Chris Dzombak

Recycling a pallet into an Adirondack-ish-style footrest

A brief project log for today.

Footrest

I was taking in some sun last weekend when I decided the chair I was sitting in needed a matching footrest. I briefly looked at Amazon, but I wanted instant gratification, and everything that looked halfway decent and was made of actual wood seemed relatively expensive.

So I decided to tear apart a pallet I’ve had sitting around for a while and build a footrest with the spoils. The design and construction method should be self-explanatory from the photos. The footrest area measures, roughly, 21 inches wide × 20 inches tall; and the peak sits roughly 14 inches off the ground.

The hardest and most time-consuming part of the project, by far, was taking the pallet apart and removing nails.

Footrest (rear view)

The initial version lacked braces between the legs and the footrest supports, and between the legs themselves. I felt this wouldn’t stand up to much wear, so I added them using some other scraps from the shop.

Some semi-transparent brown deck stain/sealer finished the project — though I didn’t do this until Sunday night, since I wanted to use the footrest during the day 😄

Resting