
We’ve been getting an increasing number of emails from readers their shipping pallet improvisations, as they push they realm of pallet invention. A recent favorite: this swell, stylish staircase by Natasha Figueroa and her husband Dan Husted who live in an up-and-coping gallery district in Copenhagen, Denmark.
We have a private gallery/studio located in Kødbyen, which is the old meatpacking district. Lot45 is the name, and it is an old ‘skin-house’, where they used to hang the hides for curing. Since we did all the work ourselves, we kept the budget quite tight and try to re-use as much as we could. Seeing as the meatpacking district still functions, there are a lot of old pallets laying about. Dan designed and built this so that it can also function as a hang-out during openings & parties.
Their pallet staircase functions as an old fashioned stoop where their friends do indeed hang out…

…

…We are totally impressed…

Thanks Natasha!!!!
Related posts: the scoop on safe shipping pallets (shipping pallets 101)
ps: some possible dangers of wood shipping pallets
led-illuminated shipping pallet bed
brilliant D-I-Y pallet desks, tables, stairs
D-I-Y: pallet chair (and stool and lamp)
Bad design, unsafe, can trip over holes facing out on pallets.
Wow. Beautiful design from a beautiful couple. Love what these two do…
brilliantly beautiful!
i agree, beautiful but impractical. re-use often necessitates alot of labor. i would suggest adding a toekick at the facing edge and overhang on the tread. most people’s feet are accustomed to “finding” the edge of a stair, and the holes on the vertical edge could catch a foot pretty easily.
Those are valid remarks above. The only thing i would add – in Denmark (and much of the rest of the world) things are not built standard – stairs, doors, bathrooms, et cetera. This design would not work in the US, because people are used to standard sizing. Here, people look carefully where they step!
Again, this is an inexpensive solution using on-hand materials in a private setting. I would suggest anyone looking to build something more permanent and heavily used should take the design to the next level, like the options Esteban suggest.
Point taken, i guess that’s why the “international” building code only went national!! I do enjoy seeing the creative re-use of materials and applaud y’all for thinking outside the box. I hope it is encouragement for others to continuing to do the very best you can with what is at hand!