Community Brag Posts

We are so thankful for the plan! This is our first building project (ever!) My son loves his new fort bed, and we feel so empowered to have done it ourselves!

My parents have hated their fireplace since they moved into their house 18 years ago. When they moved in it was black bricks, so we painted it white, but it was still really sad looking. I finally got on Ana's site and found plans for Mimi's Faux Mantel and got to work. We just love how it turned out. Really warms up the space and now the fireplace in the focal point of the room. Thanks Ana!

Coffee table with built in toy storage with glaze coat top

Was recommended by YT (yes I subscribed) thought it was awesome. Just getting into woodworking and thought it was perfect to try. Appreciate the help, very kind. Godspeed.

I am building a TV console and hutch (will be posting soon) and I have left over of small cut of boards from this project. While waiting for my media center to dry, I built this pet feeder.

I have this messy eater dog (weimaraner) who slobbers all over my floor moulding. Worst thing...she bangs the wall with her aluminum bowl when she tries to lick every single bits of her food there is! So, with that story to tell, I designed and built her a pet feeder(inspired by the small pet feeder plan). And no more banging and messy wall!

This took me for-ever to build but mainly because I have an infant plus two other children. I think the actual time in hours was about 15 for the build and about the same for finish work. We modified the plans to fit my sons full size mattress. We also spent a lot on lumber because, initially, I thought I would stain but ended up painting.

Built this bed and stool for my grandaughter's first "big girl" bed.

I downloaded the plans for the octagonal table. I have made several and used a few different woods, made a few minor design changes as well as creating a routine and using a jig or two. This jig fits in between the two boards that form the seat support frame. I used a large paint stick and a scrap piece of 2 x 4. Using a table saw, I cut a groove in the 2" edge, approximately 1/2" deep, this took two passes (pass it through, turn it and pass again), a slight adjustment and another two passes. Insert the paint stick and seat all the way down. Place jig between seat support frame, might be a little snug or use a clamp to hold in place. Adjust so just the paint stick sticks up enough to separate seat boards. With seat boards against the jig, it forms the perfect angle/guide to match cuts. I also used 1/2" spacers to create consistent spacing. Love the various plans you make available as well as your videos.

Great bookcase. I used a 3" screw through the top center into the wall to add lateral stability. Now it is rock solid. The majority of time was spent sanding and finishing.

My sister wanted a step stool for her grand-daughter via her daughter-in-law. Like our mother and grand-mother before us, we stood by the sink with our hands in the wash water "helping" with the dishes. She asked it I could build a stool. After searching through several plans, I came across this vintage step stool and changed it up a little for the personal touch. I added the cartoon characters to fit with my great-nieces theme and she now has something that she can "brag" about as she grows.

I saw this plan on pinterest and really liked the way it looked. I bought the wood, but let it sit for a year because it wasn't a priority. Well, we were getting a new dog and he needed a little more room due to hip surgery. So, I expanded the crate dimension and got to work. I added 6 inches to the width, and 4 to the length but turns out I was about an inch shy all the way around to fit a plastic liner tray. Next one will be better. I used birch plywood on the side panels and the bottom panel, but used 4 inch wide board to create a slatted top rather than a solid top. I put hinges on the top with a window latch style lock, and put 2 slider style gate locks on the door. the color was from using medium walnut Danish oil, finished with 3 coats of gloss poly. During the project, I took time to teach my 9 yr old daughter how to use various tools, from the drill to the power miter saw. It was a great bonding time for us, and for a worthwhile reason- the new dog.

All cut up with our sawmill! Francesca and Bob Schilling. Beaverdam, Virginia

I loved the Holman Entertaining Shleves from Pottery Barn, however, I didn't like the price. Taking the $10 ledge plans and modifying them, I set out to make my own. I used a 1 x 10 (bottom), 1 x 6 (back) and a 1 x 3 (front). They are 23 7/8 inches long to get the 3 shelves out of 6 foot boards. To get the holes to hold the top of the bottle, I used a 1 and 1/4 inch forstner bit. Since I had gift cards left from Christmas I splurged on the wood and bought the select pine.

These desk sets were made from scrap wood and left over finishes, and are the inspiration for the desk bling accessory set plan, the cedar 1-board desk accessory set plan, and the 1-board cedar 2 drawer desktop storage cube plan. I had a ball planning and building these 4 sets over the summer, and gave them to the girls at work today as Christmas gifts. They were a big hit!

The cube sides and drawer fronts are made from scraps of wainscoat paneling.

The gray set is a distressed finish (not shown - the matching cube storage included pulls painted in oil rubbed bronze). The Espresso painted set received pulls spray-painted in silver. The Onyx set was stained with Minwax Express color, with pulls spray-painted in silver. The blue set received 2 coats of paint, and a Walnut glaze. Those pulls were done with a gray paint wash, with sea glass pebbles glued on the fronts.

The pulls are all made from pieces of S4S moulding, sanded and then painted. These also received a poly topcoat before attaching with super glue.

Total time for each set is about an afternoon each. Each set received multiple coats for the finishes, but was well worth the effort.

For some added "bling," I raided my stash of sticky-back felt scraps and applied to the bottoms of each piece, along with the drawer bottoms.

I saw someone else make a stand similar to this by combining the rustic x and tryde plans. I just used 1x for the sides instead of the x. Didn't take more than a few hrs to build but finishing took forever bc a couple boards were crowned so I sanded forever. If anyone has aby questions or needs help feel free to email me @ [email protected]