Community Brag Posts

I am not sure what happened first time I posted this as it was posted as Guest (sorry). Anyway....

When my daughter was born I promised that I would make her a dollhouse. A few weeks ago I found these plans, and absolutely loved the visual layout of the rooms. I stuck with this layout and tweeked the dimensions according to what worked best for the space it would proudly sit in. It is 46 inches high and 31 inches wide at the walls, and is made from 12 inch wide MDF which I primed with a latex primer and then finished off with a semi-gloss white on the majority of the walls. I also mixed the colors for the roof and also the 3 accent walls to give it an extra wee shot of color. 
I was very, very happy with the end result, and having caught what I now know as the "dollhouse bug" I thought "what about if I added a chimney ?". So I added it. I then though what about adding a roof ridge and gable to the roof. The house looked even better. Progressing onto full-blown "dollhouse-flu",  I then decided to make a chair for what would later be the living room. That was it, fully addicted now I couldn't stop and found myself obsessively planning, designing, messing up, re-designing, cutting, building and painting until I reached the point where last night I attended my first "DA" meeting. 
I found Dollhouse Annonymous very helpful and although not cured, I realise that it is perfectly acceptable for a 44 year old Scotsman to build a dollhouse for the daughter (naughty 2 1/2 year old daughter) that is the love of his life. If she is happy when she unwraps it on Christmas morning, then all of the work shall be worth it. 
This site is top of my bookmark list and I love it. !

I love this bin so much I built a large one and a small one. The small one is for the bathroom. The large on is for the kitchen. This is actually a rather easy build. I used mdf. I grooved the front panel on the large bin to add character. This was built from Ana White's Wood Tilt Out Trash or Recycling Cabinet Plan.

Made for my grand daughter.  It was too cold in the shop to use carpenters glue, so I used medium thick, gap filling CA (cyanoacrylate)glue, and brad nails instead of screws.

This is my very first project. Never used a saw before until a few weeks ago. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

I shortened the plan and modified the second shelf. I was planning on an "X" brace for both sides but got carried away and realized it wasn't going to work on the one side. I like the end result and don't mind that its missing.

I would have finished it sooner but was a bit intimidated by the angled cuts. My miter saw only cuts 45.

Second Ana White build!

I built this table for my wife for Christmas.

Solid garden lounger and side table to match our garden chairs and table.

This was my first handmade diy furniture project ever.  It turned out much better than I anticipated.  The lumber store that I used did not offer knotty pine in 2x6 dimensions so I improvised with 2x4s.  This project was a little time consuming due to the fact that I am a complete novice and I had to gather all of the necessary tools and learn how to use them.  Everything considered I am very happy with the result and I really enjoyed this project.  

I made this computer desk for my college age daughter out of a 150 year old door that we got from her grandfather's homestead.  I think it turned out fantastic.  I need to add a glass top to complete.

Here is the Easy Kitchen Island all finished. I learned to use my k-reg with this project. To attach the top I instead used corner blocks in each corner of the bottom unit and screwed the top in place. I found this made the piece more sturdy. for the 1x2's I used furring strips which are not very nice however I painstakingly picked through a large pile till I found ones that were straight and without knots. I then had to sand them like crazy. Saved a ton of money but worked very hard. This project actually took 19 - 1x2's rather than what the plan called for. When complete this piece was very heavy...I love it and have found the perfect home for it.
Thanks again Ana!
Janet

This piece came out beautifully! Took all of 6 hours to complete it. I used pine on this project.

After my daughter started escaping from her crib I knew it was time to build her a new bed. I didn't think she was quite ready for a full size yet so I thought a toddler size would work for at least the next year.

I started with the Traditional Toddler Bed plans and scaled down the size of the Rustic Headboard and incorporated that. The biggest thing I learned in the process was to measure your mattress first! I don't think I realized the size variation in crib mattresses and ended up having to recut my slats and rails to accommodate my larger mattress. Also, our mattress is 5 inches deep, which means that the safety rails only extend about an inch over the top of the bed. This seems to be fine for my daughter and she hasn't fallen out - yet - but I think if you have a very restless sleeper or just want to play it safe, you might want to add an extra inch or two to the height of the guardrails.

I also used a 2 x 6 for the foot rail as this allowed the legs to be inset further and gave it a more solid look on the bottom.

Weekend project worked out well. Also made the tall bar stools also found on Ana White! Topped with a granite countertop. In the middle, I went with a double trash can sliding cabinet. 

So we wanted to build a simple twin size bed for our 5 year old son. That quickly expanded into my wife wanting me to build this PB replica (which happens to be her favorite kids bed). My response was "honey, you really don't understand my lack of ability." She insisted and after a couple of weeks the bed is done! Using Ana's plans made this not only doable but much easier than I thought (this was my first build).

We changed the design very slightly because the original was a few inches too tall (we have a ceiling fan that would have hit the top). We simply shortened the top half of the bed by 3 inches. At the suggestion of a friend (who's mitre and table saws we used for the cuts) we used dado instead of pocket holes for the stairs. We also used a lot of countersinking instead of pocket holes (for example to attach the vertical slats on the side walls).

We bought the cheapest wood we could get at Home Depot. All the wood and stain and materials cost about $250-300 (I still haven't checked the receipts exactly). However, I was told (quite sternly) that I severely overpaid for the wood by not going to a lumber yard. We used a Minwax oil-based stain (mission oak). We only did one coat.

Now that we're done with this we can't wait to get started on the next project (right after I get my dissertation going).