Community Brag Posts

After a couple years out of bodybuilding because of a bad injury, I decided I really needed a new hobby. I've always been impressed with woodwork but it just seemed out of my reach. I wanted a porch swing and saw these plans and though, "even if I mess up it'll only cost me a couple hundred dollars". I bought the kreg jig kit and some lumber and thankfully have all the other tools I need. This only took me a few hours to build and it was so easy and a really good time. I watched a few you tube videos with both ana and Jeff devlin from Kreg Tools and it really prepared me. The job was fun and I plan on going back to the lumber store this week just to build more stuff I probably don't need lol.

Our back door entrance closet was cluttered with shoes, boots, pet food and more. Strategically scattered at the bottom.

Originally the closet had a flat panel door with a poorly patched hole from a neighboring door, unpainted interior, one shelf with a hockey stick closet bar. A complete eye sore.

Solution:

Constructed a 5 shelf "simple closet organizer" with dimensions of 72"H x 13"W x 16"D. The material was four 72" x 16" particle board shelves purchased from HD for $10 each and a 100 particle board screws with painted white heads. I already had the closet rod with the hardware ($5 each) to hang the rods.

The new closet has a six panel door (used the door jig purchased for the doggy door) updated hinges and knob ($25) to match the rest of the house.

We painted the interior of the closet with left over wall paint.

Problem solved.

I like many on here, I hate particle board but the better half didn't want to paint the shelves, so the compromise was reached and we got the particle board haha. Nice on the pocket book and didn't pay extra for the crappy ready to go stuff plus I got to play with my tools.

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.

This is the cooler stand presented by Jenny from Birdsandsaoap. Very easy to build and always ends up with someone asking to buy it or have you make them one.

I worked up the plans in my head for about a year before my mother finally got around to having me build her 10 foot farmhouse table. That's right, this bad boy is TEN FEET LONG! And it was one of the simplest things to construct!. I used 8 foot 1x8's for the length of the table (used 4, making the table 29" wide) and 1x12's for the breadboard ends. We also splurged and purchased turned legs for $15 a piece at Blue. It really made the table extra special. Totally cost, with finishing supplies came in under $150.

Things I would change if/when I do a table of this size again:
1) I would never make a BB end so large again. I would stick to a 1x6 or smaller. With such a large size we worry about children putting too much pressure on the ends.
2) I will make the legs removable. It was a bear trying to get this table into the house. Thankfully the width was just narrow enough!
3) I won't tackle this in the winter months! Construction of the table took only a few hours but finishing in freezing temps took weeks waiting for warm-ish temperatures.

I was looking for a way to give our house some better curb appeal and decided our stree numbers could use a facelift.  The majority of money spent on this project was for the numbers since I had enough spare cedar laying around.

I've made another record cabinet, this time with a nice dark walnut stain.  To see more details and plans visit my blog.

http://www.woodworkingfourdummies.com/

Cheers,

Ian

I mainly followed ana's plans for this playhouse. Instead of a plywood roof I used cedar shingles. I also added plexiglass to the windows.

I used pocket holes to hide the screws. I made an ottoman out of the outdoor coffee table plans to my dimensions that can be used as a coffee table when we need it.

My attempt at the murphy bar featured on this site. Still have to add the sash locks. Added pallet crossmembers at the back, an x in the leg, and a french cleat to mount to the wall. 

I made this coop twice as wide like Ana suggested since I have 4 chickens and wanted to make sure there was some extra wiggle room in case “chicken math” got the best of us. I made a nesting box to mount on the outside. I also used plywood for the sides like Ana did in the video. I installed a Run Chicken automatic door that opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. I added some hasps and clasps to make sure all my doors would close tightly. I put hardware cloth across the top before installing the roof panels. I stapled and buried hardware cloth around the perimeter for predator protection. I also spray painted the hardware cloth flat black so that it would be easier for us to see inside the coop. I stained the rest of the wood with Varathane Semi-Transparent stain, color “Carbon Gray.” I also added some roosts and cedar shingle siding for some extra protection during our New England winters at to match our house. Working 2-4 hours a day, off and on, with a bum shoulder and weak hands, this took me about a week! Thanks for the great plan, Ana!

Red oak mission-style side table with deer footprint inlays, golden oak stain.

I used the basic design principles from Ana's site but decided to use 3.5x6.5 round fence posts (purchased at my local Tractor Supply Company) for a different look plus they are a little cheaper than 4x4 posts. I also used pressure treated 2x4s for some added strength and perhaps longer durability. I used Ana's cedar fence pickets idea for my roof (these pickets are used as walls on one of the other shed plans on this site). I didn't need a very robust roof as my firewood shed sits underneath the deck which provides a lot of protection from the rain. I attached the structure using 3 inch deck screws and the roof with 1.5 inch deck screws (nails would have been more than adequate for the roof but I had the screws on hand).

I did run into some problems due to my design changes. Most of my issues involved attempting to square up the round posts which are much closer in shape to a jagged stick than dimension lumber such as a 4x4 post. If I had to do it over again I would not have used the round posts. Constant tweaks and adjustments to the posts significantly delayed my build time and frustrated me at times. I was just barely able to wedge my woodshed in between the 2 deck posts which actually came in handy as I was able to secure the shed to the deck posts with 3 inch screws...making the shed very solid! The final issue I discovered after loading up my wood shed. The 2x4s at the bottom of the structure began to sag. I fixed this by using my floor jack to raise them up and placed 8 inch tall 4x4s underneath (2 in the front and 2 in the back).

Overall I'm happy with the way it turned out and I really love all the plans on this site...GREAT ideas!!

Octagon picnic table! Built exactly to plan. This challenged my carpentry skills but I managed to pull it off all by myself. Great plans easy to follow and a great design! Would build again!