Community Brag Posts

I had a big empty wall in my den/man cave, so I decided to build a dartboard cabinet instead of just hanging a dartboard on the wall. No plans for this, I just made it up as I went. Measured twice, sketched it out and cut as I went.

I use pine 1x4's for the frame and back. 1x3's for the accessory box, 1x2's for the door frame, and poplar strips for the doors and door braces. The darts are held by 6" long 2x2's with holes drilled.

Wood screws, finish nails, and small brads were used to hold everything together.

The chalkboards are simple MDF's cut and sprayed with chalkboard paint. Overlay hinges are used for the doors, and the dartbord is held on with screws from the back so it can be replaced when needed.

The Alabama A is hand-painted.

We estimate that the cost of this project was right around $50, but we had a lot of tools and materials already.  This was a fun project and a great piece for the cost. I would suggest staining as much as you can before assembling those legs!  Staining and applying poly was a pain in the butt!  We used a dark mahogany Minwax stain and 2 coats of Minwax poly. It took us a while to do it because we have a 11 month old that keeps us on our toes. 

We made it a little shorter to act as a coffee/cocktail table on the deck. Comes in handy for homebrew too!

We needed to transition our son out of his crib-turned-toddler-bed to free up the crib for the next spawn, arriving in November. We wanted something we could sit or lie on with him for the reading of bedtime stories, which ruled out most toddler beds and the inexpensive twin size beds. The choice was clear between spending $1000 on some out-of-the-box bed from a furniture store, using a mattress-and-springs-on-metal-frame from the mattress store (which lacks any sort of organized storage potential) or building our own awesome storage-friendly bed that will hopefully last until the kiddo graduates high school and gets his own place.  I love this plan because of the ample storage it provides between the under-the-bed cubbies, the cubbies on the "walled-in" side of the bed that can be used for off-season clothes and less-frequently-used items, even the space between the cubbies only accessible by sliding the mattress off and popping out the slats.  Also, my child is doomed to need glasses at some point in his life, so the headboard with space to stow the glasses, an alarm clock, a glass of water, a couple books ... this plan was perfect for what we needed and what we wanted. And custom-made by dad? Painted Elmo-red (the current obsession) by 7-months-pregnant mom? What could be better?  We are thrilled by the bed and are already planning the expansion we'll do (create a bunk? Just build a matching bed?) in a few years when the new little brother has outgrown the crib.  

We opted to skip pretty much all the hardware on this bed and, with the help of a few nails inserted via nail gun, put the bed together with copious amounts of wood glue and clamps. This bed is NEVER wiggling apart, no matter how much the kid jumps on it.  The exception is the binding of the headboard and footboard to the base itself -- this is done with cleverly placed screws so that the bed can be disassembled if it ever needs to be moved.  The project would've been a weekend project from shopping through painting except that we had to wait hours for glue to dry in between steps. As a result, it monopolized our garage for about a week.  

I finally completed the last piece to my customized simple two-toned outdoor collection...an outdoor kitchen sink!!! It still needs a couple of touch ups... but more on that later. This is by far my favorite and easiest project to date. We plan on using this as a grill caddie/garden station. This will eventually go onto a 24x12 deck up against our kitchen window (The indoor and outdoor sink will be against each others backs). I decided to go with the Sturdy Workbench plans for the base mainly because of the weight. We wanted something that's going to be difficult to move since it will be hooked up to outdoor plumbing. I used treated 2x4's for the base, cedar 1x4's for the top. I bought the bar sink for about $70. I also used a Kreg Jig to screw in the cedar slats from underneath so the screws won't be visible from the top. FYI - Wait a couple of weeks before you paint soaking wet treated wood. The green chemical from the 2x4 is starting to leak through my white paint. I'll have to go and prime/paint it again when it finally dries. Other than that, it came out 10 times better than I could ever imagine.

I based this design of the simple Sofa Table by Jenna Sue. Instead of a 2x8 across the top, I opted to use 1x4s side by side. This slatted look matched some of the other items in the house and to allowed me to create two hinged sections. These sections allow for easy access to wall plugs and include small notch for the cables to come through.

this is my intro to woodworking by myself and i think the table turned out ok. ana's website sure helped allot.

I built this island using Ana's base cabinet plans. I simply added a face frame to all the sides because they are all visible. My wife drew up the plan that includes open storage at one end and an overhang at the other to provide room for a stool. We bought the butcher block top online. It comes unfinished, so we had to sand it down smooth and treat it with mineral oil.

I wanted to build an L shaped outdoor bar with a 2 post pergola over the grill.  I couldn't find any plans online that would fit the space I had, so I decided to build it myself with custom dimensions.  The top bar is approx. 7'3" across, and 15" wide, while the distance from the right edge (next to the house) to the end of the bar is approx. 9'1".  

I framed it with PT lumber and the 2 pergola posts are sitting on top of the pavers and supported internally within some of the framing studs.  Since the pavers sit on top of concrete, I didn't feel the need to dig up the existing pavers and achor them in the ground.  

I used hardiboard for the exterior and tiled the lower section of the bar.

For the actual high bar top, I wanted to do something unique, and found a 900 year old scrap slab of Cypress at a local lumber yard.  One side was smooth, but underneath was gouged out from different saw cuts and very uneven.  I screwed a piece of 3/4" PT plywood underneath and trimmed it with 1-1/2" Cypress.  I stained the whole thing with a dark honey colored stain and put a generous amount of poly on it once it was dry.  There are a few cracks and nicks on it, but once it was stained, it looked awesome.  

Modified the design to allow me to roll lawnmower directly in the end. Fun project.

This is the new outdoor kitchen I had been working on - finally finished! It was inspired from the kitchen island plans - I like the slats, and thought they would work well outdoors for air flow and water drainage. I worked around the existing grill, and it is all modular, so it can be moved if necessary (such as painting or treating the deck). It includes cupboards underneath the bar, dorm fridge and sink with storage under the countertop. The cooler stand raises the cooler up to 'user' level (no more bending!). Because I'm an avid recycler - most of the products used were recycled items. All told (not including the already purchased grill) - this kitchen cost me a total of approximately $95.00 (I had a lot of the materials already). This project took me approximately 5 weeks working on it part-time after hours. I built one cabinet at a time, then the countertops.