Community Brag Posts

This is our first project. My wife was searching the Internet for a small desk to buy/build after we decided it was time for the little one to have a dedicated art station. She was previously using a small chair in her room. Followed the plans with the exception of making it 18" tall instead of the 16" the plan calls for.
Overall it was very easy. But definitely attach the hinges before finally assembly of the bottom frame. That took about an hour to put 4 screws in with fingers, screw bit, and a wrench.
I built and my wife painted.

Thank you Ana White and everyone for their follow up comments.

Nick

This was a fun little project. Not only did we get to use Ana's new picture frame plan, but we also tried out the whitewashed stained finish.

We have considered buying a cedar-lined chest to store blankets, towels, etc. for many years.  However, we couldn’t find one that came close to matching the Knotty Pine bedroom set that we had in our master suite. 

Hence, our design criteria was quite simple; match the bedroom set and have a chest sturdy enough to support our Beagles as they peer at the squirrels outside the window.

We used plans / ideas from several different chest designs which were readily available on the internet.  Most of those plans were using hard woods such as oak.  Those plans called for a hard wood framing with ¼” oak plywood for the panels.  Since we needed to use Knotty Pine to match the bedroom set, we used 1” Knotty Pine for framing and Knotty Pine ¾ ply w/ Kreg Screws and copious glue to strengthen the construct.  We finished it off with locally available 3/8” cedar T.G. planks.  It is very heavy and very strong!  This project was done entirely w/ Kreg Screws and no router rabbeting for the panels.

We learned the following while doing this project:

·      When using soft woods, always put the power sander on the wood before you start the sander.  Otherwise, you can get scratching / sander burns that don’t present themselves until staining begins.

·      While very strong, ¾” plywood is very heavy!

·      When using plywood, it is recommended that you stain both the visible and non-visible sides of each piece where glue is not to be applied.  Otherwise the chance for delaminating increases dramatically.

60 hours work and $350 to build.   

Wanting nice seating for the patio, I could not afford the sofa I wanted from Restoration Hardware. Since I have more interest and willingness than money, I looked on-line for a DIY design. Fortunately, I found Ana's site and her plan. I lengthened her sofa design to fit the RH cushions and went to work. Thank you Ana for easy to follow plans, especially thanks for the cutting & shopping lists! I had your plan by my side during the entire process. Now, I'm ready to build a footrest bench to place in front of it. (I did order the RH cushions... on sale, but still expensive!) I am 71 years old.... you never have to stop becoming, it is a choice!

My new fav stain. Minwax Expresso Polyshades in satin.
Followed the 2x4 desk design but had so many scrap pieces of 2x4 (from other projects) , ended up changing the direction of the table top.
Finished with Minwax gray and even though it looks blue , I like it...
Going to make some benches to match , weather pèrmitting :)
Didn't take long to build , just a couple of hours - staining was the killer. Needed 3 coats to get that rich dark even look.

I took the plans for ana white's benchwright coffee table and created this end table.  This is an exact replica of the Pottery Barn benchwright end table.  The wood was distressed by hand and finished with dye, dark walnut gel stain and three coats of satin poly. 

- Brad 

I used your plans for the table but changed the table dimensions to fit my space. My table is square and measures 58"x58". I also changed the chairs to have a straight back and then the top is is cut at a 6 degree angle. I love them so much!!!

Each year I try something new in the garden. This year, I was looking for a different way to cage tomatoes. I have metal wire cages that are pretty flimsy and always seem to tip over after the tomato plant reaches 3 feet tall. This is my try at a wooden trellis in the shape of an obelisk. Mostly, it is for decoration but having the obelisk shape does allow us to stack the cages together for winter.

I came across the Camp Loft Bed on Pinterest a couple of months ago. My daughter was still sleeping in a crib, but I knew that she would need a big girl bed by summer. Since her room is small (inside walls measure just under 9'x9'), i thought a loft bed would be ideal.
I have NEVER done a DIY. I don't even own tools. But my step-dad is very handy, so I asked him to be my consultant and helper to tell me if I was doing things the wrong way! Fortunately, he was able to lend me a miter saw, some aluminum saw horses, and the odd screw (when I seemed to run out).

From start to finish, this was a 7 day project. I used construction grade spruce for my lumber, which cost me just shy of $100. I also went back the next day and bought a couple more 2x4s to make two shelves under the platform, which was another $30. I then pre-drilled with my new favourite tool the Kreg, and proceeded to sand, prime, and paint all of the pieces before assembly. With assembly being in my daughter's room, and having nice fresh paint on her walls and carpeted floors, I did NOT want to be finishing the bed in there, but there was no way I could move it into her room completely assembled. I did all the finishing BEFORE assembly.

