Community Brag Posts

I'm still getting to know my Compound Miter Saw, so I wanted to get another small project under my belt. Not to mention I had a whole other picket and a half left over from yesterday's project. This just seem to be the perfect project to do. And needed since we actually needed a few more planters.

I have built some other stuff before, but not with paint and sanding and such. It was definitely a great learning project. There are imperfections, but it's a toy, so kids will be having fun and that is all that matters.

I found this website while trying to find DIY plans for a bookcase for my sons room. After I saw all the plans, the bookcase project got bumped down the list. My husband was a little skeptical when I said I wanted to build a kitchen table, but he still handed over the keys to his truck and off I went to the hardware store.

I built this during the night after my 4 month old son went down for the night, so usually around 7:30pm. I tried to be finished with anything loud (sanding) by 9pm. I changed the dimensions to be shorter and wider than the plans and I removed the stretchers since I wanted the option to put chairs on the ends. To keep the table sturdy and square I substituted 2 x 6 for the side boards instead of 2 x 4 and also added corner supports underneath. Because I had 2 x 6 as the side boards I also needed to make the table slightly higher to still give adequate leg room. The table is 31" high instead of the normal 30". The top is 2 x 10 tongue and groove clear Doug Fir left over from a flooring project.

I sanded the entire table starting with 80 grit, 120, 220 and then used 320 in between polyurethane coats. I also sanded down all corners and edges since in no time my son will be learning to walk and I want to avoid serious injuries by running into sharp corners.

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I modified the plans slightly to go taller so it could fit a standard propane tank. I also added a hinged lid based on an image I found on Pinterest that did something very similar. I still need to sand and stain it next weekend.

Like others, I had a little trouble keeping the fence planks from splitting when screwing them to the 2x2 legs, since there was about an 1/8” gap between. I tried to find some scrap to fill in the gap and didn’t overtighten the screws. The lid was made entirely of 1x3”.

This was my husband and mine's first DIY project! We started off using a miter box, and quickly caved and bought a miter saw. We also had trouble getting the X's to fit correctly, so we redid them and made it in a different order than Ana--we lined them up on the boards they would be attaching to and drilled in there. So we didn't make X's and then attach, but rather did it all at once. This made sure everything fit together!

Also, we didn't stain the top pieces of wood before we assembled, and it was hard to get in-between the boards, definitely recommend at least one coat of stain before attaching the top!

Had a great time making this bench, and love it!! Everyone that sees it is so impressed!! We made this one for outdoors, but we are thinking of making another in nicer wood for our indoor dining room table....

When we bought new couches for our new house, we realized our existing rectangular coffee table would no longer work. We searched for larger, rectangular shaped tables in all the major furniture stores. We became disappointed in the limited selection as well as the high prices. The ones we found that could work were typically in the $800 to $900 range. I suggested to my wife that I could make something better and less expensive, which took her by surprise since I had never made anything before. That's when I stumbled unto Ana-White.com and found the tryde coffee table plans. After searching the brag post, I found where a few had modified the plans to the size and shape we were looking for. The plans and build were very straight forward and much simpler than I expected. The table came out great and fits in well in our new den with our new couches.

I used 2x4 and 2x6's on this project. I am a larger woman so I wanted it to be very strong... and wow is it strong! I also routered the edges on the arms. I love it and it really does sit comfortable. Next I want to make a footstool for it. Thanks Ana for making these plans available to me. 

My son had a 'lightning Mcqueen' toddler bed- but we needed to get him into a little bigger bed.  We had a spare full bed, and Batman is his current favorite... Since there aren't Batman full race car beds- time to start planning and building from sketchup!  Took me about 2 weeks of evenings (after the kids go to bed) and about $110 in materials.  The model is available in the sketchup warehouse at:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u6b750a53-37a4-4d52-9d31…

For the wheel covers I ordered online at Amazon for $25 for a set of 4.

For the Wheels both HD and Menards make a 18" wood table top for ~$7 that I just cut the middle out  with my router to fit the wheel covers.

The slats to hold the bed (made to fit both box spring and mattress) were just 1x4 pine boards from menards.

The body was made from 3/4 MDF, though you could of course use plywood. 

I used a projector to project the image from sketchup onto the board to get it transferred- else it would have been 50+ pages if printing..

For the logos I just used a minila folder as my stencil and cut out the logo.  Needed to touch up the 'tabs' to hold the logo in the circle after pulling off the stencil.

I absolutely love this table and couldn't believe how easy it was to build. It was a weekend project and gets so many compliments.

For the finish, I mixed steel wool with vinegar and brushed it on. The table really darkened up nicely and made the distress marks in the wood come out. I then applied walnut stain and followed up with 3 coats of poly.

In my post I have pictures of the finishing process and a video showing how to distress wood and apply the vinegar solution.

If you are looking for an affordable table that looks great, I'd highly recommend building Ana's table.

The plans were easy enough to follow. I made the miter and table saw carts not as long because of the space I had to work with. These were perfect to provide a stand for my saws while at the same time giving me the additional storage I need. This was the last part of the garage that needed to be organized so I'm extremely pleased. 

pallet rustic cooler mad from pallet wood and pine

This project is closest to the Simple Closet Organizer, but I wanted to be able to re-use the existing components of the closet. The only purchased materials were one sheet of cabinet grade plywood and dowel rod holders (since I already had paint and screws).