Community Brag Posts

Decided our old play set needed an addition, landed on these plans of Ana's. Sat on them and mulled them over for months. Once the wife said something about adding on to it I made the purchases needed. Connected the two platforms with a bridge. I used 4"x4"x10' for the runners, same boards as the decking for the platform of the bridge(5/4"x6"), 2x4's and 1x4's for the railing. If you look at the 3rd photo, I had to chisel out the 4x4 post to get the 2"x6"x12" support to fit correctly. This should measure 2"x6"x13". Another change I made was to cut the bottom and top trim pieces longer on the front and back sections so that the trim would cover the framing of the gable end walls (see last photo). my son wanted windows so I faked in some windows with scrap 2x2's. I used 2x6's as supports from the 4x4's to the 2x6 framing (see photo 3) I added the monkey bars about a month before deciding to do the platform/deck and playhouse. The ladder is based loosely off of a couple of plans I found online. I was able to do all of this work myself except for the roof. Need my dads help to lift the plywood, he then helped me with the rest of the roof.

We had some leftover granite from an outdoor kitchen build and wanted to maximize the use of it. We loved the look of a rustic table from Pottery Barn and set out to find something that was asking the same aesthetic. I came across the Jilly and Mia workbench console and thought it would work great with some minor modifications. I shortened the overall length and height, went with some heavy duty casters to support the weight of the granite, and reinforced the cross beams that would support the 3/4" plywood sheet and granite. I went with cedar for this build since it was outdoors and I'll finish it with a clear sealant.

I have been looking at your blog and always been interested in making my own furniture. However, I was scared to try. Your diagrams and measurements were awesome. Thank you! Gave me the encouragement to try!

We have been looking for a deal on an outdoor sectional for a whole year. Nothing. The cheapest we could find was $899 for one that was much smaller than this one and with thinner cushions. So we upped and drove to the lumber yard and purchased the lumber on the list and got to building. The total cost of lumber was $200, the Spax screws we already had on hand. We used pocket holes for the joints. The wife made the cushions herself. She had most of the fabric on hand, we just had to buy 3 yards for the back cushions, which are made of standard size pillows. They have been sprayed with fabric protectant for outdoor use (I think she used the Scotch brand). The seat cushions are 5 inches thick (they are wrapped in silk film to protect them from getting soaked when it rains or when someone who just got out of the pool sits on them), around $100 for both. It took her a couple of days to sew the box cushion covers.

Amazing stair railing upgrade shared by Sara and Chris!

We've been desperate for more storage in our little house and this build really helped. The whole bench is 103“ wide and each drawer gives us 24"x17" of usable space. We had to do some custom shaping for the benchtop (two joined fir 2x12's) fit as the walls are not square but in the end we were really pleased.

The hardest part of the project was getting all of this built and in place while working around a busy family as this is our only meal space and the majority of cutting/forming was done either on the weekends or after bedtimes. If I were to do this again I'd prioritize sending the kids to grandparents for the weekend and know king everything except for paint out in one go. 

We could have spent less time with the benchtop by using plywood like in the plans but we wanted the look of a separate benchtop. We may replace the fir with stained oak down the line but this should be plenty sturdy for the next several years.