Community Brag Posts

I used the Rustic X Hall Tree plans and slightly modified them. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I used black pipe for the hooks as I have a lot of this style of decor in my home. The stain color is Dark Bourbon from Varathane. The back is luan with screen bead across the front to hide the cut panels (I have a Ford escape and had them cut the luan into panels). The back is secured with 1x2s so I had something to hold my 5/8 inch brad nails for the screen bead. I didn't use the X design; I can always add it later if necessary. The baskets are from Amazon sized 12x12x10. I also didn't add the 16 inch side pieces or the top piece. I used pocket holes on 95% or more of the piece.

Double sized dog crate adapted from dog crate plan.

Michelle

We built this outdoor table and benches using Western Red Cedar for a patio area outside our house.   The cedar is pricier than doug fir or other woods, but is highly rot resistant and the best choice for an outdoor table.  We used Ana White's 4x4 Truss Beam Table and Benches plans and Kreg blue kote screws since they are weatherproof.   The breadboards were a little wobbly, so we reinforced them with black metal corner braces (http://www.truevalue.com/product/Hardware/Miscellaneous-Hardware/Corner…) and black coated exterior screws (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-12-x-1-1-4-in-Phillips-Flat-Head-Wo…).   These braces provide a cool architectural look and provide much needed support for the table ends, and especially the bench ends.    We stained the Western Red Cedar with Minwax Weathered Oak and finished it with two coats of Man O War Spar Urethane in Satin finish.   Hopefully it will stand up to the elements and last for years to come.   Thanks for the plans Ana!

A few years ago our family vacationed in Watercolor, on the northwest Florida coast. We loved the house we stayed in so much when we returned home we put our house up for sale so we could build a home similar to the one we stayed in. One of the features we loved so much was the large covered front porch and most of all the swing bed it showcased. My wife spent every morning and night that week relaxing in that swing. I promised my wife then that I would make sure got her own swing. Thanks to Ana White, she was back in her (new) swing last night.

I began with the "Large Modern Porch Swing" plan and made some changes. I wanted to use a twin size mattress so I increased the size of the swing's base. Also, because the mattress was 6" I lifted the arms and back. The arms are the biggest and best change I think. I had seen someone else do similar arms, but I they used an 1x12 I think. I wanted a heavier look, so I used a 2x10.

These built-in bookshelves were my first project, and were loosely based on the Willy bookshelf plans, although I changed the dimensions, set them on a 2x4 base, and added trim to the sides and molding on top.

My first build was the rolling bar cart. It took 3 to work out my kinks but I love them!

My garage is in a different dimention now! Thank you Ana!

I had a bit of trouble with the length of the dowels but overall I am so happy with it.

I had been looking for a small table for our small entry space. When I was searching, I was hoping to buy a table but couldn't find something I liked. I found this plan but it scared me because I had NEVER built anything. After researching on this site, I decided to jump in and try it. I made it much smaller to match our space. I added the shelf higher than recommended because I wanted to be able to use it as a homework spot when the kitchen table is covered by a project. I don't like the finish, but it will stay for a while because others like it.

I made this chair for my mom on mothers day. She loves it and I was able to use some lumber from my dad's garage stash, who passed over Thanksgiving. So there was a special link for her to this chair. Loved the easy to follow plans, thank you.

cgauley.cg

Took be about 2.5 weeks to build this bed, working evenings and a couple full days on the weekend. I HIGHLY recommend getting a Kreg Jig. It made life so much easier.

To go from a queen to a king, simply add 16" to all of the width pieces. All of the length pieces will be the same for a queen and king.

I added one 2x2 support beam down the middle of the bed, with two 16 3/4 inch legs attached to it, for added support.  I screwed the slats into all 3 of the 2x2 support beams.

The drawers are the trickiest part. Make sure you follow the plan in order, waiting to install the drawers until after you have screwed the storage bins to the headboard and footboard.

I built this closet system based on the plans here.  So easy and so basic, just putting them all together to make a very nice looking closet setup.  I used 12 sheets of birch plywood, and premium select 1x2 pine.  All stained in Minwax Jacobean and satin clear througout with semi-gloss clear on the drawer fronts.

For the rods, I used chainlink top bars, which cost $6 for a 10' piece, and used #0000 steel wool to buff them out and then polished them.  For the 45 degree corners, I used 1" electrical conduit, and placed two 45 degree bend in each piece, and again steel wool and polished them as well. 

For the drawers, I used soft-close slides.  When using these, I highly recommend installing the rear brackets as well, as they make installation so much easier.  16 pairs of soft-close drawer slides with brackets cost $120 for all of them on Amazon.

You can see the final project here: http://crabandfish.blogspot.com/2012/10/lil-archers-bed-its-done-its-do…

It was time for our son to move to a big-boy bed! We looked at tons of plans, but none were quite what I wanted. In the end, fish modified plans for Ana White's Camp Loft Bed with Stair. We wanted to make it a bit shorter because we only have 8' ceilings and there is a ceiling fan in the room. We spent about $80 for the lumber and invested in a kreg jig as well. The bed is stained with Minwax Golden Oak. We bought a 10" deep twin-sized foam mattress for the bed - if you are adding a coil mattress and boxspring, the bedside rails would definitely need to be higher.

Our son LOVES it! He is almost three and is easily able to navigate the stairs, which I don't believe will become too "baby-ish" as he grows older. If they do, the steps can easily be removed from the frame without losing structural integrity.

The underbed area has a great "cool" factor - we hang blankets to create forts, and it has become a place our son gravitates to for reading, playing, anything!