Community Brag Posts

I didn't get the plans from this site, but figured I'd post a brag anyway. The plans were downloaded from MinWax several years ago , but it wasn't until this year that I started to build this roll top desk. It's made with white oak, along with maple plywood for the side panels. It was finished with a simple polyurethane clear coat.

I'll be using this as a work desk in my den. It has just enough room to house my laptop with the top closed.

This is definitely one of the more challenging projects I've taken on.

https://www.minwax.com/en/woodworking-project-inspiration/wood-furnitur…

After making the Providence Table, I whipped up these benches to match! They were super easy to make in one day. I love the sturdiness of these (and the look too). 

Great projects for any beginner. Make sure you're working on a level surface for the table. I purchased simple planter boxes from a local hardware store, and worked around those. For the bench, my only suggestion is to verify you are square at each step- other than that it's pretty straightforward.

Altered plan somewhat to make it heavy duty seating when needed. 18" inside height is necessary for hubby's boots especially. Room for my lab coat too! It suits our 100 year old, nearly closet-less farmhouse well.

It's the 8ft Barn Door tv console plan I purchased a while back, I finally put it together. I added my favorite color of paint and side brackets, I used coat hanger knobs for door handles. I love it, I've never took on a job this big ever. I'm so impressed and very proud of myself because I did it all by myself. Thank you so much and I'm a 62 yr old lady.

This is a quick and easy cheap build. I priced planters this size at the store and they were about $75 with a trellis. I built this one for under $20. Thanks Ana!

My second building project... this one took quite a while, building in the evenings after the kids went to bed.

The playhouse is based off of Ana's Playhouse Building series, with some modifications to fit the space in my backyard and accommodate climbing wall, monkey bars, and slide.

To put the main deck structure into the ground for sturdiness while protecting from moisture, I dug out 5 holes to fit single hole cinder blocks (4 corners plus an extra 4x4 for the monkey bars; you can see an leftover block on the ground in one of the pictures). I placed some brick in the holes, then the cinder blocks on top. I then partially filled the cinder blocks with sand, put the pre-built deck in the cinder block holes (with help - it's heavy!), and then filled the rest of the cinder block holes with sand. It's worked remarkably well - the deck has been up for about a year now. I also sprayed some clear waterproof sealant on the bottom part of each beam near the ground for extra protection (deck, monkey bars, climbing walls, and swingset A-frame). This has allowed me to still run sprinklers near/around the playset and even grow grass underneath the swings!

Materials used:
* Playhouse: pine, plywood, Suntuf solar grey polycarbonate corrugated roofing panels (I live in Arizona, so little rain to worry about but lots of heat - the sheeting lets light in but blocks most of the UV rays, corrugated shape also provides venting at top when placed sideways)

* Deck/Swingset/Monkey bars: treated lumber, composite decking, pine for railings, monkey bars purchased from Amazon

* Climbing wall: pine, treated lumber, handholds/railing bought off ebay/Amazon

* Swings/slide/bongos/wheel, telescope: purchased from Amazon

Modifications:
* Turned playhouse 90 degrees to be in back of the deck, with swingset coming off the side. This meant the support beam for the swingset had to pass through the playhouse - modified the frame for that wall slightly and created a notch for the beam to pass through.

* Slide comes out one end of playhouse - made the "window" on that end larger than the plans called for in order to give room for the slide.

* Monkey bars come off one side of the deck - used extra 4x4 here to create support for the bars, and used extra bars to make a ladder on this side

* Climbing wall instead of ladder for main entrance

* Put large window in back wall of the playhouse

* Added cross bracing to side of decking on swingset end to make it more solid/cut down on sway when swinging

Was made using 2x4 plans from Ann-white web page. Thanks for the idea

A few months ago we decided to build ourselves a new table based on the Farmhouse Table plans. We knew we wanted to make the table out of some red oak that I had gotten for free, so we would deviate from the plans a bit. Long story short, I deviated from the plans _quite_ a bit. We had planned to make the table essentially with free materials, but that changed when I spent several days squaring up the rough stock I had been given. I also joined a crowned plank in the center of the table-top...big mistake. After glueing, screwing, and sanding, I realized there would be no way to get the crown out of the top. So...the first table-top became the bench cover and the other half is going to be used for a computer desk in another room. After a trip to the local lumber yard, I had about $220 worth of red oak: 4 1x4x14ft planks for the legs and 7 1x6x6ft planks for the table top.

I began by cutting the 14 ft. 1x4's to length and then joining them with lots of glue and clamps to form the legs. Next I set up the table saw to notch out the tops of the legs to receive the box. I prefer this method over using a circular saw or jig-saw. Picked up my wood-chisel to clean things up and then sanded, scraped using a card scraper (I would highly recommend a scraper for the smooth finish and handcrafted feel the tool provides), applied two coats of stain, and finished with two coats of wipe on poly.

