Community Brag Posts

I needed a new desk for my office workspace in the garage. I wanted something inspired, and that would BE inspiring to me as I sit at it. So, I made this chalkboard surface woodworking planning desk with mismatched legs. I love that the legs are mis-matched. LOVE IT. IT would make type a people squirm, but me. Nope, I love it. I quick made some set of sawhorse legs, and a box leg. Attached a 3/4 piece of plywood cut the the size I wanted. Stained the legs dark brown, and rolled on 3 coats of chalkboard paint on the top. Boom!! And the best part of this design, when it gets messy, I just sand it down. And clean it up again with chalkboard spray paint.

I used Ana’s fireplace plan and added lightweight brick. The vaulted ceilings was a challenge but I figured it out!

I was looking for plans to build a table like this and found Ana's site.

Modification of Ana White's Farmhouse Table adjusted to bar height.

Dog bed for our German Shepherd. I will post plans a little later. 

This was a two week project. The width was modified smaller than the plans. The panels on the bench were fitted into dado joints rather than inserting an entire panel on the inside. Also used pocket hole joints where some nails were suggested.
This was my first attempt at a project like this and turned out amazing. My wife loves it too.

This is a modification of the Farmhouse bed with a panel headboard and footboard rather than individual boards. It currently fits around the mattress/boxspring/metal frame. When we buy a new mattress, we will then add the joists, etc.

The headboard and footboard are both 72" wide. We had the guys at blue do a rip cut at 72" which ensures that both pieces are exactly the same measurement (for square.) Then, they turned the plywood a quarter turn and cut at 15" for the footboard. This left a 33" high headboard. It is 3 inches larger than the original plan, but it doesn't require a second cut and you don't see it anyway. The trim is just a 1x3 with a 1" overhang. (I might make it just a 3/4" if doing it again.)

The side boards are 1x12 cut at 80 1/4", but you may want to add a little if your comforter is really thick or if your mattress is much longer than ours at 79 1/2". We used non-mortised (no cutting into the wood) bed rail hardware from Woodcraft, so we could easily take it apart. These were placed 1 1/8" in from the inside edge of the 4x4 post. They were placed on the very edge of the side rail so it would butt up against the post. The 1 1/8" gives us plenty of room to shove the bedding down inside the side rail.

We glued and nailed 1x2s from the back for the trim on each piece.

We constructed the Rustic Kitchen Island with a few modifications. My dad, president of the Norm Abrams fan club, built fantastic drawers using rabbet joints and fashioned a maple cutting board top. We also chamferred the edge of the top and the leg ends, very easy and adds a beautiful touch. We finished the cutting board top with "Salad Bowl Finish" which facilitates food prep.

This was a Christmas present for my boyfriend, he is in love with it! I watched him play with it like a little kid for hours after opening it. Thank you, Ana, for your great plans! (Also, Santa brought me your book for Christmas so I will be sharing many more completed projects!)

This was my very first project in the workshop. I was able to complete most of it on my own, which is why I rated it a "beginner" project. However, construction of the drawers using rabbet joints and prepping the maple for the top were considerably more difficult.

Love it. 

I used these plans as inspiration and made some changes per my son's request. I made the base out of maple and changed the board dimensions to 1x2" I also used half lap joints instead of pocket hole screws (personal preference). The top is MDF and I edged plywood and MDF in Maple. Fun Project

Zen

I made these three farmhouse doll beds for my daughters. Initially, I made two beds following the plan as written but started feeling like they would take up too much space. My girls are close in age (4 and 2 yo twins) so waiting for one to outgrow something and passing it on isn't an option.

I gave the first two regular sized beds away as gifts and made three narrow versions that I saw on another blog http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com/2011/02/b-is-for-bed-5.html Her bedding is still the gold standard in my eyes. LOVE IT!

On two of my beds, I left off one 1x2 slat, and on the other I used 3-1x3's. The width of the 3 beds are slightly different. Heck, I think I am incapable of making two things exactly the same. lol The girls love them so that's all that matters. For the bed that used 3-1x3s, I didn't write down the width of the top boards. I measured and cut as I assembled.

I put an extra 1x2 mattress support in the middle because I knew they would sit on them and used masonite to hold the mattress. Seems strong enough so far.

Before painting, I used lots of wood filler and caulk to hide some flaws. By the way, I feel like painting the beds is the hardest part. So many little grooves, nooks, and crannies. I recently bought a Graco 3900 HVLP paint sprayer. Painted a half wall and 6 long pieces of trim in 30 minutes today---love it! If I make another bed (or anything for that matter), I'm totally going to spray it.

Oh and I have to confess that after the first two beds, I got too impatient to use just screws so I used the nailer, glue, and used a few screws at key points. It made things go so much quicker, and the beds still feel quite sturdy. If my kids manage to break them, I'll make them new ones. :-)

I used 1" foam and muslin for the mattress & cover and fabric that I obsessively buy and hoard for everything else. The middle quilt is an actual quilt. I cut the squares and all---first time for that too. The other two are made of pre-made patchwork fabric from Joann's.

Thank you to everyone for sharing your creations, and thank you, Ana, for the plans. I am so inspired!

My two dauirlghters wanted a stable to protect their beloved American Girl Doll Horses.

My niece had an area in her master bathroom that she wanted to make into a closet.   Since she is very interested in woodworking I was happy to assist her on her first project.  It was a challenge as one wall was out of plum by 1.5 inches but we managed to successfully address the problem. 

The project turned out very nice and now my niece has a large closet with lots of storage space.  But we also created a monster as she has definitely caught the woodworking bug!  Her birthday is coming up soon and all she wants are tools!

I built a TV lift with an electric fireplace cabinet. It’s 5x2 with casters for easy mobility. It goes perfect out in my bar area. I used siding all around in and the top is pinewood with a lacquer coating for long lasting.

We built this dollhouse bookcase pretty much to plan. We did add "shingles" to the top.
View more on our blog: http://www.bearrabbitbear.com/2012/02/dollhouse-bookcase.html

I first saw this table on the Shanty 2 Chic website and when I saw that it was based on a plan from Ana, I knew we had to build it. I asked my husband David to get started on it right away.

It turned out perfectly!!!

Handmade rustic entryway table. Stained with Varathane Stain and made from 2x4s & 2x6s Canadian white pine