Resene Shed of the Year
We announce the winners!
ATaranaki shed lined with boards upcycled from shipping pallets and equipped with pallet-board furniture has been named the Resene Shed of the Year by NZ Gardener.
Murray Lehndorf of Inglewood, known by some locals as The Pallet Man, has transformed an old double garage into quite a work of art.
The shed began its life as a man cave and entertainment venue, but it’s had a few metamorphosis since. After a rather vigorous social life it became a sleep-out cabin for a while and now is being transformed into a garden shed/ greenhouse/garden display area.
The shed’s story began two years ago when Murray created the ‘Pallet Pallace’ with the help of his mates, complete with bar (made of pallets), bar stools (made of pallets) stereo, TV and dartboard.
“On Friday nights the guys got together for a few drinks, darts, music and DVDs and no women allowed,” said Murray with a grin.
“On Thursday nights the women gathered in the shed and it was no guys allowed – we got chucked out.”
They held two weddings, an engagement party and many gatherings in the shed, especially at Christmas and New Year.
His girlfriend Tracy Thomas is the gardener. A trained horticulturist, she loves plants and Murray likes growing veges, so the shed was altered again.
Now the bar has gone and plants are being moved in. The pool table has been replaced by a potting table,
Murray began making outdoor tables and bench seats out of pine pallets and giving them to friends. He sometimes he got a box of beer in return.
He moved on to making planter boxes and gates and then built a shade house of pallets over his big vege garden.
His double garage was “pretty shot’ and he decided to cut costs by recycling boards from old pallets.
Murray sourced the pallets free from RD1 and Farmlands, loading up the roof rack on his car five pallets high, much to the amusement of the staff who came up with the “Pallet Man” nickname.
With some help from grandchildren, Murray, 60, a painter/decorator by trade, lined the whole shed with the pallet timbers and used them to build doors and shelves. The job took about eight months. Murray estimates he’s used 1000 boards from the pallets. “Pulling out the nails was a really big job,” he said.
Tracy has become an expert in pulling nails. She reckons they’ve pulled out about 7000 nails from pallets to line the shed and make the furniture.
The couple grow vegetable and plant seedlings which they take to a monthly Crop Swap gathering in Inglewood. So not surprisingly they are excited about winning the Resene Shed of the year ultimate prize, and taking home $1000 of Resene paint, a $2000 Gubba shed, Homelandz garden furniture and $700 worth of Gardena gardening gear, which will add to their setup.