Community Brag Posts

We need bedroom furniture desperately! So, I decided, for my second build I would start in our bedroom! The dresser first, because I was going crazy without a place to put my clothes!

Great additon to the office - easy diy faux mantle

I had built the "Traditional Toddler Bed" for our first daughter a while back. Since then we have had our second daughter and a house of 3 girls (and not knowing how many more were coming) we needed another dresser. So i designed and built this dresser to match the toddler bed. It was made from 2x4 studs, b grade pine plywood, b grade pine and wainscoting. Though it required extra sanding and finishing work it was well worth the savings.

This was a very simple build. I was able to finish in a few hours by myself with 2 young children hanging around my ankles! 

The supply list allows enough extra to make 2 or 3, making it fairly inexpensive! 

Plans for this coop were fantastic. It was a lot of work, but really fun to build.  As hard as I tried to keep the cost down, it cost probably close to $300 in materials, but it is well worth it compared to the quality of similar priced premade coops.  I did not want the garden bed, so I enclosed the run fully with hardware cloth. I also added a 2" lip around the cutout in the floor so they wouldn't push all of the bedding down the hole. 

With another baby boy arriving in August, my one and three year olds are moving to a "big boy" room. My oldest decided he wanted a bunk bed and as they both are obsessed with tractors, when I saw the "John Deere Tractor Bunk Bed" plan, I was sold.

We would be needing a twin sized bunk bed though not a toddler. I used the classic bunk bed plans and simply modified them to suit our needs. I moved the ladder to the front, added a rail on the bottom bunk and added a small ladder to the side for my one year old to climb into the bottom bunk.

Once the the frame of the bed was complete, I added the tractor accessories. A couple of storage cubby shelves with fabric baskets for toy tractors which act as stairs up to the ladder and make the tractor bucket at the front. Also, the wheels which are made from joined 1x6s as I find plywood hard to sand and paint to the quality of finish I like. A cab & roof from 1x4s framed together. A side mirror that I decoupaged a picture of another tractor on. I used push lights for the headlights as well as a reading light above each bed (they're on timers so they'll turn themselves off). A steering wheel (play equipment access from toys r us). Also, I built and mounted by the head of both beds a "flat wall book holder" so they would have somewhere to store a few books.

My boys and I are fairly new to building so I spent a lot of time planning and measuring to ensure it would all come together in the end. It paid off because it all went smoothly (even with "help" from my boys). It's not perfect but they're very happy with the result. We also built a John Deere themed "Just my size closet" and even finished with over a month to spare before the new baby arrives! :)

Just want to say a quick thank you to Ana both for the amazing plans and also the inspiration to take on these projects. The time spent with my boys building as well as the resulting treasures are priceless and I would have never realized what we were capable of had I not stumbled upon your website and been so inspired by you and everything you've accomplished. Thank you!

Built this from the Jen Woodhouse plan. 

I located an 11ft piece of cedar 5 inches thick and 21 inches wide. The first thing I thought was to splice it and make an outdoor dining table....but realised i could get some distance out of this and decided to start with a coffee table. The tryde coffee table was the inspiration to get this made. It was a weekend project that was done while my 2 year old took his afternoon naps. My wife loves it, so managed to score some brownie points with this one. It didn't take too much to sand, a quick skim with 60 grit to get rid of the major splinters and saw scars, then an hour or so of 120 grit. The legs are s4s cedar 4x4 posts with s4s cedar 2x4 supports. I don't have too many tools so used a band saw at my neighbours workshop to quickly rough out the joints. once all pieces were cut and sanded, it was assembled with glue and held in place with multiple bar clamps and cured overnight. The top was assembled the next day with glue, sanded in place and stained / urethaned on day 2. A fun project for a novice like me.

This is a bay window standalone desk. The desk has an enormous top and fits snugly into the bay window. It did not have to be attached to the wall. There are four pieces in total: the top, 2 base units and a support that spaces the desks at 36" and further secures the top.

The base unites are built from the File Base Classic Wall Storage System and the top is glued up 2x12s that were planed down and straight edged.

Thanks to inspiration from Ana's post on the Sand Box with Built-in seats, I've retrofit our Jungle Fort (http://www.detailedplay.com/Jungle-Fort-Swingset.htm) with the sandbox cover/bench system. I've upgraded the lumber dimensions to 2x4s and 2x6 to accommodate the increased 67.5" span.