DIY Pallet Sofa Bed

A DIY pallet sofa that turns into a king size bed in just two klicks? Totally doable! Here you can find out the story of my sofa, as well as where to get cheap pallets or pallets for free.

If you don`t know what to do with those obtrusive pallets hogging up all the space after the construction. Or, want a piece that would express your unique personality to all your dear visitors. Or, have an attractive and functional peace not for all the money of the world. Then keep on reading.

A little pre-history

This sofa was the first piece of furniture I`ve made for this house (I made some others for others` houses too) about 6 years ago. Unfortunately, I don`t have pictures of the process, but I`ve taken a few pictures from all the possible angles, and, of course, explained step-by-step how I did it (I mean the couch, not the pictures 😉 ).

Pallets

The pallets were left from the foam blocks for the house construction. As their size is 300 x 200 x 600 mm (12″ x 8″ x 24″) the pallets are 1 m x 1,2 m (40″ x 48″) so the sofa turned out to be quite large but it also turned out to perfectly fit to our living room.

I needed 10 pallets: 6 for the seat, 2 for the backrest and 2 for the coffee table.

First, I had to brush the pallets thoroughly, clean them from mud and sand. Then I sanded them (pretty much of a work to sand 10 pallets). Hammered down all the nails that were sticking out. And thoroughly painted the pallets white. I mean several times. I mean with a gazillion liters (gallons) of white paint. Here`s, by the way, a good and non expensive one.

To screw the pallets together I used some scrap wood we had at home: different pieces of lath and clapboard which I also painted white. It won`t be very strong but it`s not necessary, they just need to hold the pallets together.

Shelves and underbed storage

We had some laminate left from my husband`s former work place, which cannot be used on the floor again because . . . I just don`t like its colour. But it`s not so bad if painted white. So I attached it with screws to the bottom of the “sofa”. I also had some plastic angles to cover the corners which I just glued to the surface to fill the gaps.

I didn`t put laminate under the whole sofa, because I thought of some wicker baskets instead of shelves, besides laminate is heavy and the construction was already too heavy. Hence we`ve got 4 niches and some place to store blankets or bed linen.

Backrest

As I`ve mentioned before, two pallets were meant for the backrest. I cut them into two pieces each, trying to make an angled cut. I didn`t measure anything, just drew four identical (as I saw them) lines, took the handsaw and cut the wood.   

Aaaaaaand the angle turned out to be perfect (it`s being really comfortable for almost three years).

To make sure it wouldn`t break apart I made some props, which are also angled slats made of scrap wood, two for each of the backrest – totally eight. I thought the backrests were going to be a problem, because everyone would lean on them, and of course the kids would play hard on the sofa (jumping, pillow fighting, hopping over the sofa) – tried it all, it`s still there.

Wheels

I needed the sofa to be easily moved while cleaning, so I put it on wheels, which also keep the pallets together because their base has four holes for screws. Four of them have brakes to make the sofa stand still. The four wheels for the coffee table are a bit larger – I thought it would be more convenient. But as we haven`t used it as a table yet, only as a bed, I made it align with the sofa.    
You can find similar 5 cm (2″) wheels with brakes here. And 5 cm (2″) wheels without brakes here.

Cushions

The cushions I made of my husband`s previous recording studio leftover foam-rubber. They are 10 cm (almost 4″) thick. Similar foam cushions you can find here. The covering is made of linen fabric (some half-price linen blankets I stumbled upon in some thrifty store). You can find similar fabric here. I also sew the pillowcases for the throw pillows and stuffed them with fiber fill, You know, this filling one stuffs the stuffed animals and toys. It is practical, because You can wash it in the washing machine.

The Bed

As we still don`t have bedrooms we use this sofa as a bed. The click-clack coffee table is very helpful here.

With two simple cabin hooks and eyes I attach it to the sofa and voila – the super king size bed is ready (just don`t forget to put the foam rubber on the coffee table too).

The only money spent on this sofa was for the paint (lot, lot of paint 😅 ), screws, cabin hooks and textiles.

Don`t forget to share!