I followed Ana's plans to construct the 2x4 base, modifying it to fit the size of my table and the specific overhang I sought. I also simply used 2x4 scraps to span the width of the box, and then Kreg jigged them to the box and table-top for support.

I joined the table-top planks using a Kreg Jig and glue. Lots of sanding and scraping again, and then I flipped the top, attached the box, and attached the legs. I used more of the 1x4's for the skirts to hide the 2x4 box.

We decided that we wanted to build a built-in bench for storage instead of a free standing one to accompany the table. I followed the plan at the following site, modifying it as necessary to match the length of our table. I also only built the bench and not the wall unit (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,20301255,00.html). My mistake with the first table-top ended up being a blessing of sorts when we were looking for a sturdy bench-top.

All in all, we love it! It took a good deal of time to finish the table—in part because I'm a horrible perfectionist. The bench, on the other hand, was finished in a day's work.

The table is constructed entirely out of red oak. The bench-top is also red oak. The bench is birch plywood and pine.

Total cost for table: $220 for wood; we already had all other supplies
Bench: $25; again, we already had most of the materials needed.

I have a mountain cabin with limited storage. A friend gave me two cabinet doors so I built the box to go with them. I used 3/4 in birch plywood for the box and shelves which I made adjustable using metal shelf brackets.

This bed has been a true labour of love over the last few months!

I made all cuts with a hand saw, and mainly used a kreg jig to assemble the bed.

The 'insert' in the headboard is made from macrocarpa window trim and tongue-and-groove panelling, which was leftover from when my parents built their house. The rest I bought from a local supplier as rough sawn timber, which I got dressed by a woodworking guy who lives nearby. Had I bought all the timber I used, the cost would have been closer to $400.

I didn't add the moulding that is included in the plan - it's just my preference.

It took a bit of work to convert Ana's plans into metric measurements, but I got there in the end! I love my bed

For starters, I apologize for the quality of the photo - the bed is so large and my sons' room so small that I had to splice together 4 different pictures to get a picture of the entire thing. Now, onto the project!

I found the details lacking in the instructions quite often. I definitely recommend having sketch-up installed on your computer so that you can turn the pieces around and see them from both sides - in many parts you're layering wood and attaching pieces on different sides. So being able to rotate the pieces in sketch-up was a huge must for us.

It took myself and my girlfriend about a week or so of working several hours a day to finish this up. Since most of the bed is made in sets of 2, the second set always went faster than the first, since we knew what we were doing.

I also found we needed different size materials than the instructions suggested. 1 1/2" screws were just long enough that they came out of the other side if they were countersunk at all, so we ended up switching to 1 1/4". The plans call for 32 3" bolts and 4 2 1/2", but we needed 32 2 1/2" and 4 2" - when we first put it together we had 1/2 of bolt hanging out of all of the holes - obviously not ideal for 3 little boys running around.

All told this project cost us somewhere between $250 and $300. I had to run out for new 2" screws at least twice, so make sure you buy a lot. We got lucky with the paint and found this super bright yellow/orange in the oops bin for $7, and decided to do a wash instead of painting so we could still see the wood grain. (And my 8 year old promptly took a marker and wrote each boys' initials on their beds - kids!).

All-in-all I'm incredibly happy with the bed - it fits the exact need we had, and unlike the only other plan I found online for a set of 3, it doesn't attach to the wall (which is important as we rent) and will be fairly easy to disassemble when we move.

Hi.   I'm I the uk.  I saw your video on how to make this sofa.  I showed my hubby. He said ( you'll never be able to do that).  Red flag to a bull. Ha ha. I. So proud of myself.  It was really easy your plans are very easy to follow . I bought the cushions from ikea . Just one problem . The gray British weather.  Rain Rain  and more rain.  I'm looking into something to protect the feet from the wet. 

Stephanie Harvey. Age 61

I decided to do some modifications to the original plans to make it more like the Pottery Barn original. I made the legs 4x4s like the original, as well as the horizontal bases of the legs. The major change that this entailed was in the bottom shelf. I notched the edges of the 1x12 so that it would fit flush, then connected it to the legs with pocket screws. The lowered ledge on the table top is two 2x4s on the bottom, a 2x4 on the front and back, and a 2x6 cut to size for the ends. I then attached it using pocket screws on the front, and just 2.5 inch screws from the back. The rest is pretty much the same as the plans. For the back of the hutch, I used 1x4 carsiding to give it a more finished look. It only cost a couple cents more for each 8 foot piece.