Community Brag Posts

This is my first EVER project, but I have already made several more!! I love this site and the new found confidence I have to make things for my home! Keep the plans coming!!!

I combined my favorite elements from three of Ana's dollhouse plans to make this dollhouse for my kids. My favorite part is the stairs, which I cut from a 2x4 with a miter saw. I made this project from start to finish in one day while the grandparents took the kids, and it was ready for Christmas morning! I made simple furniture for it, too, which you can see in the second picture.

I started woodworking about 6 month ago and I love it! 

I made our kitchen table and nightstands.

This was a real test! The drawers took as long as the frame, if not longer.

It's all worth it when it turns out this good though!

Thank you for all the wonderful plans, my wife practially has all the furniture in our house in line to built by me. 

Loved doing this as my first ever building project. Ana's plans made it easy and I found a tutorial for making the cushions at Sew Mama Sew. It's not perfect but we love it because it seats so many people comfortably and is exactly the right size for our patio. (All of our friends have complimented it like crazy, too!)

Made of old fence rail (the dark pieces) and cheap 2x4s and 1x12s .

This is not as stable as I hoped, but for an afternoon's project that got all those tools off the workshop floor, it's not bad. I will add a diagonal brace at the back later. Much later.

NOTE: My engineer friend notes that 2 braces at the rear, below the bottom shelf and below the top shelf, would minimize side-to-side wobbling, and 2 braces front to back, both under the bottom shelf, would minimize the front-to-back wobbling, They could be a scrap of plywood, a 1x6 or wider scrap. Just nail them in two or more places on each of the ladders and they make the structure more rigid. Screw them in if you want a shelf unit you can disassemble.

TIPS:
If you are using pockethole screws, start the screws in all the holes before you put the crosspieces on. Stop when you see the tip of the screw come through the first piece.

Clamp scrap 2x4 to the uprights to hold the crosspieces in place as you drill.

To get the shelves in place, lean the ladders against each other and attach the bottom and top boards on one side. Than pull the other ladder out as far as it needs to go and screw that side of the shelves in place.

Don't try this without clamps.

It could have been cheaper if I had used all reclaimed fence 2x4s, and if my errand runner had bought cheaper 1x12s. He bought top-grade when #2 would have worked for half the price,

Enjoyed making the potting bench
Thanks for the plans.

My sister was in love with my 4x4 truss table i made and needed a patio table so we decided to take one day to make 2 tables, one for each. We convinced both daddys to take care of the kids while we made the table by telling them the tables were gonna have beer coolers inside! Attaching the to of the table was a lot a job. If you plan of doing this you really want to have a kreg jig. It works well, we love it. I made a bench to go with it. I made my how plan for it.

This was my first project at building some sort of furniture. we wanted a stool that really fits out toilet bowl shape, the height, etc. and 2x6's worked perfectly. I could have bought 2x12's for the sides, but it would have cost significantly more and with the inside support board it is plenty sturdy.

I bought 2# 2"x6"x6 foot coarse pine boards from Home Depot (not the expense Select Pine boards. They cost about $6 each. Then I bought a 100 count package of Kreg 1.25" coarse screws.

Cut lengths
2 @ 15 3/4" for lower sides
2 @ 10 1/4" for upper sides
5 @ 14" for steps and fronts
1 @ 12 1/2" for inside support

I used my Kreg Jig and connected all the pieces along with wood glue. I sanded the whole thing down after and tried to round/smooth the corners.

After building the playhouse loft bed, I found this project to be very easy. I built the bunk beds at 37/38 weeks pregnant, so that should tell you how simple it is to construct. The total cost came in under $300 and I was able to use some of the scrap wood I already had in my garage.

I did run into some trouble with the slanted ladder. Even though the pieces were cut to the exact measurements in the plan, the sides of the ladder were too short for the bed. Being very pregnant and impatient, I just modified the ladder so I wouldn't have to waste the pieces I'd already cut.

You may also notice that I didn't fill and sand my pocket holes on the end pieces yet. That was also me being very pregnant and impatient. I'll go back and do that later when I have more time. Despite the little bit of finishing work remaining, this was pretty much a 2-day project. Cutting and construction was fast (one day) and finishing took another full day.

I used Valspar "Blue Burst" paint from Lowe's to finish the bed. I used bolts to attach the side rails because we move frequently so I wanted the bed to be easy to disassemble. Overall, this was a very easy and fun project!