Pallet Wood DIY: TV Tray Table

A week before Valentine’s Day this year I decided to make my husband a gift. I wanted something from the heart, but also something amazing. I remembered he had mentioned that he wished he had a tray table for the sofa to set his coffee on.

Side note: He has a tendency to balance his mug on the edge of the couch rather than on the “coffee table.” No, I’m not throwing him under the bus. I admit, I do it, too. A tray table  that is closer to the sofa should solve this issue.

Recently, I have really gotten into crafting with pallet wood. So much so, that my Pinterest account is overflowing with pallet wood project ideas.  At the time of this writing, I have over 350 pins on my “pallet ideas” board. Ok, so maybe I’m actually obsessed with pallet wood. I digress…

Back to the Valentine’s gift. I decided to make a… wait for it… pallet wood TV tray table.

Step 1: Measure your sofa and a comfortable height.

My first step was to measure the sofa and determine height and width that I wanted. Then, I quickly sketched out this design idea. You are welcome to use my exact specifications for your project as I believe the table I created is universal to most sofas.

From there, off to the workshop I went to begin deconstructing some more pallets and formulating a plan. To get a better idea of this project, I’m going to share the finished piece first. Here’s what it looks like:

I also recorded a video documenting the whole process.

Step 2: Deconstruct a pallet

Note: This project takes 1 full pallet and you’ll have some boards left over.)

Watch this video for the easy way to deconstruct a pallet.

Step 3: Measure and Cut Your Pallet Boards

Here is a close up of the cuts necessary to build this project.

Step 4: Pound Some Nails or Use A Nail Gun

I filled my nail gun with small 1.125″ finishing nails. In a few places I had to use 2″ nails. The pieces above will build out the project to look like this…

Step 5: Make optional modifications

I intended to stop with the design above. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It’s simple and it works. However, the wow factor was missing. As this was to be a Valentine’s gift for my honey, it had to be better. So… I modified the original a bit to include a pocket box for the remote and a more finished look to wedge supports. I also chose to stain and finish it. If you want to make the modifications that I outlined in the video, you’ll need these additional cuts:

Also, there were some questions I received on how to make the support wedges. I used the thicker wood from the sides of a shipping pallet to cut off 3.125″ square blocks. I then drew a straight line from corner to corner and cut the block with a band saw down the line.  Note: The block was actually 3.5″ to start with, but after sanding it shrunk down to the 3.125″ size. 

Step 6: Stain and Finish

Here is the stain and finish I used. I applied the stain with a soft cotton rag and let it set for 8 hours before I applied the polyurethane finish. I used a 2″ brush to apply the finish. The finish took 24 hours to fully dry. It may take more or less time for you depending on weather conditions, humidity levels and temperature of the space you are doing the finishing.

Step 7: Give Your Finished TV Tray Table To Someone You Love

In case you’re wondering, my husband, Ron said he really liked this gift. It’s just the right size and it is also strong enough to support a laptop computer. Best of all, his coffee cup has a safe place to rest instead of the arm of the sofa. {wink}

Ron approves this project.

Do you have other questions or have you tried out this project? Comment down below and I’ll do my best to answer you promptly.