Community Brag Posts

Our daughter has a very small room. She also LOVES disney princesses. So I wanted to build her a princess castle bed.... but how do you fit a castle bed in a 9x11 bedroom?

There were some plans on Ana's site (good plans), and others on-line. But many of these plans had the bed on the TOP of the castle, and we were concerned with her trying to make her way down if she needed to in the middle of the night.

She also loves her Disney princess canopy bed that she has now... so if I could somehow build the castle around that bed, we'd be set. Which is exactly what we did.

I reviewed several pictures online, and then designed this bed with Sketchup (I LOVE that tool).

There is storage in the stairs, in the towers on the front down below, and in the back up on top. I also put rope lights inside around the ceiling over her bed for that 'Night light Princess glow."

There is also enough room on top for her bed if she wants to put it up there at some point in the future.

The idea for the decoration came from another poster who simply used the Vinyl Disney princess wall decals.

She loves it. Plus its big enough for daddy to read stories to her up in the loft at bedtime!

I've posted the plans on the sketchup warehouse... here is the link...

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=65f7fb029052c660cb6c…

If you can't find it with that search the sketchup warehouse for 'castle bed.'

This was my first solo build project and my first time using a power saw. I was terrified but determined because I've been wanting to make these chairs for years. After failing to convince my husband to make them for me, I decided to make them myself and I am so glad that I did. I am so proud!

I fell in love with the fabric first (Premier Prints' Suzani Chocolate and a striped fabric called Veranda Chocolate for the bottom) and then picked a stain to match. I chose to reinforce the sling by sandwiching the outer fabric with a layer of heavy duck fabric. I also made pillows, which protect your head from that upper wood support.

Also, I ordered some special connecting bolts and nuts made by Rockler that someone else mentioned in their brag post. Unlike the hardware mentioned in the original plan, these bolts are flush with the frame on both the inside and out so the chairs can fold completely flat. Here are the links to them on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Statuary-Bronze-Connector-Bolts-8-Pack/dp/B001DT3…
http://www.amazon.com/Cap-Nuts-Connector-Bolts-pack/dp/B001DT3G9O/ref=p…

The inner frame did need slightly larger holes (3/8 inch, I believe) to accommodate the cap nuts.

I’ve  made several of these bunk beds now and my oldest was wanting a oregon beavers/San Fransisco giants themed one after we donated his during our move.  It’s made out of 2x4’s, 2x6’s and 1x3 pine.  

This was a project I took on for my two daughters (5 and 2). I was pretty intense as I used the castle loft bed as my starting point. The drawbridge is fully functional, but I had to remove the black ropes as my kids were running around and tripping (safety hazard). I made the top large enough to house two small mattresses for the kids to sleep on. I made use of the space under the stairs and the slide by cutting out doors. This is a very large structure and is modular (front, towers (2x), stairs, slide, platform). They are all joined with some significant lag bolts and is sturdy enough to have my wife and I and both children up top. I have also mounted LED lights under the platform wired to a switch so that they can see at night. Overall, it has been a hit for my daughters and their friends. Thanks for the plans!

After being forced to sell my first build by an admirer, I decided to do another and distress it rather than stain it.  Turned out really nicely.

