Another Pallet Project…Factory Cart Table

My mom had not so secretly been pining over every old railroad cart and pallet jack table she had seen during the past several months.  Unfortunately, most of tables had some serious price tags to go along with their cool vintage style.  Price tags that were way beyond my limited budget.   Sorry mom no rolling coffee table for you.  Well, at least, that is what I thought until my brainstorm.   I hope you can pick up on the sarcasm in that last statement.  Usually my brainstorms are ideas that would have occurred to most creative people much sooner in the process.    There is a  pile of old pallet wood sitting in the garage just waiting to be built into something special and the idea of  building one just hit me.  Like, duh.  It was after this realization that I remembered a plan on Ana-White’s site from quite some time ago (like last summer) and it was perfect.  Her factory cart coffee table plan could be easily modified to work with the wood on hand.

I followed the plan for the most part, except for the modifications in length and width.  Most of the wood on hand were shorter pieces, so it was easier to go with a more narrow table.  Also, the slats extend over the end pieces instead of resting inside the box.  This required a little more work, since the end side pieces had to be ripped down to the proper height.  Not having a table saw always makes cuts like these so much fun.

The most difficult part of this whole project was locating and purchasing affordable, but retro styled casters.  I searched locally and online for what seemed like forever.  The table had been built for weeks and was just sitting in the garage waiting for me to locate some wheels.  In the end a conversation with my step-father saved me.  He mentioned that a Northern Tool & Equipment store was just a few blocks from his office and would I like him to check it out.  Having not found them in any of my previous online searches, I googled them and checked out their site.  Lo and behold I found the perfect casters.  Even more perfect was that my step-father would be able to pick them up directly from the store…no shipping charges.  Woo-hoo!

I stained the table in a dark walnut and spray painted the casters black, so everything would work together.  Check one more project off the Christmas list.