Community Brag Posts

I combined a few different plans here, mostly the Playhouse deck, swingset.

I haven't finished it yet, this spring I want to finish the exterior as it's just primed plywood right now. Still going to add a window above the balcony (there is a loft up there).

I insulated the roof/ceiling and will insulate the walls when we finish it. In the bottom we'll be putting in a sandbox with a cover that folds up into benches.

It was a fun project and should give our girls many years of fun.

This is my first real piece of furniture I've built. We decided to build it in Western Red Cedar because our local home improvement store had a good selection of it. It was pricier than pine, but it holds stain really well and is really beautiful.

I modified the plan and bought a 4x4 for the legs, then I cut that down to 3" x 3" exactly with my table saw. That way it doesn't look like a standard cut of wood, but something more custom. As a result I had to put corner notches in my bottom piece so that it would fit in with the legs. That was tricky to do, but would have been easier if I had a jigsaw

I made a few measuring errors and had to correct it by trimming down the table top so there was only an inch overhang on the edges. So this is actually a few inches less deep than the plan called for, but it worked out ok I think.

With the X's I laid them on top of the legs and traced a line to cut rather than trying to cut an exact miter. I also traced it so that I'd cut a bit off of the top and side of the corner so that it fits in nice and snug on both edges.

I also traced the intersection lines. Then I set my table saw (don't have a circular saw) to 1/2 an inch and just cut out several notches in between the intersection lines so the to X pieces could overlap each other. A "halved joint" I believe it's called.

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

I made another turned leg table... this time on accident! Lots of finishing details on my blog. http://whitneysworkshop.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-accidental-table.html

I built this butcher block kitchen island from Ana's shepard kitchen island plans. I did however modify the dimensions and design to fit my needs.

Instead of cabinet doors I wanted an open design so I built adjustable shelves. The drawers are slightly smaller than the plans give to allow extra shelf room. I used full extension drawer slides. The plans have the total kitchen island height at 42" which I felt was a little to tall for the average person so I built this island at 37" tall. The top is an edge grain butcher block top built out of hard maple and sealed with mineral oil. http://timberandsoul.wix.com/timberandsoul#

Custom cedar raised gardens installed for a deck railing

Urban Wood Solutions

My wife and I loved the version that Finns-Dad made but we wanted it to be rectangular. The top is 1x6s around the edges with 1x4s in between. The frame is 1x4s. The bench tops are all 1x4s with 4x4 legs. There are 3/8 inch lag bolts in the legs. We did 4 coats of the urethane.

This was my first major project, and while there are many things that I would do differently if given the opportunity, we're still very pleased with it.

As part of my backyard overhaul I've added an outdoor shower and chalkboard against the wall of the house. There's also a small sand pit and deck area, so the shower comes in handy to wash the dirty feet. I had a few pallets sitting under the deck for years and finally put them to use. Some cuts here and there and some sanding and they look great. For the floor mat I just cut the pallet piece you can see in one of the photos in half and framed it with treated 2x4". The chalkboard is a plain sheet of 2x4' project board primed and painted several coats with flat black exterior paint. I used this over the 'chalkboard' paint because it's exterior grade. It works great, even better than chalkboard paint imo. The frame is made of the cut slats of the pallet, just glued and nailed on. The fence also is a cut pallet. I just made random cuts about half way through on varying angles which resulted in two mirrored halves of the pallet. They fit the space perfectly. I love the random look of it and may give it some paint eventually.

A fun project we did with my 12 y/o niece and husband. It was fun and fairly easy. We distressed the wood by using a copper brushalong the grain and used nails to make holes. We chose rustoleum sunbleached stain hoping to create and washed out gray driftwood look. It took about an hour to put together. The next day I sanded and stained , left it dry for the rest of the day then sealed it with polycrylic spray. The hardest part was getting up 2 flights of stairs, solid wood, it was heavy. The headboard was a little tall we thought. Plans are originally for Full so as bed gets more narrow the height becomes more noticeable. I thought about cutting down the legs a bit but after we got it in the room we thought it looked fanastic. We love love love it.

12/16/14 UPDATE:  Posted a plan for this project, linked in this brag post

This is a variation of the Easy Jewelry Box plan. The completed measurement is 11” wide, 14 ½” high, and 7 ½” deep. This one has a center “tower” with 5 drawers 5 ½” wide, and a wide overhang on the top and bottom, which covers the 2 side doors that open out for hanging necklaces. The drawers are lined with embossed felt, and the drawer bottoms and insides of doors are covered with sticky-back felt. The 2 removable ring drawer inserts are some scraps of 1” foam, covered with scraps of the sticky-back felt, with slits cut into the foam with a utility knife (cut the slits into the felt first, attach it to the foam, then cut the slits into the foam). Cost breakdown: antique brass knobs: $28, sticky back & embossed felt: $14, hooks: $15, wood: $35, hinges: $7, paint: $5. (already on hand: finish nails, glue, sandpaper, left over stain & poly) . I worked on this a few hours a day over a long weekend, probably about 12 hours total. Finishing took most of this time, the build was actually only a couple of hours.