Community Brag Posts

I've wanted to build a toybox for our daughter as soon as she was born, and Ana's plan was my favorite. It took a couple of years to finally get the supplies and start building it, and I was able to build it last year. I used recycled wood (I believe it's pine) I had and used a couple of nice pieces of oak for the top. I ran into a few snags with the box itself, with the wood splitting easily in some spots (used a lot of wood filler!), but was able to get it looking the way I wanted keeping a distressed look . I rounded out the corners of the top by hand with a rasp plane and sandpaper. The box was lightly painted with Annie Sloan Chalk Pain (Antoinette/Pink) and finished with Annie Sloan Clear Wax. The top was finished with three coats of linseed oil (24 hours between coats). The slow closing hinge was found on Amazon after a long time spent searching; I ended up using just one which works great. I'm very happy with the end product and my 3-year old daughter loves it! I was very pleased with how simple the plan was to follow, thank you Ana!

We made two $10 raised beds last weekend and can't wait to get them in the yard!

The cedar fence pickets ended up costing us about $15 per bed with another $15 for screws, so total cost was about $30 per bed. 

We found it tricky to do the 1x2 pieces in the order recommended and when we make these again, will form the full box and then add on the 1x2s for support. 

We made a YouTube video detailing the process - hope you'll check it out!

Did a couple builds for my family out of state and quickly realized that working without a station is CRAZY. Addedd wheels for mobility as I left it there.

I made these from your plans thanks for sharing your ideas with us.

by Jeff

I had such a fun time on this shed coop/run build! My wife and I have 5 children and it was fun involving them in building everything about this coop and run. They have a wonderful sense of accomplishment in looking at what they helped build.

A few notes, while this what a fairly straightforward build, there are a lot of little intricacies to be aware of. Such as:

• Make sure your chicken coop is about a foot off the ground. It's best to do that so critters such as rats and snakes don't make their home under the shed and potentially eat their way through the floor.

• It is highly advisable to dig a trench about a foot to a foot and a half deep around the coop and the run and attach chicken cage fencing from the bottom of the coop/run into the trench, and then taper the cage fencing outward. This will prohibit critters such as raccoons from trying to dig under the coop.

• When you attach the poultry netting to the outside of the chicken run, staple one side really well, then move to the other side and pull the netting fairly hard to make the netting as tight as possible. (Also, be careful when putting the netting across the top of the run to not fall off the ladder as I did and dangle there until one of your kids comes to help you! Ha! :D )

Thank you, Ana, for posting these plans! We are so excited to get our little chickies out into their new home as soon as their feathers come in!

We loved this greenhouse plan from AnaWhite and wanted to be able to grow in 3 seasons so we modified the design to include humidity & temperature control & 18" deep elevated cedar beds inside with 4x4 posts for support and trellis option. We added electricity in order to have a lighted workspace and the ability to put in a circulating fan to control mold and fungus. We added 2 work tables (2x2') on the inside of the door left and right side door in order to do seed trays & store supplies. This was a wonderful project for my husband and my plants inside are doing incredibly well compared to my outside garden beds here in zone 5. Products used:

Foundation
We had a landscape company come and scape/dig a platform and then fill/compact with crushed rock
My husband then used rebar driven into a 4x4 frame in order to secure the frame to the ground and create a base upon which to build the greenhouse

Active ventilation
AC Infinity Cloudline T8 Inline duct fan
Air king range hood wall cap 8" on the bottom outside of the greenhouse wall for air intake + flex 8" duct to the fan itself
Shelter logic autovent automatic shelter vent kits (1 on each side of the front wall) in order to allow air intake from the bottom back of the greenhouse under the elevated beds to flow to the front of the greenhouse and out
Circulating fan- Hurricane wall mount fan 16" - this fan has 3 speeds with tilt function and small mounting bracket

Soil - sourced 3 yards of 50/50 loam/compost from local landscaping supply
60% loam
30% organic compost
10% organic topsoil + perlite

Soil beds
-cedar frame 2 feet wide along sides, 3 feet wide on the back wall
-galvanized metal roofing with holes drilled into it for drainage
-landscape cloth lined

I made these modern Adirondack chairs for our business in Anchorage. GREAT and easy to build design by Ana - we upgraded the arms to tapered 2x6 and they're awesome!