Community Brag Posts

I needed something to get the camping stuff, toys, strollers and everything else organized and up off the floor of our unfinished basement so my boys can ride their trikes inside over the winter. This was perfect! Just changed it slightly (made it deeper) to accommodate some larger items. Thanks again Ana!

We started this late 2013 and finished it June 2014. We used an old IKEA bed hardware for the middle support for the full mattress. We had to use Hemlock Fir "white wood" for the 4x4's (found at Menards in Wisconsin). We used Satin polyurathane from Minwax and allowed a month for the fumes to die down. My boys and guests seem to enjoy the bed. 

My wife used the benchmark media console plans with her own idea for the doors

My wife loved the Benchwright table at pottery barn, and I did not love the price. Got a lot of ideas from this site and tried to make it my own. The outside and legs are made from 5"x5" Cypress, purchased from a local saw mill. I used a kreg jig on the entire thing along with lag bolts and glue. It is very heavy and I can jump up and down on it. Bought the hardware from Fastenal. Fun project, took about 16 hours total.

I mostly followed Ana's plans but used 1 5/8 screws and had a problem with wood splitting so for the ceder I used a finish nailer instread which worked great. I also painted before nailing the ceder pieces so they would really stand out and I also cut a few inches off the front ceder piece as I think 5.5in is too high and covers too much of the entrance. 

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've been wanting to build this swing for a year now, and finally it's completed.  I LOVE it!  The modern design is perfect for our front porch as our home is more of a contemporary style.  It was the first project I've done using the Kreg Jig Kit, which is AWE-SOME!    

I modified the plan a bit:  I made the swing 52" long, and used 1x4's for the back support instead of 2x4's.  I also upgraded the top and back 1x4's and 1x6's to poplar wood so the grain would be finer.  The plan was simple to build.  Thank you for your blog and providing plans!  There are other things on your site that I look forward to making.

THE MOTIVATION
After a recent washer outage (that I was ultimately able to repair myself), my wife and I talked about eventually replacing our front-loading washer/dryer set.  One of the bullets I hate biting is paying the exhorbitant prices for the matching pedestals for new washer/dryer sets.

Having just bought a good set of cordless powertools, and having watched my father when I was a kid build countless household fixtures, window dressings, furniture pieces, etc., I decided to try my hand and construct a permanent platform for our current washer/dryer set, thereby eliminating the need to ever buy manufacturer pedestals again.

The existing pedestals were a standard 15" high, with a storage drawer, which we felt was still not high enough for comfort.  And, the washer pedestal drawer was entirely inaccessibl due to the 2" walls on the washer drain pan, so its drawer was totally useless, wasted space.

And, lastly, we really wanted more space for clothes baskets full of laundry, which we generally stacked (full and haphazardly) on top of the machines.

THE CHALLENGES
The largest challenges were mainly logistics, and gravity.  The washer/dryer would have to be unavailable for at least 2-3 days while they sat disconnected in the next room waiting for their new home.  So I coordinated with the family so they'd know when they needed to have their laundry done, or tough it out until I was done.

There was no way to know for sure what the drain connection for the washer pan looked like until I got the washer out.  So it was a small gamble that I'd be able to get the parts needed to extend the drain pipe up to the new platform right when I was ready for them.  Fortunately, this was no issue at all.

The biggest challenge turned out to be toward the end when it came time to lift our 230-lb. washer onto the new platform.  I seriously considered disassembling the washer to the point that I could remove its molded concrete counter-weights, but instead (and arguably stupidly) elected to use a large hydraulic car jack to raise the washer.  This ultimately worked, but I have to STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST trying this.

THE SPACE
Our laundry room is also the "mud room" between our kitchen and the garage.  It is only large enough for the two machines, and the walk way between the two doors--in total, about 70.5" square.  Building the platform from wall-to-wall made the most sense, and minimized framing by fastening edge framing directly to the wall studs. 

THE PLAN
Pretty basic:  2x4's all around for the edge framing--back and sides fastened directly to the wall studs, and front 2x4 supported by two, notched 4x4 legs.  3/4" plywood for the subsurface, and 1/4" laminate faux-wood flooring on top (left over from reflooring, so it matches the floor below).  Bore holes for the washer pan drain and the dryer vent.  1" quarter-round molding on the sides, and 5.5" face piece flush with the top of the molding across the front (spare lauan I had looks perfect).  I also made a point of putting the machines on the platform before the face piece since it might have been in the way or damaged.

