Pallet furniture: You likely either love it or hate it.

To me, pallets represent a blank canvas with endless possibilities. You can make nearly anything out of them, from patio furniture and shelves to tables and bed frames.

And while a pallet bed frame may be thought of more as a solution for a struggling college student, with a little creativity (and a whole lot of sanding), they can be upgraded to be a more permanent fixture that adds rustic charm to your bedroom.

My inspiration first came from French designer Birgitte De Paepe (@zebodeko on Instagram), who reconstructs her bedroom every week with magical combinations of pallets, plants, fairy lights, driftwood and other natural materials. I knew I wanted to recreate the feel immediately, starting with the pallet bed frame.

When I began looking into this idea, I learned it was a fairly controversial one. Some lamented the amount of grime that would build up between the open slats. Some worried it’d be full of splinters. Some thought it was flat-out ugly. And those were just a few of the critiques.

I’ll admit, this poked holes in my vision, but it did not deflate completely.

After measuring out the exact size of the pallets I would need to fit my cramped bedroom, I began my quest to find some on Facebook marketplace. This took a bit longer than expected, but I eventually came across a man who lived about 45 minutes away offering a variety of sizes for free.

My husband, Aaron, and I took the trip out and arrived in Pallet Land. The man giving them away owned a trucking company, and his entire property — including a hangar-like garage in the backyard — was stockpiled with pallets of various sizes and conditions. We dug through his collection until we found four Grade A pallets.

When we got home, the real work began.

We sanded those bad boys down until we couldn’t stand it any longer. I was equipped with an electric sander, while Aaron followed behind hand-sanding the nooks and backsides. Even so, this took days (though it felt like an eternity). If I really, really looked within and found the motivation to continue, we may have been able to knock out each round of sanding in one day. It was just a total drag.

After the first round of sanding, we hosed down and scrubbed the pallets with soap. Then, we let them dry and sanded again until they felt relatively smooth to the touch.

When that was finally over, we wiped them down with tack cloths and coated the pallets with a few layers of polyurethane.

And boom — in just a few very basic steps, we had our pallet bed frame. We laid the pallets out in a square in our bedroom and decked them out with fairy lights, plants galore and four huge pieces of driftwood (which is a topic for another column).

If you’re thinking of pursuing a similar project, there are some things you should know.

Number one: Choose the best pallets you can find. Not all pallets are created equal. Search for some with thick boards with no cracks that and are clean and as smooth as possible. This last part is crucial! Remember, sanding is coming later. Take your time, be selective and don’t be afraid to walk away if they’re in poor condition. While we found ours for free, it’s worth spending a few extra bucks for nice pallets.

And even though I hated every second of it, our maniacal sanding paid off. I’m happy to report we’ve had zero splinter incidents to date.

As for the cleaning, I’ll give one point to the skeptics mentioned above — it is a slight pain. Dust manages to creep under the mattress, which is difficult to reach with a vacuum hose. But it only takes flipping the mattress up every so often and vacuuming underneath to keep it clean.

My biggest qualm with the bed frame? It’s prone to the occasional squeaking. With time, the pallets begin to shift and rub together, which results in a dream-piercing creak every time we move. I’m going to try putting some sort of padding between the pallets and tying them together with thick twine, which I am fairly confident will resolve the problem.

All that said, our bed is one of my proudest creations to date. And although it may not appeal to everyone, letting individual taste shine through is what design is all about.

Email your questions to Theresa "Tess" Bennett at homewithtess@gmail.com and keep up with Tess on Instagram @homewithtess