Community Brag Posts

I came across the plans for the pate rack and realized it would be a perfect fit in my dining room. My house is just shy of its 100th birthday and I have been tackling renovation one room at a time. I have been trying to find new ways to use all of the materials that have been removed or replaced during my renovation. I was able to use the damaged shiplap and warped baseboards from my first room's renovation and create a plate rack shown.

Thank you for the plans!

We were looking for a way to better utilize our cabinet space. Previously, our cans were all pushed in and we couldn't see what we had without moving things around. I Found Ana's tier can organizer and knew it was exactly what we needed. We repurposed a piece of stained plywood we already had and a couple of 2x4 pieces from previous projects. We did buy a 2x4x8 because we wanted to make it a 4-tier shelf. We stained it dark walnut and added felt pads to the bottom. Measures 22" D x 21.5" W. We love it and it makes our space so much more effective.

We built our house 5 years ago and I’ve disliked our stairs since then. They were never finished and were big and bulky compared to the rest of the house. These plans were the perfect fit. We switched the top 2x4 for an actual handrail, purchased from a big box store. We used pocket holes to install it and I couldn’t be happier. It’s now my favorite thing in the house. We plan on adding a loft and will use these plans for the railing.

@livingsmallerintheholler

A great weekend project...the "love swing"! I used the plan from Ana for the swing seat and added two arm rests from left over 1x6, rounded them off and sanded.

I cobbled together an A-frame to hang everything, made from five 8 foot 4x4s and two 8 foot 2x6s laminated together for the stretcher. Assembled with 1/2" galvanized carriage bolts and hung with 1/4" chain.

Definitely going to want a good miter saw for the A-Frame angles (the top ones are a bit tricky to get everything lined up)

Love it! Thanks for another great plan Ana..and of course..Shanty2Chic!

This was my first attempt at the leaning bookshelf project.  I decided upon a modern-contemporary look by using white laminated 1x4s and opted for dark wood staining to give the shelves contrast.  It was my first time using a compound miter saw, as well as intensive wood sanding and staining.  I struggled with cutting the white support beams into the directed 5 degrees, and just made my best guess with a hand saw (however, I will try to improve upon this for our next set, since the additional cost of a second bookshelf is only about $50.)

I also learned about the trick of a 5-point shelf leveling (one for each corner, and the center point) in order to get a truly level shelf.  Creating the jig in order to space out the distance between each shelf is a really good idea to help implement all of the setup.  

Overall, I really enjoyed this project and wanted to thank Ana for her inspiration and plan details.  

I look forward to reporting yet another success on our second bookshelf (and following writing desk) soon!

We found your great plans and site online.  My son, Michael made 6 Garden Benches for his Eagle Scout Service Project and donated them to the local Master Gardener’s Association.

They turned out beautiful!

Thank you for sharing your plans. We’re looking forward to building more of your projects!

The Taylors

This table was so much fun to make. I couldn't use an 8 foot table so this is 5 ft. My table top has some blemishes that I could have tried to fix but at the time I just wanted to see it done. I think using better than big box store wood would have been a great start. The table is so sturdy. The bench was harder though because it had a wobble that just wouldn't be fixed. 

I used pine for the top and Douglas fir for the legs. I used minwax wood conditioner, minwax early american stain, then minwax red oak stain for a couple of minutes then wiped off. Then topped with 4 coats of poly.