Community Brag Posts

Am a big fan of Ana's work, and have used several of her plans in prior builds including the more traditional Adirondack chairs. Those stayed with my old house, and I wanted something different for my new house. Really liked her Modern Adirondack design with the floating arm rest. However, plans are like recipes to me--a guideline. I wanted the back boards to run up and down, and I am a bit more robust than the lovely and petite Ms. White, so they would need to be wider after I built the first one at 19 1/2" wide per plan. The next three I made 22" wide and that worked well without throwing off the geometry and angles of the other parts. Since I ran the backboards up and down, I needed some cross beams for stability and to give an attachment point for the middle of the boards. Cut some 2x4s at 15" wide, drilled pocket holes in both ends, and attached in between the back supports with the pockets facing up to be hidden by the back boards. All of the 2x4s were leftover cut-offs from the houses being built in my neighborhood. Since the frames were free, I splurged and went with cedar boards for the backs and bottoms. With the wider frames, I had to use 1x12s ripped down to 10 3/4" to get the right look (about a board's width in between). Needed some color, so I painted the frames Teal Seaglass from Menards. Cedar was stained with a natural deck stain from Sherwin Williams. I experimented with salt paint (mixing unsanded grout with the paint) to give a heavily textured and weathered finish but this was unecessary--the wood was distressed enough and I am a terrible painter. It also toned down the color so I skipped that step and just went with 2 coats of plain paint. It looks like outdoor furniture should up close. As always, am pleased with Ana's plans. Thank you for doing all the hard work!

We have lived in our home for 2 yrs now and have been trying to figure out what we wanted to do with the plain boring wall with cords handing from out behind the tv due to no power outlet on that wall. We finally decided to do the whole wall in shiplap but the the cost of lumber going through the roof I went with 1/4 underlayment that I had ripped down to 6in strips at my local hardware store. I cut them down to size with my miter saw the painted them white before I attached them to the wall with 1 1/4 brad nails and used nickels for my space in between each row. The cabinets are 36 in tall. The carcass is made fro 3/4 in MDF and the face frames are made from 1x3 pine and attached with wood glue and brad nails. Cabinet doors are made from 1x4 pine for the frame and 1/4 underlayment for the center. I used my hand router to route out a 1/4 deep groove for the center to drop into the frame I used wood glue and brad nails to attach it to the frame and filled in any gaps with paintable caulk. They are attached to the studs in the wall with 3 in wood screws. The mantle is made from 1x6 pine boards and attached to a wall bracket made from 1x6 that are attached to the wall in each stud with 3 in wood screws. The mantle is attached with wood glue and 1 1/4 brad nails. The shelves were made out of 1/2 Poplar 4x8 plywood sheet ripped down to size. The wall brackets are made from 1x2 pine attached to studs with 3 in wood screws. And the shelves are attached with wood glue and 1 1/4 brad nails. I added 3 1x2 spacers to each shelf between the top and bottom board to prevent them from sagging before attaching the face of the shelves with wood glue and 1 1/4 in brad nails. This project took about a month to complete because I worked on it during free time. Also this was the first major build I have ever done so I was also learning along the way. Some parts were frustrating but most of it was fun and a great learning experience. Also this project evolved as I was building it. My wife loves the finished product. Now it’s time to find my next project.

Greeting from from Queensland, Australia.

I decided to make a couple of wooden planter boxes for our garden at home, after watching Ana's video on the “Easy Build DIY Planter Box” made from cedar and painted white. I downloaded the plans, and then converted the measurements to metric. I did make a couple of alterations from what was shown in the video. Whilst I do not have a workshop at home, I attend a local "Men's Shed" where there is a large range of woodworking machinery available to use. Firstly, I used rough sawn treated pine 150mm x 25mm boards, which I dressed and cut down to size. The dressed timber looked great once I stained the boxes. Secondly, I have made the boxes without legs, so that they sit directly in the garden, and are filled with potting mix soil.

After making the first 2 planter boxes, my wife asked if I could make another couple. After that we decided another 3 planter boxes in a different part of the garden might be nice, so I made these the same. Then I made a longer planter box of the same style for vegetables and herbs.

Thanks so much, Ana, for the great plans and video, as well as the inspiration. Mind you, my planter boxes took a lot longer to build than the time you indicated in your video, but that is fine.

Cheers Noel