Community Brag Posts

Made from the square x table breakfast nook plans and then altered the table top a bit.

Needed a kitchen island and loved this plan when I found it on your website. I have tools to cut the lumber but thought I would let Lowes cut the lumber to save me some time. Ha! Made small corrections with what you need like just 2 2x4s to make the 4 legs. Like Ana said, it's all about math. Thank you for the plans. Friends already wanting me to make one for them, ha. Ps...my dad is sold now on the kreg jig!

Simple white outdoor furniture. Easy to assemble. Ordered outdoor fabric online @ purchased bulk outdoor foam & cut it myself! Much cheaper than pre made cushions.

Cushions are from Pier 1; Seat 25" by 25" by 4"; Back cushions 25" by 18". You can't make your own for less than end-of-season sale prices. Trust me, I tried. Foam is expensive. 

About the plans: I did add a second back support because I turned the slat flat for a more comfortable back seat.  

Thanks for the plans Ana!

I stuck to the design but changed the dimensions to suit the space and the boxes we intend to store. This made the shelves 7.5 feet high by 8.5 feet wide. The timber was supplied in 17’ lengths so this also meant very little wastage. The frame is composed of 2x4’s, the shelves are 4.5 x 1.5’s  - as I wanted the shelves slightly shallower this meant I could get away with three boards for each shelf instead of 4 as on the plans. 

For the short cross pieces I used woodglue and screws – to attach the long shelf pieces I just used screws. I predrilled holes in the first piece for each of the screws, but I didn’t drill a pilot hole in the next piece, the screws were self-tapping and didn’t need one.

The back wall is concrete block and I screwed each upright to the wall using wall plugs and screws. I’ve 2 young children and as the shelves are quite high I was afraid they might climb on them and tip them over otherwise. The attachment to the wall definitely makes the whole thing feel much sturdier – the structure is completely rigid.

The only real issue I encountered was that some of the boards were slightly twisted or warped – and I had to apply some force to keep everything square when I was gluing up. Overall I’m very happy with the end product, and found it reasonably easy to put together. Now its time to put the shelves to good use and start tidying up the garage!

Beautiful media center, couldn't resist building it for our living room! Thanks Ana for such awesome plans!!

Made a 4 foot version of the farmhouse bench. I also used 4x4s for the legs instead of 2x4s. They work great, just makes the bench a little heavy. 

We built this tilt-out cabinet for our trash and plan to build a matching one for our recycling. We modified it a little and used bead board on the face of the cabinet to match some other elements in our kitchen. We painted it bright red using some leftover paint and absolutely love it!

We ended up not using any mechanism to prevent the drawer from falling to the ground - the trash can we purchased is JUST big enough that it stops the drawer from opening all the way, which is great!

There are more pictures below and on our blog, http://strawbridgestuff.com

First time I designed a piece of furniture.  Made out of pine.  Slat top and bottom with book shelves on both ends.  Joints held with glue and pocket screws.  Minwax pre-stain conditioner.  Two coats of Minwax Provincial stain.  Three coats of polyurethane.  

I loved this plan as soon as I saw it. The only modification I made was I used a 4x16 8oz drop cloth up on over the center instead of curtains or fabric and painted the wood with orange gloss spray paint. The kids love it. I think we may make come doors and ties to make it cozier but they love it!

On this project we modified a few things like the arm rests which we cut at an angle to keep kids from pinching fingers in there if someone decided to move the bench back on them. We also modified the size which we made 6'x4' to maximize play sand space and kid space. Therefore this made our benches bigger so that big kids (my husband) could sit on the benches and play in the sandbox. Yes there was talk about putting cup holders but I won the conversation by mentioning sand in his drink and we would have to do a sippy cup. We notched out the handles instead of installing handles which made it look sleek. We used the template from the hinge so it matched the shape....clever huh? We decided to primer and paint this one sandstone in the brick and mortar sample book by Behr and had them put it in an exterior paint color for us. We used a wagner paint sprayer which made the project fast at the end. Overall still an easy project for anyone. I do suggest pre drilling all holes first before screwing in screws so the wood doesn't split when doing the slats on the top.

I decided to build my potting bench out of all cedar. I added some extra reinforcements, especially under the table top and shelf, since cedar isn't the strongest wood around. But I love the look!

When I saw someone post this sand box request on Ana's facebook page, it was like the sand box of my dreams! Our backyard is a work-in-progress, and we're constantly in different areas, so I knew that I would need a much smaller, transportable size. When the back yard is finished, I'll definitely build the full-sized sand box... But until then, I've got this 2' x 2' box, some sand in an IKEA bag, and a happy little toddler, who cries every time I try to close this to get photos. :-)