Reclaimed pallet cat and mouse toy box

At some point last year, I was sent to the shed, my work room, to tidy.  It had descended into chaos… again.  Normally, because I lack storage, and must work around stuff.

It wasn’t long before I picked up some pallet off-cuts, got distracted, and made a box like structure with legs— but no top or bottom.  There it sat for a year.  Was it a planter, was it a laundry box… who knew…? I didn’t.

Fast forward, a year, and I was expecting my first child.  I considered making a toy box, the rest is history.  The sides and lid are all made from pallet wood.  Simply screwed together.  The bottom is an old shelf I found in my shed, just the right size.  On the inside of the lid, I screwed in a sheet from an old antique Bartholomew map of Scotland.  Left over from something we did at our wedding.  I used a paste mixture to seal. 

Some simple black hinges, new, but bought for something else, and never used, finished the box.  I considered a catch, to stop the lid banging, but it seems to stay up itself. Worried about sharp edges from pallet wood, I did go and buy some edging and glued on the corners. 

The box was painted using some yellow chalk paint, I acquired a cat and mouse stencil off etsy and then waxed.  Very rustic, it was meant to be a planter, but hopefully fun for the new baby.