Community Brag Posts

My daughter is 3 and though her room isn't terribly small, I thought this project would be awesome all the same. I wanted to do the doll house bed, but I figured this bed would grow with her more and I liked the platform at the end so I just added a curtain and called it good.

The book shelf is by and large my favorite part of the project. I just added some more 2x4's, a sheet of 1x10 and some left over bead board paneling that I had and used left over paint from her play kitchen that I had previously repurposed from an old entertainment stand. I added an inexpensive, small fluorescent light to the book shelf, out of sight, and found this great, inexpensive paper lantern.

I also added a support beam down the middle of the mattress area and used some 1 in MDF board that I had from another bed and wrapped it in fabric (which ended up being a little pricey, but she loves her ceiling)

Because she is so young, I pushed the bottom of the bed against the wall instead of building a railing off the platform because I was afraid she would fall as she still gets up in the middle of the night. This worked out because the space that was left at the head of the board fit her TV stand and laundry basket without leaving a foot print on the actual area under her bed. With the curtain up (and almost always closed, as insisted on by the primary tenant) it really is like a clubhouse under there. I can't even begin to go into the hours she spends under there with her books; who doesn't love that?!

This was my first "from scratch" projects and I learned a few things. 1. Don't strip screws inside of pocket holes. 2. Sand more than you think you need to, especially if you plan to paint. 3. Staining might be a faster way to go, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint takes a lot of time if you want to avoid runs. I would say painting took twice or three times longer than the building! 4. I may avoid lumber from the big box stores from now on, or be much much more careful in picking it out, but I had a 3 year old running circles around me as I was picking it out, so I guess I can cut myself a little break.

Finally, price wise I would say I spent more than I thought I would at first. Lumber was more expensive than a lot of posters mentioned, which is strange, because I thought NC was supposed to have cheap wood. But just for the lumber, I would say I was at or a little over $100. I would say all together I spent between $150 and $200, but I added a good bit, and honestly, fabric isn't cheap either, and I bought about 9 yards all together. With that being said, I think this bed was well worth the investment. I couldn't have gotten something like this for anywhere near that price in a store.

Oh, and I built the entire thing completely alone as my husband was out of town when I got the bug to do this. It didn't come out perfect, but every project I do is an improvement from the last and it's for a kids room! As long as it is sturdy and safe, and it definitely is, and is still attractive, then that's all that matters. My daughter loves it!

My daughter needed a loft bed to give her more floor and storage space in her bedroom. I modified the original plans to fit her twin XL bed, which is 5 inches longer than a regular bed. I also added an extra 2x6 across the back two posts for extra support.

Cutting and assembly was relatively easy; I glued every joint and used pocket holes per the instructions. I sanded using 80, 120 and 220 grit. The finish is a Minwax "parchment" water-based stain, with 3 coats of Polycrylic. All pocket holes were pre-drilled prior to finishing.

I assembled the platform and footboard in the garage and brought it into the house as a single unit; same with the headboard. I brought in the rails separately. To assemble, I marked 1 1/4 inches from the outside post edges, and used wood scraps/clamps to align and hold the rails while securing them with pocket hole screws.

My daughter's mattress is very high; it rises only about an inch below the top of the top rail. So I build a bed-length shelf which also had the added benefit of providing a little more height/protection against her rolling out of bed in the middle of the night (see pics).

In all, I was surprised at how long this took me. Probably because I'm a novice and this was only my 2nd project. The totals are:
- Cut and assembly: 14 hours
- Sanding: 25 hours
- Finishing: 2 days

After finishing, I left all pieces in the garage for 5 days to air-out before bringing into the house.

Total cost the lumber was $125, 1 qt stain @ $13, 1/2 gal Polycrylic @ $50 per gal, and $20 hardware for a total of just over $200.

This build is a gift for a friend who is retiring.  It is made from scrap wood and left over finishes, so the only things I had to purchase were the moulding, hinges and “bling”.

Used Georgia’s Jewelry Box plan, with these mods:  made it a little longer with no overhangs; added stop moulding trim around the top and bottom; added some lattice squares for “feet;” added a small sliding tray in aromatic cedar (1/4” cedar closet lining for the tray, stop moulding for the rails), and some self-adhesive rhinestone flourishes (found these at Michaels). 

This would be an afternoon build.  The finish took longer than the build - probably 2 or 3 hrs  (filling, sanding, painting, and attaching the hinges and  “bling”).   It took me much longer to decide how to decorate it, than it did to actually build it ;)

Some squares of sticky-back felt were also added to the bottoms of the feet.

I’m very pleased to say that this gift was a big hit!

We wanted a round table that would seat a full Monopoly game. To do this we needed about a 5' diameter tabletop.  The base was made consistent with the plans.  

A few tips on the base:

1. Get your angles as close to 45° as you can.  Otherwise, there will be much sanding and puttying in your future.  
2. If you want to hide your lag screw like I did, I used a spade bit to recess an area for the screw head.  Then I glued in a plug made from dowel and sanded flush.  

If you want to make a round tabletop, here is what I did (there may be better methods).  Keep in mind this was for a ~60" diameter table, I was assuming that the perimeter arc pieces would be about 4.5" wide and that I would cut the inner circle at a 50" diameter.

