Community Brag Posts

I bought a desk and chair for my daughter on Craigslist awhile back, but it did not include a hutch. I decided to add one and recently completed it...in addition to painting the desk a fresh white and then repairing the chair, painting it, and recovering the seat!

The hutch build was pretty straight forward and I used a Kreg Jig to assemble most of it. I built it to sit on the desk (not attached) but I included a cleat at the top to screw a couple of 3" screws into the wall studs to keep it in its place. It's nice and sturdy. I plan to add some puck lights under the bottom shelf soon.

The Lego house isn't quite up to Momplex standards :)

I'd been looking for plans to build a bed, since I wans't finding anything even remotely affordable that I liked in the stores, especially anything solid wood.  I live in a renovated 4-square farmhouse, so the farmhouse bed plans seemed like an obvious choice.  I absolutely loved the style, but I wanted to modify it a little.  The original plans closely replicate the PB bed it is a knock off of, but I wanted a taller footboard that would come up above the mattress.  I cut the footboard panels to 23" instead of 15", and the footboard posts to 35" instead of 21".  

I scored on a gallon of oops paint at HD for $9, so total for this project was about $150 including the finish materials, $130 for just the lumber and hardware.  This included adding an extra 1x8 to accomodate for the taller panels on the footboard.  I did get 6' 1x4s instead of 8', which brought the cost and the material waste down some.  Overall, my scrap pile was pretty tiny when I was done.  It took me about a week to complete this project, but I worked slowly and a lot of time was spent watching paint/stain/urethane dry.  It probably could have been done in a weekend if I was diligent.  

Should I ever need to move this bed, I purchased knock down bed rail fasteners here and cut my 2x10 rails to 80", then mounted them to the posts with the fasteners 60" apart.  I used 2x2s cut to 80" for "cleats" on the inside of each rail, glued and screwed about every 4" with 2.5" screws.  Then I cut five 2x4 slats to 60" to sit on the cleats.  

I measured from the floor to the top of the cleats and cut three "feet" from the 2x4 scrap to screw to the center of three of the slats to add center support (not shown in CAD drawing), as many mattress warranties require this.  This sounds confusing, but I just used leftover chunks of 2x4 from the slats to make a "T" with three of the slats - top, middle, and bottom - so these slats rest on both the cleats and the floor.  I have a split queen foundation, so I was worried about sagging.  So far so good, feels super sturdy!  The knock down fasteners are very secure, and there isn't a single wobble or squeak to be heard.  

To get a good finish, I used a good wood filler.  I think it was a JB brand wood repair product that was like a two part epoxy.  I didn't just fill the screw holes, I filled any gaps and uneven places where joints didn't meet 100% exactly, like where the 4x4s meet the 2x4s.  I didn't skimp on the sanding, either, even though I hate doing it, and even sanded lightly with 220 between coats of paint.  The stain over the paint was totally experimental, but I loved the way it came out.  

I'm super happy with the end result, but the taller footboard puts the bottom of my box spring around 13.5" off the floor - which gives me room to store stuff under there, but also makes for a very tall bed.  Obviously you can adjust how high you want to hang the rails, I just wanted the bottom of the rails to line up with the bottom of the footboard panel, so it ended up tall.

Everyone who has seen this bed, or at least a picture of it, is absolutely in love with it.  It's a showstopper in my bedroom, for sure.  

Used the Farmhouse King Bed plans to make this and made a few adjustments to make it fit my matress.

Stuck to the plan as described, but I used my Kreg jig to use pocket holes where I could. I used 1x4s for the shelves and joined them together with pocket holes. This made it much stronger. Without joining these boards, the shelves are kind of flimsy, not sure how much weight they could support without some type of support system. I added an extra 2x4 to the top, this made it overhang about an inch on the front and back. I used 20" drawer glides. Also, I notched out the side supports for the 1x4 shelves 3/4" so the shelves sit flush with the side supports.

I used scrap wood and rope for this project. Its actually more of a serving tray/storage for remotes and etc. But I guess it could have multiple purposes. We're possibly going to use it as part of our centerpiece in our rustic-themed wedding next spring.

Twisted Rope http://www.lowes.com/pd_349209-258-071514065106_0__?productId=3587874&Ntt=twisted+rope&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dtwisted%2Brope&facetInfo=

Great plans! Thank you!!!

This bed was made from fence scraps and leftovers and one pallet. The only pieces I bought were the 2x6's! I love how it turned out!

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. 

Twin beds, nightstands, play table and chairs all inspired by Ana White plans. I did a lot of improvising as I went along.

This was a Christmas gift for my granddaughter's and my second project. 

My sister made the curtain, the personalized flower pillows and the bench cushion.

My daughter painted the flower art.

To build my Rustic X coffee table I went about it as cheap as I could. I found all of my wood either through crap piles at lumber yards or from free wood piles on craigslist. The interesting part was trying to find the pieces for the top which I had to improvise with the two 2x3 pieces in the middle of the four 2x6's also instead of using the two 1x42x12 pieces for the bottom shelf I could not find what was asked for so I used a few 1x4's which worked out great. The only other change I made to the plans was to change how the X's attached to the main frame. The original plans wanted the X's to butt up against the sides while I cut them to be flush with the top and bottom of the frame.
The only things that I purchased were the bracers, steel wool and vinegar and tea for the stain, and the screws. The only tools I own are a measuring tape and a pencil, luckily I have a friend with a full woodshop who helped me out. I followed the instructions on http://thefriendlyhome.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-oxidize-wood.html to make the stain. I left a wad of steel wool in white vinegar (about 2/3 of a pasta sauce jar full) for about 5 weeks. After all the cuts had been made and the table put together I sanded it by hand and then stained it. After the stain had dried I waxed the surface with Minwax paste finishing wax. I would love to enjoy my table but for lack of room in my 160 foot dorm room I've had to leave it in a friends apartment for now.

Built from Garden Bench plans. Pretty much exactly as written. I modified the arms a bit. 

The seat is a little deep, but it's really great to sit out and watch the ducks by the pond. It's really heavy, so I needed help from the hubs to move it down there. On the other hand I don't worry about it floating away during occasional high water through the flood way. 

It's used almost every day!

The plans provided for the table and bench were excellent. I also had help from people in the local Lowes lumber department who talked me in to using cedar. They also recommended using lag screws where possible so (for the table) I ended up using lag screws in some places where the pocket screws were recommended. 

Thank you for the idea for the rustic x end table. My wife is extremely happy with her new end table. Happy wife = happy life!!! I constructed the end table of 2x4 douglas fir rough sawn material I salvaged from a project where we removed a trellis from the house. My son helped me remove all of the nails and we let the wood dry out from the rain. I cut the 2x4 to the lengths described in the directions (I had to modify the x braces in length), sanded the wood and applied natural finish stain. We also added 3 coats of polyurethane to the table top to give it a nice finish and hopefully help with wear and tear over the years.

Built using the Wood Mail Holder w/ Key Hooks plan. Primed and painted the slot fronts with chalkboard paint before attaching. Stained the front lath pieces (frames around the chalkboard) before attaching. Stained with Minwax Dark Walnut. Hooks from Lowe's.