazy when it comes to writing blogs.

I learned something knew about J today – the man can handle a wheelchair like no able bodied person I’ve ever met. I, on the other hand, suck at it!

We picked up the wheelchair from the scrap metal pile at the local tip (my new favourite place in the world) with the idea that we will refashion the wheels into a clothesline pulley system.  Turns out there is nothing wrong with it (it steers beautifully- if you know what you are doing).

Whilst at the tip we also salvaged some old birdwire and netting which we’ll use for garden protection.