DIY Pallet Couch

During the construction of the shelving unit that would become Moira’s tiny house, while waiting for backup/that second pair of hands I was going to need for the final step in post two, I decided to start another project – because when was doing one thing at a time ever enough for anyone?

Today I’m going to share my likely very overly-complicated DIY Pallet Couch, featured in this post as a background prop.

I love the idea of Moira having pallet furniture, I feel like it goes nicely with the theme of a simple tiny house and they’re very on-trend at the moment. 

What you’ll need:
Mini Pallets x 4 (I purchased mine from Amazon)
PVA Glue
Fabric Glue will make things easier
Sewing pins will also make this project easier
Box Cutter
Cardboard
Packing material (for the padded couch cushions)
Balsa wood (optional, you can also use cardboard if you prefer)
Material to cover the couch (I used a linen/cotton blend)

Step one: Unpack your pallets and take a moment to realize just how cute they are. I know they’re intended as drink coasters, but they’re perfect for this project. Couldn’t resist them even if I’d bothered trying :)

Step two: Figure out how large you want your couch to be.  For me, I decided to use four pallets and, as you can see from the first picture, I wanted a little extra on the corner to allow for slightly more length (allows Moira to stretch out a bit).

Step three:  Trace this final formation on cardboard, it’ll make things easier to get this step done before any gluing begins, that way you can continue working on this part of the project while the other pieces are drying.  Cut it out – I used a box cutter for the process, you can also use scissors or whatever makes your comfortable.  Set aside for now.

Step four:  Cut the wood type or cardboard (whatever you choose) to fill the “gap” between the two sets of pallets. 

I used a small stack of balsa wood (which left lots of shavings everywhere) to get the desired result, rather than attempting to make a box, but either will work.  Keep in mind, this should be on the back-side of your couch so that it’s not visible from the front.

Step five:  Using PVA glue, stick your pallets and your wooden insert together in their final formation, and set them aside to dry.  For me, I left them for four hours to make absolutely certain everything was solid.

Step six:  Place your cardboard cutout from step three on your leftover foam packing material. 

Trace it and, once satisfied that the shape is accurate, use your box cutter to cut the tetris-ish looking shape out. 

Glue this onto the piece of cardboard.  The cardboard should line up nicely with the pallets, with the padding for the couch cushion on top.  Please, don’t make the mistake I did and do this backward (if your couch lengths are equal, this won’t be an issue – mine aren’t).

Step seven:  Cut your fabric to fit your couch, give extra room as it will need to not only wrap around the cardboard, but also the foam, and slightly beneath.  Use sewing pins to hold everything in place (unfortunately, I didn’t have any on day one – so this got messy for me quite quickly).

Step eight:  Using fabric glue (which dries more quickly), glue your fabric in place.  On the bottom, it might look messy – mine looks really, really messy! - don’t worry about that, no one is going to see it anyway, unless they pick it up to check, in which case…why are they playing with your toys without your consent?!

I also added a few extra strips of fabric for interest and to cover up a slight bald-spot where I miscalculated with fabric 😉  At this point it was getting dark, so I set everything aside and decided to pick it up the following day (after I got some sewing pins).

Step nine:  Using two pieces of leftover foam packing material, I formed an L shape and marked where I wanted the edges of the couch back in pencil.  I also felt it was a little too tall, and marked along where I felt the height should be. 

Rather than chopping it down entirely, I decided to cut a chunk out of the L-shape, causing it to fit like a puzzle piece, resting on top of the base of the couch.

I feel like I’m not explaining that well at all, so, have some pictures:

Step ten:  I traced the padded couch back on cardboard, cut out the shape, and cut fabric to fit (leaving extra once more).  Setting the fabric aside for the time being, I glued the outer portion of the foam to the cardboard backing to reinforce it. 

Unfortunately for me, it didn’t want to stick together, so I encouraged cooperation using my trusty sewing pins.  

Step eleven:  Once the cardboard was properly adhered to the leftover packing material, and I felt my couch back was reasonably sturdy, I used the fabric cut-out to cover the couch-back. This time I made use of my sewing needles before applying fabric glue. 

As you can see, it worked quite nicely and resulted in much less of a mess (and cleanup) for yours truly.

If you end up with excess fabric, once everything is dry, you can always trim away anything undesirable.

Step twelve:  After the fabric glue dried, I added additional fabric glue to the lower part of the couch-back, lined it up with the couch seat carefully, and glued it in place. 

Once again, I used sewing needles to ensure everything stayed where I wanted it to be as it dried. 

I did not, and will not, be gluing the cardboard & cushion combination to the pallets themselves. This is so that, should I desire to do so in future, I can create different looks for the same couch.

While I waited, I used the excess scraps of fabric, along with a few bits of extra foam, to make miniature pillows. 

The end result is far from perfect, but I’m still pretty proud of it – it was, after all, my first pallet couch 😉 

I hope this tutorial is helpful and, if you decide to make one of these couches yourself, be sure to let me know in the comments below – I’d love to see your pictures. 

Thanks so much for stopping in, and I’ll see you around :)

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