Beauty over Bacteria

I've been poring over the latest issue ReadyMade Magazine this past week -- it's chock full of cool ideas for sprucing up the backyard, including step-by-step instructions for creating a Recycled Wood Dining Table out of used shipping pallets you'll find out back at grocery and hardware stores. Pretty cool, right?


After spending a little time thinking through how this table -- or some version of it -- can fit into our Master Plan for the backyard (which I'll likely get into another day) I hopped into my Google Reader to clear out some unread items on this blog I subscribe to called Cheap Like Me. It's not something I read often, but the first post I opened is called "Don't Reuse Wood Pallets." It's all about how these pallets are contaminated with bacteria and chemicals. It mostly talks about how you shouldn't bring used wood pallets into your home, so part of me thinks an outdoor table could still work.

I mean, come on, how can you resist those little hollowed out spots for herbs and succulents?