Anyone will tell you that it's best to at least sketch out what you want to do so you can minimize surprises, forgotten parts, etc.  I, of course, did virtually none of that, and made several course changes and corrections along the way.  For this project, I was lucky that I didn't need to backtrack at any point, and probably won't learn this lesson any time soon anyway.  However, you SHOULD.

TAKE-AWAYS
The main mistake I made was while gathering the platform dimensions for cutting the plywood.  It was only blind luck that kept me from having to do it more than once (and having to buy more than one 4x8 sheet).  I know that it's actually very unlikely that two adjacent walls are perfectly square, so I made a point to measure the width between the walls at the back and at the front--and, sure enough, found a 1/8" difference--wider at the front.  But when I measured and marked the plywood for cutting, I measured both distances from the precut edge, and then cut.  By doing this, I inadvertently assumed that one of the back corners was perfectly square. 

What I should have done was used a carpenter's square in each back corner to extend a square line from the back edge to the front, and then measured from the square lines to their respective side wall.  This would have accounted for neither back corner being square.

Fortunately, my mistake wasn't big enough to keep the plywood from fitting, but it was very, VERY close.

GIDDY
I honestly couldn't be happier with the finished project (or more smug).  We've raised the washer/dryer 9" higher than they were (24" off the floor), and we now have basket storage underneath all the way across.  I placed two 24" plastic cabinets on top, which still leaves room for the detergent right over the soap inlet on the washer.

And, most importantly, I got to use every powertool I own.  Kinda beats "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" thing, huh?

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”.

I modifed the Classic Bunk Bed and Cubby designs to create a convertible twin over full bunk bed. The bottom full-sized bunk can be rotated to be parallel to the wall (when my son sleeps there) or perpendicular to the wall (for when we have guests so they don't have to climb over one another). Changes I made were:

- I moved the ladder to the end of the bed to make room for the full-sized mattress.
- I added 1x2 treads to the ladder to make it easier on the feet.
- I raised the height of the top bunk. Finished height of the bed is 68" to add head room on the bottom bunk for taller people.
- I built 2 custom cubbies (full dimensions of each 37.5" x ~13.5" x 11.5") to support the added width of the full-sized bottom bunk. These cubbies can also be rotated to support the mattress in the perpendicular position for use as a guest bed (see pictures).
- I built an additional support that fits onto the back of each of the cubbies when they are turned to support the perpendicular guest bed (see pictures).
- I changed the end support rails for the bottom bunk to 1x12s that I painted to match the bed to be used as night stands when the bed is rotated to be a guest bed (see pictures).
- I used wood thread inserts and 1/4"-20 connector bolts (from Fastenal) to assemble the bed, so it would be easy to disassemble and reassemble.

Funny story - When we went to move it to the second story bedroom from the garage where I had finished it, the long sides wouldn't fit up our stairs!!! Our stairs have a tight 90 degree turn partway up. After all the hours I put in building and finishing it, I almost cried! Fortunately after using a straight edge blade to carefully cut through the paint, we unscrewed the upper most rail and were able to just barely get it up our stairs. I was so thankful I hadn't glued those boards on!

I was honored this past March to be Matron of Honor in one of my best friend’s wedding, and as a gift to the happy couple I made them a guest book bench. I wanted this one to look extra special. I started out with Ana White’s Fancy X Bench plans and made a couple of modifications. I reduced the overall length to 54″ to sit at the foot of a bed or under a table, and used only 2 pedestals instead of 3. To make the top better for signing, I decided to substitute the planked 2×6′s for a pine 3/4" thick “hobby board” that was 15″ wide, purchased at Lowes. I framed it out with some 1×2′s to make it look chunkier. Once it was built I gave it three coats of white semi-gloss latex, and then drew up the art for the center. It’s the same font used on the wedding invitations. I wish I had thought to take a photo of the signed bench at the wedding! But I was a little bit busier at the moment. I’m really proud of this pretty little bench. As I received in one of the messages on my own wedding bench, I hope it sees the butts of many friends for years to come!