How to Build a Pallet Light Box for your Kitchen Island

A simple and affordable option was needed when our kitchen island light wasn’t working for our space, so we built a Pallet Light Box for less than $50.

Ever create something that just doesn’t work anymore?

Have you ever had to break up with a light fixture?

When we renovated our kitchen, I was given a gorgeous, emerald green enamel light shade that I loved, and still do, but it just wasn’t working with where I had placed it.

So I built my own light box in just a couple of hours that would be the focal point of this DIY Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel.

I am so thrilled share all of the step-by-step details with you! This is definitely the post for you if you have an off centered fixture or an awkward space that needs lighting.

DIY Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel for just over $5000: These bloggers are sharing their secrets on how they saved money on their kitchen remodel!

Yummy Enamel light – it’s not you, it’s me!

And this isn’t good-bye, just a see you later until you have a new home.

Our kitchen is dark. I mean gloomy-on-a-shady-day kinda dark. Even with the white paint on our cabinets, it’s still a challenge.

Over time, we realized that the pendant light wasn’t bright enough and the enamel blocked the light from bouncing off the ceiling which would brighten the room.

Pallet Light Box: How to make a custom light box from Pallet wood. An affordable fix for lighting problems. — **Find the Rustic DIY Kitchen Island Tutorial Here**

When we started to replace our kitchen floor and upgrade our Pallet Kitchen Island, we were left with lots of scraps.

So what to do with that left over pallet wood? That’s right! Build a light box! Yay for another pallet project!

By reusing materials and never letting anything go to waste, it can save you lots of money. It’s the perfect project to showcase that true pallet character.

Plus you can finish it in just a couple of hours.

Here are the materials we used.

Pallet Light Box Supplies

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Pallet wood pieces
Allen Roth lighting fixture
Deck screws
Anchor screws
Carpenters Square
Power Drill
Circular Saw
Stud Finder
1 1 x 1 pine baluster

When we found this light fixture from Allen Roth at Lowe’s, I immediately fell in love with it because I can change the glass shades to mason jars if I want.

The glass pendants were perfect to allow the light to fully shine through, but I didn’t want that clustered lights look. We wanted the lights spread evenly across the length of the kitchen island.

How to Build a Pallet Light Box:

The first step is to build the box.

Most pallets are constructed with a 2 x 4 frame and slats of varying sizes. We like to use wood from the same pallet for uniformity, but there are no hard and fast rules with this – be creative!

I loved the slats with the imprinted numbers, and wanted to show them off, so they became the end pieces. A carpenter’s square is handy to ensure that the box is even.

Since it is pallet wood, your pieces do not need to be perfect or straight.

Trim the wood to your specifications using a circular saw but don’t worry about perfection.

By adding the slats of wood to our box top, we basically built a mini-pallet.

Weathered pallet wood has so much charm.

By reusing the old nails holes, we screwed the box together.

Installing the Pallet Light Box

Now it’s time to affix the Pallet Light Box to the ceiling.

We cut the 1 x 1 baluster in half and used them as braces. This is what you will screw the box to so make sure your box fits snug around the braces.

Use a stud finder to find the joists in the ceiling and screw them in. We used heavy duty anchor screws since there wasn’t a joist on one side.

Next, we needed to wire the box and separate the cluster of lights.

This light fixture allows you to choose your lengths and is easy to disassemble into 3 separate cords.

We drilled holes big enough for each cord to feed through the light box.

We just knotted the cord to the length that we wanted to hang the pendant lights. The Pallet Light Box allows us to keep the length of the light cords in case we ever wanted to rehang this fixture someplace else. I stored all that extra cord hidden away in the box.

Then we attached the cords to the base plate of the fixture.

Since I’m not an electrician and I don’t play one on TV, I’m not going to give instructions on this step.

This is an important and potentially dangerous step, so have someone who knows what they are doing to help with the electrical, or be sure to educate yourself.

Finally, we fit the box around the braces, holding it tight to the ceiling, and screwed the sides of the Pallet Light Box into the braces.

That’s all there is to it!

The Reveal

Easy peasy, done in one afternoon and swoon-worthy!

I love the random stamping on the sides of the light box.

You could use those neat Edison bulbs, but since we were wanting to brighten the space, we used LED light bulbs.

For now, I’m keeping the clear shades, until I find vintage, large mason jars.

We have since updated our kitchen island as well as finally updating the floors.

I love that I was able to create an easy, budget friendly light fixture that solved so many issues.

No more dark, dreary kitchen, lots of light over our revamped kitchen island, and a unique piece that is a definite conversation starter when company comes!

Do you have any pallet wood lying around and have been searching for inspiration? I’d love to hear if this inspires you to create your own Pallet Light Box!

Be sure to keep up with me on instagram and show me your creation! And click below to follow along with our newsletter!

For more tutorials from our Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel, check out the links below: