11/17/2025
Meet the Pineys: Patrick and Carlina (and one very spoiled shop pup, Miter 🐾), the duo behind Pine Barren Pallet Works. We’re a small business out of South Jersey made up of two self-taught dreamers who somehow turned a love for creating into a full-time career.
Our Story:
After graduating high school I (Patrick) worked for the government and learned quickly that a desk job was not for me. Soon after I quit and left New Jersey to travel around the country doing photography. I settled in San Diego CA for a few years and came back to visit in 2018. While visiting home for a few months I decided to make some furniture in my free time and during that time I met Carlina. Early in our relationship Carlina listed a coffee table I made for myself on Facebook Marketplace without me knowing and it sold overnight. The same buyers requested if I can make them custom end tables to match their coffee table. From there I started making all kinds of furniture and home decor and thus, Pine Barren Pallet Works was born!
At the time, Carlina was finishing up her undergrad and playing Division 1 field hockey for Rutgers. On the weekends she would drive home to spend hours in the garage with me, messing with scrap pieces and learning how to use all the different tools. Once graduating with a degree in Public Health, she decided to put that on hold and join me in pursuing Pine Barren Pallet Works full time.
It started off with mainly doing festivals on the weekend however, in 2020 when Covid hit and festivals were at a halt, we realized we had a lot of stock items that we did not have room for, so we came up with the idea to create the “Pallet House”. The “Pallet House” was a glorified shed with 10ft high ceilings that was created from pallet wood and other free timber. We not only had a place to store our stock items, but also a great place for customers to come pick up their custom items and shop our overstock. We started building the “Pallet House” in March 2020 and finished around November 2020.
We had so much fun building it and the whole family was a part of it. We documented the entire process of the build online so our followers and supporters could feel like they were part of the build. Thankfully, many of our family, friends, and clients were able to come visit the “Pallet House” before it burnt down June 24th, 2021 due to an electrical fire.
Losing the “Pallet House” was the hardest thing we've had to go through in the business. We built it from the ground up and it became our little sanctuary. At 3 AM while we watched the Pallet House burn and I saw Carlina look completely defeated, I walked over to her and said, “This is not the end. We are going to have a long road ahead of us, but we will rise from the ashes and bounce back stronger than ever” and that is exactly what we have been doing thanks to our amazing online community, local community and family.
Soon after the “Pallet House” burned down, we had plans to get the community together and rebuild it out of a shipping container, however the township would not give us approval. So we wanted to find another way of getting the community together to show our love and support for them. That is when we agreed to have the first “Pine Barren Makers Fest” in 2022. Carlina and I had been planning this event slowly and hoped to have it in the next couple of years but after the fire and the failed township approval we agreed to do it immediately. We wanted to have the “Pine Barren Makers Fest” to not only show off all the amazing makers and small businesses but also bring the community back together and thank them for everything they have done for us. One of our main goals for this “Makers Fest” is to create a family-friendly space for all to enjoy, while supporting handmade makers and small businesses alike. This is now an annual event that brings over 120 makers and small businesses together with the support of over 15,000 attendees throughout the weekend.
While going around our town to promote the event we stumbled across a building that we thought would be ideal for our dream workshop. This building was right in our downtown and had space in the front to create a storefront to sell and promote our products. Not long after chatting about it, we found out that the space was going to be going up for rent for the first time in 72 years. We met with the landlords and signed the lease in April of 2023. We had a lot of work ahead of us since this space had not been renovated since the 1950s. We completely gutted the old office space to create our new showroom and store. Tearing out old walls and the drop ceiling to create our vision. Just like the “Pallet House”, we documented the entire process which can be found online and continue to document renovations in the woodshop located directly behind our store. On July 7th, 2023, we opened the doors to Makers Handmade, our version of a handmade gift shop, full of our work alongside other incredible goods from Makers all over the country.
Over the last six years, we’ve experienced hardship and loss, but have also gained knowledge, growth, joy and have learned that everything truly happens for a reason. We can’t wait to continue sharing this journey with you. Thank you for being here and supporting what we love most. We truly couldn’t do any of this without YOU.
