Community Brag Posts

1/2 ' x 18" black pipe was used along with 1/2 ' flanges. The wood was re-purposed 2x6' pine lumber that had been used for pallets, that would have been thrown away. The boards were joined with a Kreg Jig, It will house my stereo components.

I do a lot of family gatherings and my daughter gave me a huge white cooler to accommodate all our different beverages. It's great to have, but its basic appearance didn't add much to the "party" atmosphere!

 My son-in-law has a small mill and after a recent visit he had sent me home with a trunk load of beautiful cedar. At that time I had no idea what I'd do with it. But, after seeing so many rustic coolers I decided that would be a perfect project to build with my cedar.

I built this before the cute blue ice chest was posted by Birds and Soap, but that would be a great plan to follow! 

My cooler had handles that were molded into the body of the chest, so the shape was a bit awkward to work with-especially considering that I'm really short on math skills! But, with a bit of trial and lots of error I made it work. I worked on it over several days, but if I'd buckled down and worked continuously I might have finished it in one day.

I love how it turned out, and after the 1st family gathering I had orders for 4 more (smaller) cooler chests!

sofa

Hello everyone! I built the Logan entertainment center for our apartment and it is amazing! I used Ana's plans with a few modifications. This was the first projected I finished and while it's not perfect, I love it and I learned a lot in the process. Because I was learning to build as I went, it might have taken me longer than someone who has more experience. I built this project over several months and it took a long time, but it was totally worth it. Check out more details about my experience over at my blog. 

Got a chance this weekend to do our first (good!) woodworking project. Love the chair, gotta head back to Menard's to get some more lumber for chair #2!

Built a new outdoor furniture set using the following plans:

Ryobi Outdoor Couch (linked to in the One Arm Outdoor Sectional plans)

Armless 2x4 Sectional

2x4 Outdoor Coffee Table

I also built the Tryde End Table with Shelf & 2 of the Modern Outdoor Chair from 2x4s and 2x6s, but they will be in a seperate brag post since I can only link 3 sets of plans per post.

I built the armless middle sectional piece exactly to plan, to fit 25x25 outdoor cushions. The bench is a little deep for sitting, but great for laying out. The 2 side pieces I shallowed to fit 19" cushions, since they are cheaper and easier to find and are more naturally sized for sitting. I also added a support board under the back rail, which is missing from the Outdoor Couch plans but is present in the Armless sectional plans and I wanted everything to match. I stained everything with Thompson's water sealing stain, since it was going to be exposed to the elements at all times (though this picture was taken before the staining was completely finished, hence the untouched lumber visible under some of the cushions).

Project took a 3-day weekend. Day 1: measuring and cutting. Day 2: assembly. Day 3: sanding and staining. 

There were a few of these floating around pinterest so I just looked at a few pictures and kinda winged it.  It is made almost just like Jamie’s except I used additional 2x2’s as you can see in the pics… I needed something to thread the bungee cords through.  I tied them off on the top and bottom.  I ordered a roll of pink bungee cord off of amazon.  This is actually two years old as you can see from how much it has filled up.  I also went back and added additional rows of bungee cord between all the others as stuffed animals were falling out.  Again, I winged it.  Having plans will make this build much easier!!

This was my first project using your plans.  I changed the plans to make the bed King Size.  I also hinged the footboard to allow storage in the middle of the bed.  I am planning a drawer in the middle as well buy haven't installed that yet.

I love my dogs, but their wire kennels were an eyesore. Removing them completely was not an option, but I was tired of looking at them. I went back to my first-ever rehab project, and took it one step further to create a one-of-a-kind castle for my pups.
The original piece of furniture was an old console-style TV cabinet. Sliding doors on the front revealed the TV, and two lids on top contained the tuner and a turn-table.

Armed with screwdrivers, hammers and a dremmel, all components were removed form the cabinet, leaving just the shell. (PLEASE be sure you remove all sharp, potentially dangerous, screws, staples and what-not’s from the inside of the cabinets, to avoid injuring your pet! The dremmel allowed me to cut off and grind down stubborn screws.)

To cover the holes in the top cabinets, I used old checker boards. The cubbies are now a great place to store dog treats and leashes.

OPTIONAL: The back panel of the cabinet I used had holes from the TV components. I elected to replace the back board with a new sheet of peg board. (The peg board allows for much-needed ventilation.) In order to get the size perfect, I traced the old back onto the new and marked the original screw holes.

I vacuumed the inside to remove all construction debris and polished the exterior with Pledge. Then, I inserted an old comforter into the kennel, and stood back as my two pups launched themselves into their new abode.

The doors can stay open during the day for them to enter at their own will, and close for bedtime. And my eyes no longer hurt.

Since we don't have a garage or any really good place to keep our tools, they end up all over the house while we're working on a project. So, we decided to build a cabinet that would look nice in our house, and also house our tools. We chose the armoire plan because it has plenty of space.

This project took us forever, so it's hard to really estimate the actual working time. We began working on it back in June, then we were evacuated because of a forest fire.... By the time we got back into our house and we were organized again it was the end of July.... and now finally the end of August it's finished. It took us a while, but it's a great addition to our house!

We modified this cabinet by using 1/4 inch beadboard backed with 1/4 plywood for the doors. We also modified the size of the armoire to make it deeper.

WOW this was our first build. We had some money to get started so went and bought new miter saw and sander, kreg jig, basically everything we needed to build it. Tools aside we spend only about $100 on the lumber to build the coffee table and 2 side tables.

Eric cut notches in the X instead of using 2 separate pieces for the other side, so they fit together like a puzzle piece. it was a learning experience of trial and error, but he got better and better each time.

For the finish i used the tutorial of dissolving steel wool in vinegar and then added a coat of strong coffee which made an ugly green-gray color. I happened to have picked up a can of "autumn" wood stain that when applied made the color pop and look amazing. (thank goodness because i was so frustrated and wanted to give up) when we do this again (cuz i just sold the set we made) i will be better at sanding everything nice and smooth, and do staining/painting of the Xs and the top separately before putting everything together.

I dont recommend the steel wool and vinegar stain, it smelled terrible and was hard to apply because it was watery and ran a lot plus you cant see the color develop for a long time so its hard to see what was wet and what wasn't. yuk. The Minwax "gray" stain they just released would most likely work a lot better. those small can of stains for $6 are big enough for all 3 pieces we built so really i don't think i saved money buying the steel wool and vinegar.

Anyway this was way fun! Cant wait to build again :)

I love my new photo ledges. I had a huge space on my wall and these ledges are perfect. The ledges were so easy to make. I got a kreg jig for my birthday (I never thought I would ask for a tool for a birthday present) and I have gotten so much use out of it. I saw similar ledges at pottery barn for 10 times the cost of this DIY project. I saved so much with these ledges. The kreg jig has already paid for itself. The ledges make it super easy to switch out photos and I love being able to display so many fun photos. Everyone who sees these ledges loves them!! This was my first project. Thanks Ana for the great plans!