Sand, prime, sand, paint, paint, paint. That process took three days, obviously not the entire day. Painting goes relatively quickly, but with boards, you paint one side, let dry, roate 90 degrees, paint, let dry, etc. I also had to work a couple of days in between as well. I went with Benjamin Moore Aura paint and that required three coats. I used to some leftover pink and yellow for the platform and shelves, but if I consider the cost, the paint set me back another $100.
I also had to order in the proper screws and I bought some of the white Kreg plugs to cover the exposed holes. Hurray for amazon! Even selecting the free shipping, the screws arrived within 4 days.

Assembly day:
My step-dad and I worked from 10:30-1:30. By this time, the bed and platform were completely assembled and in place. My daughter, however, needed to nap, so I put her down in her brother's bed, and we took a couple of hours off for lunch!
We then worked from 5-8:45 pm building the stairs, cleaning the room, measuring and screwing down the slats for the mattress, then making the bed and getting it ready for sleep. It seemed like a much longer day because in between, I had to run out and pick up a twin mattress, some extra screws, help my son play his new Skylander game, and deal with three kids trying to "help" with construction!

All in all, I am very pleased with the bed, with the plans, and with my first DIY. My kids are all in love with the bed and we spent a lot of time shooing them out of the room while we tried to assemble it.

Tips:
If I were to make this bed again (if my sons have their way, their beds are next!) I would not paint the wood, opting instead for a stained more natural look. I love the colours for my daughter, but what a pain all that painting and rotating the boards was. Paint was also a more expensive option for finishing.
That being said, if I do paint, I will NOT paint the ends of the boards that will be joined via pocket holes. In some cases, the boards were just a smidge too long to fit and we had to take the back to the saw and shave off the layer of paint in order for the board to fit.
I also opted to buy firm twin mattress as opposed to the plush ones. The plush mattresses add a lot of height and I was worried about my daughter having a bit too much fun up there and possibly tipping out from a high mattress. Stick to thinner mattresses on loft or bunk beds!

No more free range stuffed animals! We needed stuffed animal storage because they are bulky and keeping them in bins meant the one the kids wanted was always on the bottom. But none of us (my husband and I included) could manage to cull them.

I was inspired by the way Walmart contains their giant beach balls -- bungee cord verticals on a fixed frame. I was going to make it free standing til I saw the behind closet door storage plans. Perfect!

I made the frame and shelf from 1x4s because that was the depth of my doorframe -- 3.5 inches. It took (3) 1x4s @6' - One for each side and one cut for the top, bottom, and shelf/support.

I couldn't find bungee cord by the roll (should have checked Amazon first!), so I bought colored 1 inch wide elastic from JoAnns. Each 3 yard pkg cost $4. I needed 3, so that drove the price up. I cut them in half, and the 4.5' lengths have plenty of give on the 6' frame, so you could probably use standard 4' bungee cords from the box store.

I used my router to make the holes for the elastic. I used wooden toy wheels to keep the knotted elastic from being pulled through the holes. You could just drill holes, but my router was new and I wanted to practice with it.

The kids love putting their stuffed toys away now, and they can see all of them so they can pick the ones they want to play with rather than dumping them all out of a bin. I love it.

I've already decided to do the other door with the bottom half of the frame in elastic like this for costume storage, and the top half shelves. Thank you, Ana!

I used the basic plan by Ana, but modified it for the size I needed. Its 2x12 pine with english chestnut stain and tung oil (formby's) finish. I did use 4x4 posts for the legs instead of 2- 2x4's. notching out was the most difficult part. (Should have watched the video by Ana 1st. Lol). I did want some over hang so I cut the leg notches 1/4 shallow so there would be detail. I regret not using the kreg jig on the top, as I have much bigger gaps than I like! But I started buying better tools during this build when I realized mine were not getting the job done. And it definitely makes a huge difference!!! I still have to finish the benches. Just trying to find the time. I can't wait to start the next project!

Hi there!  This is Dani from The Project Lady!

I wanted to share my building plan and tutorial for these dining room benches!  Total cost is about $20 for lumber per bench!

Head over to my website for step-by-step instructions and pictures!

Happy Building!

I made this with pine boards. I used an old twin mattress for the cushions and covered with some material I had on hand. I love it.