so easy lelly could do it

nothing like a holiday to bring on another episode of: so easy lelly could do it. this episode brought to you by the DIY repurposed pallet project that peaked my interest earlier this summer. (click here for link to original project at Young & Crafty)

yup.  i *loved* it.  and, conveniently enough, i soon came across a furniture store giving away pallets.  i sweet talked my assistant into throwing them into the back of his truck, and later that afternoon, i arrived home to a pile of the saddest looking shipping pallets you ever did see. not one to be discouraged, i immediately set my husband upon the task of breaking the pallets apart into salvageable pieces for my project.  (don't fear, he is used to my shenanigans.)

well, i'm here to tell you that busting these things up was no easy task. by and by, we came to have a pile of shabby splinters of wood stacked in the garage.  i eventually stopped asking about his progress. besides, the beach was calling! my project would wait.

until now, of course.  because, now it is Fall.  or almost.  it's Fall-ish, and my crafting/nesting/decorating hormones are raging.  this project needed to get DONE, people, because now i have fourteen other repurposed pallet projects junking up my Pinterest boards!!

sadly, this pallet project was not meant to be.  it came right down to salvaging that wood or salvaging my husband's sanity, and i made the responsible choice.  sigh. 

but, don't worry!  because it didn't take long for the pumpkin spice candle scents wafting through my living room to spark my creativity into high gear.  and just in time for a holiday weekend!! i didn't need a pallet to make a repurposed pallet project!  i just needed something to repurpose.  fortunately, i have loads of that kinda stuff to spare.

below is a photo of my double size headboard from 1994.  i had this vision of a picket fence headboard, and one afternoon, my father and Pop-Pop came around to my little 1994 apartment and built it for me! oh, it was resplendent in it's natural state, with fake sunflowers peeking through the pickets.  1994, i loved you so...

i used that headboard right up until my husband and i got a king size bed in 2005. we have, uh, fond memories of sleeping under that headboard.

looking at that headboard, leaning forlornly against the garage, i thought, maybe, it could be *like* a pallet... you know, since it's made out of wood and all.  so husband was dispatched to take the sides off and give it a good whitewash.  i couldn't decide on what word we would use, so i let him choose.  (see? i don't just delegate the crappy  jobs...) after staring at the blank canvas for about fifteen minutes, i free handed our word onto the pallet-like-piece-of-upside-down-picket-fence.

now, this next part gets tricky.  i didn't have a paint brush.  so, i did what any smart crafter would do and called up my sister with the Bachelor of Fine Arts and asked her if she had a brush i could borrow, which, of course, she did.  that was the best three mile round trip i made all day!

so, what do you think? pretty cool, i say. and i genuinely love that i have been able to repurpose this wonderful gift from my dad and Pop-Pop. (i have a feeling Pop-Pop might be rolling his eyes at me from up there, but i think he approves anyway.)

i tried very hard to get my  husband to hang it for me, but he kept shooing me away with complaints that he didn't have the right kind of hardware.  what the hell?!? couldn't he rig something?? i mean, i would have.  but, oh well...

the two side pieces can now be repurposed into something like this:

and, i'm pretty sure i won't even have to wait until the next holiday weekend.