photo: arctic plank

We never cease to be amazed at the uses people have come up for shipping pallets. Their boxy form naturally allows for building block type constructions of all kinds. DE-constructed, they afford an unpredictable variety of rustic, often beat-up woods, in roughly 2 or 3-foot lengths. The chicest application we’ve seen lately are these floors made by Arctic Plank.

Arctic Plank “upcycles” the  salvaged wood boards, though doesn’t say exactly what that process entails. It looks to us like they sand, stain and finish the boards to create a unique patina. To deal with the short lengths of wood, they smartly cut the planks to make in zigzag, herringbone or parquet patterns. These look much more finished than aligning boards vertically, which makes for a rag-tag look that has a completely different kind of charm. Arctic Plank‘s floors got us thinking about just what the possibilities for shipping pallet floors might be…

We found this interesting pallet floor on Container Space, a blog about converting shipping containers. The random, scavenged pallet wood boards are aligned vertically, with nails/screws showing for a somewhat busy, though appealing, effect…

pallet wood floor in a shipping container

For a more neutral, less patch-work looking floor, you could stain the wood uniformly dark gray-black…or paint it a color color…

This from-scratch floor looks as though it is made from deconstructed, unfinished pallet wood, and is seriously rustic (and a splinter danger for bare feet):

shipping pallet floor unfinished wood

We imagine that Arctic Planks must be using a router on the boards to create tongue-and-groove edges that will to fit together snugly without nailing…You can see the process here. If you have a shop, this is theoretically something you could do at home.

photo: arctic plank

Their somewhat patchwork pallet wood pattern makes for a fine outdoor deck…

Arctic plank floor
photo: arctic plank

What shipping pallets REALLY offer are cheap, rough wood to recycle into dreamy creations…

 via Jetson Green

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