How I Built A DIY Indoor Bar With Discarded Pallets for $140

First, let me say I have never built anything in my life. I started this project with not a little trepidation, but almost immediately found myself having fun. It was an exhausting but extremely rewarding project.

The original (but unrealistic) budget was $100.

I started with four discarded pallets from a sod project at my next door neighbor’s lawn. I asked permission of the lawn service and they were happy to give them to me, saying it would save them from loading and disposing of them. I used three for the project and one was for any extra wood that might be needed.

Material:

18 washers 1/2 in
9 hex nuts 3/8
9 3/8 x 4 inch carriage bolts
1 small can polyurethane
40 1″ finish nails
9 1/4 x 3 inch wood screws
5 18″ x 18″ ceramic tiles (folkstone atlantic beach)
2 pieces Norton 9×11 ex fine sandpaper
1 gallon Behr deckover stain & sealer
2 qts premix tile adhesive & grout
1 sheet 3/4 inch plywood
3 pieces casing (wood trim) 10 ft x 3 1/4

I drew up a rough sketch after measuring the space in the entertainment room. I decided to use two full pallets for the front of the bar and three 11.5″ sections for the cross sections. I also decided to make the top with ceramic tiles and mitered wood trim to match our coffee tables in our great room to create a flow. I utilized the extra plywood after cutting the top to make two shelves.

First, my very capable assistant Gina, pressure washed the pallets. They were filthy. Then I reconfigured the wood on one pallet and repurposed the nails to create the three cross sections. Gina stained everything, I cut and mitered the trim and plywood, Gina polyurethaned the trim for the top, I drilled holes for carriage bolts, and we then moved everything to the entertainment room (it probably weighs 200+ lbs), assembled it,  I added the trim to the top, Gina put the adhesive on the top and added the tiles. We let it sit for 24 hours and Gina added the grout.

Cheers!! We have a bar. It’s quite beautiful!

After pricing bars for as much as $4,000, the results and the price were very pleasing.