Community Brag Posts

We didn't paint it, but between two newbies, it only took an afternoon. It has freed up a ton of space in the cabinets!

Built the sewing table for my wife Penney. It has a work surface that is 36" x 60" and is 32" high.

Used 3/4" Baltic Birch and used premium pine to add edge banding. Used 1/4" plywood for a back to the sewing table to add strength and I think helps the look of the table. My Kreg Jig was used everywhere possible when assembling the case. Used full length piano hinges with #6 x 5/8" screws to attach the leaves to the table. Made the doors using premium pine with a plywood panel. For the legs, I used folding, locking leg brackets from Lee Valley to attach the 1-1/2" square poplar legs. The casters are 3" double-locking from Woodcraft. 

Went a little over budget, but it turned out very nice and she loves it. 

Thank you for the easy to follow plans. 

After seeing the patio table with beer/wine cooler, I wanted to build this for my brother and wife who recently bought a house. I asked them if they were interested and of course they said yes. I modified the original plans by adding a 2x4 on each side of the cooler to make the table wider. I also made the legs out of 4x4 vs the 2x4s that were originally called for. I used redwood and then stained it and used a varnish for the final coating. I probably wouldn't use the varnish again for an outdoor table, because it looks like it should be an indoor table vs outdoor. Overall, I'm pleased with the results and the best part about it, I get to enjoy it every time I go over for a BBQ.

Been a while since I had time to actually build anything worth posting about! My wife wanted some items for her Kindergarten classroom this year, so built several items, most inspired by the Farmhouse family.

This was a fairly easy project that I believe had great results. The finish time includes a few nights of polyurethane and sanding to finish.

The fairly costly price is from wanting to make this chair like a real finished project. The bulk of the chair is made from poplar and the seat is made from a pine project board.

Expecting our second child, my wife and I decided to do away with our guest bedroom and combine it with our office. The only problem was our queen bed took up way too much space and it didn't get enough use to justify the sacrifice. We looked at the wall bed options available for purchase and decided they were way too blah and very expensive. I then found the "A MURPHY BED YOU CAN BUILD, AND AFFORD TO BUILD" post on Ana's website (thanks for the inspiration)! 

 Using cheap pine boards, plywood, door hinges, vinyl upholstery and stain I constructed the wall bed you see here. It really wasn't that difficult but facing it took the most time. To give the boards a more rustic look I used a utility knife to shave off the edges/corners and stained them with the Minwax American Walnut water based stain and the Minwax White Wash Pickling. When this started we thought we were going to have to settle for something unattractive and less than desirable. Seeing it in our office now, we love our new bed and actually think it makes the room look much better!  I didn't keep track of costs, but it couldn't have been more than $150.

Hi Ana,
thank you for all you inspiring build plans
I have build a few of your 2x4 out door furniture plan
2x4 outdoor sofa
2x4 one arm outdoor sofa
2x4 outdoor side table
2 pcs of the essential outdoor chair for deep seat cushion.

Johan Janssen from the Netherlands

Construction phase of the bunk beds was about a day and a half project...Cutting, assembling, screwing, bolting. Nothing complicated about it at all. Just followed the instructions step by step. I didn't use metal brackets to reinforce the mattress rails (that the slats lay on). I'm a good 250lbs and I laid on them without a problem. Also, similar to the posted Comments, the original materials list is short a little lumber. I followed the advice of some of the Comments that indicate how much additional wood you'll need. I didn't have to make any additional trips for wood.

The finish took me another 2-3 days (incl. drying wait-time between stain and polyurethane coats). The sanding (electric hand sander) takes a number of hours to sand all the surface area and all the edges (300 grit). I then I applied 1 coat of pre-stain wood conditioner and then immediately 1 coat of Natural color stain (basically clear oil stain but it brings out the wood grain just a bit), and then 2 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane for a shine / protection. Each of those coats took me 2+ hours as I applied them using a paint brush (vs. spray gun).

Since I only need to take apart the bunk beds into 4 pieces to carry upstairs(front, back, 2 sides), I simply bolted them together using 3" bolts (with washers / nuts). 4 bolts in each of the 4 corner posts.

The only real modification I made was moving the ladder to the left-hand side (vs. right-hand side per the instructions). All other measurements were basically the same.

Really happy with the mini Kreg Jig! Simple to use and provides solid joints for the rails of the 2 shorter sides (without showing screw-heads from the exterior).

My toddlers have been sleeping on them for a week now and no squeaking or shaking. They are sturdy. And neadless to say, my boys LOVE having bunk beds.

Sure I could just buy some inexpensive bunk beds for $200-300 but where's the fun in that!?

Let me know if you have questions, happy to help out! Thanks again to Ana and her site.

I borrowed the idea from the dog kennel plans, made obvious modification, and this is what it became. Enjoy!

Video of the Build:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH3ABM3X3uE

Build Instructions:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Garden-Trellis/

This adjustable garden trellis for cucumber/pea/bean vines is a quick project for the vegetable garden. The trellis gets the vines off the ground and is more productive in less space. No giant rotting cucumbers to find three weeks after the rest have matured. It is made from small lumber and twine. Paint is optional but gives a nice pop of color. Just in time for the rapid growth of summer!

Kept it natural for now. Might stain it in the future. 

I just made one of the shelves instead of two like the plan calls for. It's painted a dark brown to match the bunk bed that I previously made for my girls. Mine was a little more expensive because I used 1x12's instead of plywood.