Community Brag Posts

They were simple to make and the plan was easy to follow. The only modification I made was adding the 1x3 topper in place of the longer legs sticking out of the top.

For my first woodworking project, I foolishly decided to build a rabbit hutch without plans for my daughters new Easter Bunny. So I literally scratched some ideas on my wood working bench and started going to work. I did some construction over a decade ago, but never attempted to build any furniture before, so I'm pretty happy with how this came out.

I spent a few days researching various rabbit cages and for our place we needed something that was ascetically pleasing and functional as it was going in our living room. I got some ideas from the web and decided the best thing for us would be to have an entry ramp, 2 sets of barn doors for each level (for easy cleaning) and an open roof. We went with linoleum floors since she's already litter trained. The floors could easily be modified to add 1/2" wire mesh if we decide to change things down the line. Also, we chose an espresso finish with silver hardware to accent the wire mesh

I pretty much crashed and burned on the staining as I've never done that before, but it ended up looking ok after all. I did a light sanding, but will probably invest in a planer and jointer to get my wood in better shape before assembling in the future. Also, I'll probably lightly dab some stain on ends of wood before final assembly as it made it difficulty trying to hide the white pine with the dark stain.

Other cages I saw ran around $200-$350.00 so i don't feel so bad about the cost. It's really the time that it took learning and making mistakes. I'm sure if I had plans I could of cut my time in 1/2.

Total Cost came out to around $150.00 but probably would of been cheaper if I had some plans to go by. I probably wasted a few 2x2s and accidentally mis-cut a scrap piece of 1/4"plywood which added another $16.00 to the bottom line.

Here's a breakdown of my total cost.

Hardware - $30.00
Includes 5 latches, 4 sets of hinges (8 total) and a 3' piano hinge

Stain - $8.00

Linoleum Tile @ ¢.69 sq ft - $16

Brushes, Stain Rags - $5.00

Screws - $6.00

Wire Mesh Roll $30.00
Needed 2 rolls at $15.00 each. I used 1" Wire Mesh measuring 2'x15'

Total Wood $50.00-$60
I used 2x3's for the legs - 2 @ 8' - $2.00 each ($4.00)
probably 15-20 2x2's - $1.52 each - can't remember how many I used to be honest ($30.00)
and a few 1x6's for the Doors - $2.00 each ($6.00)
Sheet of 1/4 plywood - $12.00

Ana, I want to say how inspirational you have been to me over some years. I think my first project found on your website was a chicken coop. More recently I have built the large garage workbench system with 2 rollout workbench/storage units (still in progress). In the past few weeks I have built the Adirondack chairs. The Adirondack chairs spurred me to continue building a “park like” setting in my small backyard. This includes a park bench (to match the Adirondack chairs), a park style grill, and a water fall. The waterfall is fairly simple (now that I have done it once - ha).

Ana read my mind! I was telling my husband that I wanted "L" shaped loft beds for our girls abouttwo weeks before she posted these plans! As soon as I saw them we went and got our lumber. So excited to have these done and the girls love them!

My mom was looking for a new outdoor table, and asked me to come up with something. I found the link for these plans (http://www.thedesignconfidential.com/2011/04/free-diy-furniture-plans-t…) to knock off Restoration Hardware's $4000 Provence Beam outdoor table. Overall I liked the plan, with the chunkier look of the 4x4's. But there were a lot of errors in the diagrams, and the finished height is 34" which is ridiculously tall for a table. So we took it apart and cut the legs back down to change the finished height to 30". We chose rough-cut cedar for it's look and outdoor properties, not wanting to use treated lumber for a dining table. We couldn't find 2x10's like the plan, so we substituted seven 2x6's just like Ana's plan, but left a 1/2" gap in between so water can drain and not pool on top and rot the wood. Also, since we were working with 4x4's for the legs, we chose heavy duty lag bolts instead of screws to join them together. I love the finished look they give. Overall it's a sturdy, yet lightweight table that my mom loves and has already used for entertaining!

I needed new bar stools for our new bar that we designed and built in our basement family/entertaining room. Regardless of where I was looking, these things are silly expensive. I also wanted a little more of a country/rustic look that would suit my husband and my likes. I used the Vintage Bar Stool plans but my husband isn't a small guy and we have friends that aren't classified under the small frame category either, I needed more structure. After thinking about it for a few days, I liked the rustic X look and used that from so many plans. I also am all about comfort and the padded upholstered seats was a must. Can't wait for my next project. BTW. The cabinets behind the bar also came from here I simply modified for what we needed. We get compliments on it all of the time. Love this website, thank you so much for making simple to read instructions for things I actually want to do. 

I used 1 x 10s to make the bookcase a little shallower, and left the back open. Thanks for the great plan.

Created the stand for the raised planter using 2X2 assembled using dowels. Painted the stand mixing black with a bit of white to simulate metal. The actually plastic window box fits within a wood open box with mitered corners fir clean log. Bottom of the stand provides a shelf using (9) 2X2s with a dado placed on either end to fit on the runners of the stand.

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.  

Garage shelving using costco 27 gallon bin.

Tanni

Modifications:

Rounded ends of feet with table saw. 

Used 60" round tabletop, cut from a plank tabletop made of 2x6s.

Also ripped 1" off the X-supports to reduce thickness.