Community Brag Posts

We were able to pick up pallets for free. There were 6 boys aged 10-13 years old. They each took apart 5 pallets. Their pallets with time and patience became two adirondack chairs each. We love the chairs and the boys learned quite a bit. The challenge was that the pallet peices differed in thickness and widths so the boys had to really focus on each piece and the overall look. They look fantastic. The finishes were all different. We are so thankful that Ana has put together such a wonderful website.

Thank you Ana! These boys learned that if they need something, they can make it themselves! They also learned that trash can be a treasure.

Thank you,
Amy

I drove to my dads house to get the wood. He has had rough cut 1X12's sitting in the back yard for several years. They are warped, dirty, cracked..... I think my husband thought I was crazy for wanting to do this. 6 months after getting the wood I finally started. I first took the boards and sanded the caked on red dirt off. Then my 8 year old helped me rip them on the table saw into an 8 inch piece and a 4 inch piece. Then sanded again. The boards turned from red or grey to a yellow color. My husband told me to do it right I needed to use a jointer and he showed me how and I needed to use biscuts to join the planks together, we borrowed one and he showed me how to use the tool. It is so cool, I want to buy one. Then I called my neighbor over to help me, he brought a power planner over and showed me how to use it. It made all the boards the same heighth and REALLY sanded them good (remember these are rough cut boards). Then we used a belt sander to make them really smooth. Then we used a router with a Vgrove bit down the planks where the 1x8's meet. He had two fluted, tapered columns in his garage he has been trying to get rid of so we cut them down and used them as the posts for the headboard and footboard. I cut the arch with a jig saw. Looks pretty darn great! I surprised people with the wood I used! Thank goodness for biscuts, jointers, planners and belt sanders! Best part......cost me a whole $15 to get to this point. I had to buy wood glue, biscuts, and sand paper.

I want to use a laquer finish and try to use a glaze in the grooves. I will try to attach a finished picture when it is done.

I have a pet ferret that has little room to run around. So I seen this rabbit/ferret cage at the pet store. It was about $150 or so. So I took a pic of it on my phone, and found the Google Sketch app, and watched some videos, and now I have plans for the cage. Some 2x2's, 1x8's, plywood, chicken wire, and some locks and hinges for the ramp an lid.... Still tweaking it, but hopefully it will work out.

We wanted a bench at the foot of the bed to help our squatty dog Kirby get up and down from our elevated bed. When we saw the plans for the dog crate we decided that we could make a crate for our Boston Terrier Petey who needs to be confined overnight AND put a reinforced top on it to provide seating space. We knew it could not be taller than 18" (the same as our living room couches) so Kirby could jump on and off comfortably, and that we didn't need to make it as big as Ana's plan since Petey is half the size of Ana's lab. Our crate/bench is narrower. Every bit of this piece was made with wood either repurposed from an old playhouse or scraps from the cedar pergola we built in May. We had the hinges and the screws on hand already. We drilled holes in the lid to tie a cushion on top eventually. The lid comes off completely for ease of changing out dog bedding. Petey loves sleeping inside and will go in for naps even during the day when he has the run of the house. Kirby and our other dog also like to nap in there. You can just see the white of Petey's blaze in the pic where Kirby is peeking in.

This is my Son's crib that I built about a year ago.  I have the plans for them but I need to get on my desktop to get the plans.  But it's built to be a convertable crib like the expensive cribs you can buy.  If i remember correctly I had less that $150 in material.  With all the sanding and it being the first time I had made one I had about 100 hours into it. 

This was just the right table design for our history home built in 1880! Love the plans and easy to build!

Welcome to our labor of love. This is our first build and while my bf did most of the work, it was a great project for us as a couple. It was definitely work, but well worth it. We love the way it fits perfectly in our courtyard and people keep commenting on how high-end it looks. Thanks for the plan, Ana! The project took a little longer than it probably should, since it was the first project for us. You should account fort he time it will take to cut, sand and stain your pieces before assembly. There are times you will need to allow for the lumber to dry etc.

Love this bed.  I found the Cassidy plan and immediately fell in love with the decorative detail of the headboard.  It wasn't until I was in the process of buying the wood that I decided to go in a different direction and use wood from my giant scrap piles to create the headboard instead of the wood shims.  I followed the plan with a few minor modifications to work with our existing metal frame as opposed to building the one in the plan.

The basic headboard and footboard went together in one day, but creating the design with the scrap wood for the headboard took an entire Saturday.  It was time consuming cutting pieces to fit and then staining each individual piece.

I marked this as a week long project because it does take several days to stain everything and then poly it.  Most of that is wait time not actual building time.