Community Brag Posts

This was our first build from this website and we are so pleased! Having seen very involved plans on an Australian website for a similar sandpit, I was so pleased to come across this version, with its far simpler design!
We wanted a slightly bigger sandpit, so I needed to do some modifications, and while I was enlarging it, I also converted to metric sizes, and designed specifically for the timber I knew I could buy locally (very obscure and inconsistent seeming German sizes). So the end result is a 1.5x1.5m sandpit, that has so far had 6 kids playing happily in it at once!
I've put in the drawings I used, and the cutting list for larger sizes in case anyone else is working in metric, or wants a bigger size!
Our other modification was to offset the shorter sections of the base to run along the front plank of the bench seat - there were two main benefits for this - we need a lot less sand, as there is none wasted under the seat, and the seat is supported and can't bow downwards!
The dimensions and layout we used are in the images.

Supplies

Timber
2 - 200 x 40 x 3000mm
6 - 120 x 24 x 3000mm
1 - 80 x 50 x 3000mm

Hinges
12 - 140mm long (the original design had 8, we went with three per edge to allow for the extra width)

Self tapping decking screws
18 - 5 x 80
48 - 5 x 50
96 - 3 x 20 (or enough for your hinges, depending on the design)

Paint
3 - 375ml PU Acrylic Paint, suitable for exterior use (top planks and seat supports)
1 - 750ml PU Acrylic Paint, suitable for exterior use (base)

Weed matting and staple gun

Sand
I calculated I would need 20 x 25kg bags - in the end we needed 11 - don't ask me where we went so wrong!

Cutting list

2 - 200 x 40 x 1500 (long sides of base)
2 - 200 x 40 x 1415 (short sides of base)

12 - 120 x 24 x 1495 (top slats - just under half a plank, to allow for waste)

4 - 80 x 50 x 245 (armrests / seat braces)
4 - 80 x 50 x 495 (back supports of seats)

I gladly paid 5 Euro for the wood to be cut in Hornbach - it should have been more than this, but the guy was generous!

12 hinges (the original design had 8, we went with three per edge to allow for the extra width)

On Sunday we had the idea, on Monday I drew up the plans, on Tuesday I went shopping! Once all our wood was home safely, we sanded it down - most edges weren't badly finished, but there were a few splinters that needed getting rid of!
The next two nights Mr W gallantly set to work with the paint brush. After two nights, the wood all had two good coats of paint and we were ready to start assembling on Friday.
I pre-drilled the base of the bench before the second coat of paint - three holes for each butt joint - with some careful measuring this made screwing the base together really easy!
The top planks were also pre drilled, but there unfortunately my tiredness made me make mistakes, and some had to be re-drilled! Spacing the planks out took a lot of time, but I am glad I made the effort. I used cereal box, and experimented with different numbers of layers - I knew I wanted a theoretical 5.4mm gap, but it took some time to get the right number of layers of carefully creased and concertinaed card!

Having got our spacing wedge sorted, we screwed the blue planks in place at either end of the base. We then assembled the green seat section, and the blue/yellow back rest. Following a tip from the comments section, we added the hinge to the seat/back combo first, as this ends up being on the underside. Once those two hinged sections were made, they were then laid in place on the base (card wedge spacers in place) and then the final hinges added. The final assembly took about 5 hours - but this was partly because we started outside, then had to move everything inside when a huge thunderstorm rolled in!

The next morning we got busy with the staple gun and tacked weed matting over the base, then it was hauled in to position and filled up! For us getting this done and dusted was important, otherwise it could have dragged on a lot, but we are terribly proud that it was done in less than a week from being fist conceived!
I hope the metric/enlarged plans are of use to someone else too. One other idea we had, which we didn't get round to building in, was a support bar to be fitted when you close the pit, so the kids can play on top as a stage when it is not being used for a sandpit!

This is a simplified version of the Unabox from Make Magazine.

