Community Brag Posts

This is a basic key organizer but the big hook it for a dog leash. The sides are routered and the middle is chalkboard paint for writing. A friend just suggested putting a route to hold the chalk. I will add that later. 

I made easy picnic table for my son over the weekend. The plans are very straight forward and easy to follow. This table fits two toddlers on each side but it was smaller than I thought it was going to be. I think my son will grow out of this by the time he is 4.

We estimate that the cost of this project was right around $50, but we had a lot of tools and materials already.  This was a fun project and a great piece for the cost. I would suggest staining as much as you can before assembling those legs!  Staining and applying poly was a pain in the butt!  We used a dark mahogany Minwax stain and 2 coats of Minwax poly. It took us a while to do it because we have a 11 month old that keeps us on our toes. 

I have been dreaming of building a bed since I found Ana's website over a year ago. I bought the wood in January and slowly worked on it over 3 months, mainly because I was uncertain that I could actually do it myself! After spending about 3 hours in a row to finish it, it is finally complete! I am so happy with how it turned out and friends of mine cannot believe that I did this BY MYSELF! View more on my project at http://thevpfamily.blogspot.com/2011/05/lumber.html or http://thevpfamily.blogspot.com/2011/06/did-you-guess-bed.html

This was my first project. I learned a ton through the process. Ana's directions were very easy and straightforward.

I purchased the wood (Doug-Fir) from Lowe's and cut it at home with a circular saw. I filled the gaps in the table/benches with a crystal clear silicon caulk - I have mixed feelings about this, since it dried kind of shiny. The coats of polyurethane helped to dull the finish a bit. For the stain, I used Rustoleum Kona, and Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane Semi-Gloss for the finish.

Like others have suggested, I built the benches first, then the table. This was a great tip, since you can learn the design on a smaller model before tackling the beast of table (it's heavy). I also added some horizontal supports on the ends of the tables/benches, not in the original plans. I just duplicated the end aprons of the table and countersinked/screwed them in at an angle.

Cutting and building the project didn't take nearly as much time as the sanding, staining and finishing. The back-end part of the project was very detail-oriented and stretched out over several days.

Overall, very pleased with the finished project. It was very empowering to know that I can build something like this. Thanks Ana and all of the others with their tips and suggestions! My wife and I know have a long list of other projects to tackle :)

I have added a  detergent drawer to orignal project

Night Stand

My 5 year old grandson, Trevor, came for an overnight and we worked on building Ana's Big Kids' Picnic Table. Grandpa cut the boards the day before and Trev easily helped me drill all the holes and place the screws, then painted the table his favorite color. He was so excited to have built something so useful that he could take to his home and share with his new step-siblings.

This project took about 3 hours with painting, but was really easy to follow. Trev enjoyed learning how to use the drill safely, wearing his own work gloves and safety glasses and learning the art of painting! It was the PERFECT project for the two of us to keep us busy.

Thanks for another great plan Ana!

We made the woven back bench this weekend for our front porch. We modified the back to not have the bend in it, and we added supports to the slats underneath as we felt it needed that. It was a great plan and we love the end result of the bench! One tip, if you make, you'll actually need TWO 1x4x8's even though the supply list says you'll only need one. We used the kreg jig a lot on this project. Highly recommend this plan! Bonus, it only cost about $25 for the wood for this project!

We picked up a couple 14.9" square plastic garden planters from Home Depot and ended up creating some wood planter boxes from pallet wood for them to sit in. 

I didn't add up the cost of these boxes, because we had most of the wood and only needed a few pieces, but I'd say they were definitely less than $10 a box. 

We altered our dimensions to fit our HD planters so they would slip in for a snug fit and made the legs flush with the top of our sides. We build a simple frame for the top, which allowed the lip of our HD planters to sit firmly on top. 

Something I didn't do, but wish I did: fill in the cracks with wood filler.  There were a couple places that really could have used it, but I was in a rush and decided to skip it.  They turned out great, but could have been even better had I taken an extra 30 minutes.  On an off weekend, we are going to use wood filler in the seams, sand them down, and do a second coat of white paint. 

Can't wait to plant these with some mums for Fall! :)

This was my first big furniture piece that I've built. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I used 5/4 poplar for the tops instead of the 2x10s for the table and 2x6s for the benches that the plans called for. Finished the tops with Minwax Early American stain then 3 coats of satin oil based polly. Finished the bottoms with water based Minwax tinted River Stone then coated with water based polly. 

When I first saw Ana's $10 ledges - I knew I wanted to do them, with a twist. I have this random nook in my house - and I knew they would be perfect. I wanted a feature wall there. And a feature it is.

I posted more pictures and how I framed everything out on my blog.

Thank you Ana for your continued inspiration! I wouldn't have been able to do any of it without you!

I changed up the plan by making 3 pedestals, adding drawer slides and creating flute work on the pedestals.

I built this cabinet as a Christmas present for my mom, but life got in the way and I just got around to finishing it this week. It didn't helo that I was just learning my way around a Kreg Jig when I started this project. I used 1x12 dimensional lumber from lowes, and went with the cheap stuff. Looking back I would have just splurged on purebond 3/4" plywood because the boarda would have been smoother but at the time I didn't have my rip cut saw attachment. Instead of the euro secretary hinges I used short pieces of chain attached with eye screws for the drop down door, and I like the look and ease of the rustic black hinges versus the euro style for the doors. 

This was my first ever attempt at making something real out of wood. I've only made some really basic floating coat hangars and docorative rustic pieces to set around peoples houses and a spice rack. I really wanted more of a challenge and this was a perfect place to start. I had to purchase the Kreg Jig and a couple of large clamps but once I got the hang of drilling and filling pocket holes it was smooth sailing. 

The Mrs then finished it off with some lovely rustic baskets and a serving tray with all the latest Southern Living magazines.

We adapted these plans to build our tree house, I hope it's not too much of a stretch for brag posts! Every kid seems to have two wishes: a fort or tree house and a secret passage way. Or is it just my kids? Turns out we live in the desert and trees are hard to come by. Our solution? Build a tree house in the house. Why not!? Our magic tree house is well used and well loved. This is one of those projects that simmered and in my mind trying to think of the perfect way to build the thing. The stuff our parents built and played in was a hodge podge of left over wood and their own creations, crooked construction and messy paint. So, I set the perfect aside and dove in. The only things our tree house really needs to be is safe and fun. Most families try to find indoor activities for the winter, but in the desert it is so blazing hot we need indoor retreats in the summer. This tree house is the solution a gagillion times over! Thank you Ana!