1. Picture 1 - I built two 5' slabs of (7) 2x4s pocket-holed together.  
2. Picture 2 - Then I cut two pieces from each slab that would later make up the 90° "pie slice" pieces.  Make sure to remove the screws that will be in the way your saw blade. Also, you just have to concern yourself with the angle since the radius will be dealt with later.  There is a lot of wood waste with this method, but I think it avoided headaches. 
3. Picture 3 - I assembled (screwed and glued) the "pie pieces"to the cross pieces. The length of the cross pieces don't matter much since they will also be to cut to a specified radius.  Since I would be cutting a 50" diameter circle, the large cross piece had to be at least 50" and the two small pieces had to be at least 22.25" (subtracting the 2x6 width).  
   1. Picture 3 - I mounted my router to a piece of MDF and drilled a hole at the necessary distance to cut a 50" diameter circle. This distance is 25" + half of the bit diameter.  Since I used a 1/2" straight bit, my point was 25.25" from the center of the router bit.  I screwed this jig to the center of the tabletop assembly so the router could pivot and cut a circle.  As for logistics, I rested this assembly on some scrap wood and kneeled on the tabletop as I was cutting it.  It took a large number of passes with the router since I was cutting through 1.5" of material. 
4. Picture 4 - The perimeter pieces required some time and geometry. I found that I would need (8) 23" 2x8 pieces (the 23" is approximate because I was a little off for some reason, though I can't recall why).  From those pieces, I used the same router jig to cut the perimeter arc pieces. You will need to make two new radius holes in teh jig to accomplish what you need.  To cut the inner arc you need a hole set at 25" - half of the bit diameter (24.75" for me).  To cut the outer arc, I used a hole that was 29 5/8" from the center of the router bit.  You may need to do some fine tuning to these pieces to get them to fit correctly, but for me it pretty minor.  I trimmed a couple pieces with a miter saw but that was it. 
5. The rest is screws and glue. 

My wife started looking at expensive patio sets, which I thought were not worth the price, so I decided to build a picnic table. This is not the cheapest table out there, but it's built to last for years!! I used a high quality cedar as I got a price cut from a friend. I also used deck screws, so there would be no rusty screws!! The table top measures 7' long and looks like one you would see at a state park, notHome Depot!

We needed a new table for our patio, so we looked no further than Ana's plans. I was going back and forth deciding between various table plans until I saw the plans for the Providence Table and Providence Bench, and it was love at first sight. The whole project turned out to be a relatively easy build for us, and we are just about as "amateur" at woodworking as it gets! We used white pine for the entire project. We shortened the table about 18 inches to fit our space. It is so gorgeous, we have gotten tons of compliments from guests so far and we absolutely love it! Thanks, Ana!!

I love the look of diamond tufting, so that's how I did the upholstered insert, which added hours to the project. The frame itself was built in about 3 hours, so this could easily be an afternoon project if you skipped the tufting.

I made this bed for my 2 girls who share a room. It was my first real attempt at building anything substantial. They are thrilled. The plans were so easy to follow. The only thing I did different was use 3 inch screws in the hutch base because I felt it made it more sturdy. I used bead board for the outside of the hutch and the back of the book cases. Thanks Ana for such great plans.

Really wanted one of these but everything I found was way too expensive so I found these plans, tweaked em a bit to fit the space I had and voila, double tilt-out trash bin. Thanks for the wonderful plans!

We have 12 foot studs in our house so I wanted to make use of the height of our ceiling to provide more space on the floor for the boys to play! With two boys sharing a room, the beds were going to take up a lot of valuable floor space. I found the bunk bed plans in Ana's book and decided to modify them to make loft beds. We had to do two so decided on an L shape so we could fit them into the room! Once we made the first bed we decided we should put only one set of stairs in to save space. The safest way we could think to do this was to place the stairs against the wall so the boys were less likely to fall. The stairs double as book shelves. The coloured rope was an added safety feature we thought up and gives me peace of mind! This was a fun, relatively easy build for two non-builders making their first big project. I bought a Kreg pocket hole jig for this project and it was a life saver. I can't imagine doing this build with out it!!! We completed it in about two to three days while my brother was down on holiday. It was fun and good brother sister bonding time! I am about to embark on phase two of the boys room, this time by myself , adding a storage dresser under one bed. I will modify Ana's laundry dresser plans to fit some plastic storage boxes. Then a day bed/sofa under the other bed using Ana's Alaska cabins day beds plan and finally (if I'm still standing) a shorter version of the craft table for the middle of the room! That's my year planned! Hope you enjoy the pictures, the beds are so big and high it's very hard to get a good photo. 

My husband made these fabulous tall planters based on your plans and video. We painted them the same color as the trim on our home. We live in Florida so instead of filling the entire planter with potting soil my husband put screening about 1/4 from the top so the plants can drain easily, especially in the rainy season. He made the planters with pressure treated wood which is perfect in south Florida.

Thank you so much for providing us with such a beautiful idea for unique and custom planters. My husband had a great time with this project and the results are just fabulous.

The first of many projects to come. I plan on modifiying the design to create a taller table to join as a bedside nester. Photos soon!

It took 2 1/2 months and a LOT of wood, but my husband created this masterpeice. Thank you to the inspiration provided by Ana White and Kristen Lotz, we have finally done our biggest project yet!