Build Instructions:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Puzzle-Box-Unabox/

Video:
http://youtu.be/VTaoUHsGau8

If you like this, please see my other puzzle box.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Puzzle-Box-4/

I just wanted to share the loft bed I built for my daughter based on the plans available here. I added a desk, painted an existing chair I had built to match and included pink LED lights around the inside of the bed. Thanks for everyone sharing their ideas, plans and pics..!

I used the "square x bass pedestal" plans to complete this 4' card table. The top is made from reclaimed gym flooring from the local high school. The "x base pedestal" provides a nice sturdy base for the large table. The project was completed over several weekends when I had time to work on it. 

Took the fancy hall tree bottom and added Mimi's hutch to the top. Added a little bead board to the bench and top edges to cover up the plywood, and voila! My wife's Christmas gift. 

Was inspired to build this table after a visit to R.H. with my wife and realized a table this size and style would cost us about $3000.

So I decided to build myselft.  With a little help from Ana's plans and my own modifications, I think I got pretty close to the Restoration Hardware Trestle Table.

I bought the pedestals at Osbornewood.com and asked them not to drill the leg holes and ordered it in pine.  That was the most expensive part of the table, about $380 a piece.  The rest of it is Douglas Fir.

I created a template and shaped the feet myself out of 4X8 beams.  I was able to use my jig saw and a Bosch 10" blade.  I made the rough cut with it and then sanded the rest of the shape using my belt sander.

The pedestals have a hollow center and were too tall so I cut them down and created plugs and glued them into the pedestal.  The bottom plug has a large threaded rod and is glued and bolted to the feet, and the top plug was used to create the horizontal supports for the table top.  I too created a template for this and used a jigsaw to cut the shape.

I then used Minwax American English, then weathered oak, (Like in one of Ana's stain posts).  I then wanted to give it that weathered/reclaimed wood look so I add a fair amount of the White Pickling stain.  I wanted a little less of the red tones and more brown...I may sand and refinish it someday, but it is in the house for now and can't wait for our first dinner party.

My daughter is into everything Minnie Mouse right now so I figured, why not!

I took the plan from this and rather than have a two tone with paint, I stained the entire thing and used my wood burner to burn a pentacle in the top. My wife loves her altar.

We are in the unique position of having stairs in our bedroom and they take up quite a lot of room. We considered putting a chair and set of drawers under the stairs but they would have looked cramped.

Having done some research we found some photos where people had built benches under the stairs.  It was around this time that we found Ana White's plan for framing up a mud room bench in a nook (which for some reason I can't add to the 'built from' section). We had to adapt it as the original plan was framed by 3 walls and due to the angle of the stairs we could only use 2 and added legs. We also had to add triangular panels to give it that built-in look.

We were able to complete the build for relatively cheap as we kept a ton of 2x2 from when we removed a 60s built in wardrobe and was able to rebuild it. If you look behind the drawers you can even see that the wood is notched from the wardrobe hinges but in a nice way it keeps the old owners work in the house.

For some time I've wanted to build a sturdy coffee table for our family room.  I've also been experimenting with and bulidng lots of furniture for the kids rooms with low cost, paint grade, maple veneer plywood.  I love the ease of working with this material and results have been great.  I never thought that raw edged plywood furniture would have a place outside of the kid's bedrooms until I saw this slab of bamboo counter top at our local big box store and I got the idea for this piece.  Although I still would'nt consider this "fine furniture", I think it turned out pretty cool.  The design is my own, and it's the first time I've tried flaring legs in two directions which was real easy to do with a bandsaw.  I have the plan drawn up in sketchup if anyone is interested.

After showing my wife the plans, she did not like that flat top so I did some drawings until she liked what I had. I Modified the plans so that we could get what we liked. I used all 2" lumber instead of 1" because I wanted it to be nice and heavy. Raised the base of the side rails by 3" so that there would be more ground clearance, and used plywood under the slats so that we didnt need to use a box spring. I think it came out well.