I built this table with the dimensions described in the original plans, but made a slight modification by using my Kreg Jig to add pocket holes for attaching the tabletop and seat boards from below rather than drilling down through the top. I'm never really happy with the way a finish comes out after using wood filler, plus not having to fill holes saves a step in the finishing process (which is the really arduous part of the job for me). I also like the sturdiness of the Kreg joints.
This was my first project using the Kreg Jig in an application that didn't have the location for the pocket holes specified, so for the first bench I followed right along with the plans and just detached the drill guide and clamped it to my project to drill the pocket holes as I went along. For the second bench I was familiar with where all the holes should be drilled, so I was able to quickly mark off the location and pre-drill all the pieces assembly line fashion. The second one practically flew together.
If you want to use this method, you will be drilling your pocket holes in the boards labeled "seat support" and "tabletop support" (there are 2 of each of these pieces for each bench/half table). You can mark the position of the tabletop boards on the tabletop supports and drill your pair of pocket holes to correspond roughly to the center of where each board will be (so 6 holes in each of the 2 pieces labeled tabletop support for each bench). Nearly the same process for the seat supports, but remember that the holes to attach the outermost seat board won't be centered because of the location of the front leg. I chose to add a couple of pocket holes through the front leg board as well for extra sturdiness in case it gets picked up by that outermost seat board when the bench/table is getting moved. I have included a picture of the pre-drilled pocket holes to help clarify the above directions.
The build itself can definitely be classified as a beginner project and easily manageable by one lady (although it would be really nice to have a buddy to help move the finished bench...I had to take the tabletop back off mine to move it from my "workshop" (carport) around to my patio). In terms of time, the build for both benches could easily be completed in an afternoon; I ranked it as a weekend project because of the finish. The tabletop and seat boards each have 4 coats of an exterior semigloss paint and I custom blended the colors so that each board gets progressively darker as you go down the bench. I was inspired by the ocean, with the water getting darker as you go deeper and deeper. As you can see from my photos, I rushed headlong into the first bench and put it together unfinished (I was more concerned about figuring out the placement of the pocket holes than the finish.) For the second one I pre-drilled my pocket holes, then put on 2 coats of base coat and 1 coat of color (on seat and tabletop boards) before assembly, saving only the finish coat on the colored boards and touchups on the white boards for after assembly. I definitely recommend the second method.
I worked on the project over a couple of weekends and evenings because of weather and time constraints, but under the right conditions it could be completed in a weekend or even maybe a long day (especially with a second painter and in good paint drying weather). I'm really happy with the final product and I've already been enjoying the comfy bench seat for reading.

Dear Ana White: Please stop posting cool - “must do” projects on your website … you’re killing us.

After we saw Ana White’s posting for her pallet wall http://ana-white.com/2015/02/free_plans/pallet-wall-hgtv-saving-alaska , we knew we had to augment our guest bedroom with this concept.

Before we began this project, we really didn’t have any idea how expensive “rustic” was or how complex “random” could be.

Mostly, we used 1 type of reclaimed barn wood and stained it with 3 different colors as well as using the natural un-weathered side to add color contrast. For added variety, we used some leftover reclaimed barn wood from a previous project spattered throughout the design.

This was really a fun project. Barn wood is very forgiving and user – friendly. Each piece of barn wood is unique in itself, very much like a snowflake, from being weathered in the elements.

We finished the room off with closet sans door, picture frame & nightstand.

The GOOD news is that we are now out of reclaimed barn wood and we can’t build anything else.
Thanks, Ana! You have helped us make our guest bedroom a special place for our visitors.

Built this for one of my children for Christmas!

This is one of my favorite pieces on Ana's site. I knew the minute I laid eyes on it I had to build it. I hope you guys enjoy it half as much as I do.You can read the full details of the build at my blog here:

http://copycatcarpenter.blogspot.com

This is from Ana's Squared2 headboard plans. I made it for my Mom and she loves it. I adjusted the width to fit a full size bed by taking a few inches off each side. I found some right angle clamps at an estate sale that were invaluable in putting all this together. It would be very tricky getting everything just square and lined up with just regular clamps. I was worried about it being a little flimsy with all the small pieces, but it seems pretty sturdy.

My wife asked for a homemade votive candle holder for the holidays. Searching online, I found that the general design concept is a board with holes in a straight line. Since the desired design is for a holiday centerpiece on a table, I chose an octagon shape. We think it turned out very nice! My kids even gave it a "that's pretty cool" which is an upgrade over their comments on my previous projects :). 

I was inspired to try this after reading all the comments and being discouraged by the high price and poor quality of commercial sandboxes. We followed the instructions and it was super easy! I'm a complete novice, so if I can do it, anybody can.

After cutting the wood and sanding it, it only took about three hours to assemble the sand box. I then primed and painted it the next day taking about 3-4 hours. We also attached a landscaping barrier to the bottom with a staple gun to prevent weeds from growing through the sand. We used 10 bags (50 lbs) of play sand, but you could get by with less.

So far, it's been a big hit with my three-year-old son.