Community Brag Posts

My wife wanted matching bookcases for our library rather than the hodgepodge collection we had assembled over the years. We looked at several different options but the trick was getting them to our house in a cost and time effective manner. We came across the Willy Bookcase plans here and, after pricing the wood vs. pre-built options, decided to strike out to build our own bookcases.

The library took 5 McMansions, 1 Highrise, and 1 3-Bed/2Bath bookcase. We liked Ikea's Billy corner bookcase set, so we purchased a corner bookcase bracket from them to create the effect and stabilize the Highrise between two McMansions.

We decided to do the entire length of the bookcase sides with shelf holes to allow for maximum flexibility in spacing of the shelves. We fixed the middle shelves across all units to match the top of the short 3-Bed/2Bath.

The simple design made the project simple overall - a single bookcase is an easy weekend project. Since we decided to use stain with wipe on poly, finishing took the vast majority of the time (four hours to cut, sand, and build, 44 hours to finish...) Purchasing a good shelf pin jig and making consistent measurements is a necessity for mass producing shelves with consistent spacing on the shelves.

Started this about a year ago, working for an hour or two at a time, all nights. Then the little one started talking about having sleep overs once the bunk bed was done. Luckily i had a week of vacation this summer and spent most of that time completed the bed. I still have to complete the storage boxes for under the bed, and just need to find some nice hinges to mount the upper window shutters. We let the girls pick out some stickers and decals, hence all the awkwardly placed Elsa & Anna Stickers. Girls love it. 

Easy Build Workbench by Dana

This is the 3 box storage daybed, as you can see I added an armrest on one end as it sits in a corner.

Tips for building this project: Buy a decent circular saw, I used a cheap one and really regretted it. Square your timber, I ended up squaring my timber using a sander, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. Check you measurements, the bottom of one of my boxes was a little short because I didn't double check the measurements and I ended up having to fix it with an extra piece of timber. 2 or 3 saw horses are a real help and lots of clamps.

I used the cutout outline from the link below but had to convert it all to metric since I live in Sweden, also a standard single mattress here isn't as wide but longer then the one used in the linked project. I didn't take this into account and ended up having to buy an extra piece of plywood.
http://ana-white.com/2009/12/plan-stratton-daybed-as-request-by-you.html

I got the single mattress and the pillows from IKEA.

This was a lot of fun and I look forward to spending many hours relaxing on my new daybed.

This project is based on the outdoor storage bench at morelikehome.net, which was based on an Ikea outdoor storage unit.  I used 100 year old lath that I recycled from a remodeling project.  The lid of the bench lifts off, it will eventually hide the timer for a drip irrigation.

This was my first time building a pice of furniture. My daughter needed a bed and I had a bunch of ash lumber in my barn. Turned out great. Thanks for the great design.

This is a solid maple desk with two drawers finished with shellac and paste wax. I altered the plan by giving the desk and overhang, as well as changing the way the legs were built.

I made this armless outdoor sofa using scrap teak and Ikea cushions.

Modified the plans somewhat to accommodate the limitations of my daughter's tiny studio apartment. Took 4 inches off the width, centered a cart type base, and put it on wheels so she can use it as a desk or roll it into the kitchen space when she has company.

Also used 1x4 inches boards for the white boxes and used one board the length of the back and put hinges on all 3 top sections.  Drilled a hole with a gromet in the center section so she can feed a powercord through to her laptop.

On the verge of retirement and putting to use skills acquired during high school. Really enjoying it. I love your work Ana!!

This was our first build alone. I've helped my dad build various things through out the years but was this first time me and my husband built something together.
The bed plans were great and it went together easily. We couldn't find untreated 4x4 posts so we went with two 2x4 sandwiched together, and then we bolted the headboard posts to the footboards. The side rails are plywood trimmed with 1x3's and topped with a 1x2. We also used L brackets to attach the side rails to the head and footboards and addition to bolts on the headboard and 2" screws on the footboard. We needed to assemble the bed in a way we could easily disassemble because we are moving soon.

Two year old is being evicted from the baby room by the baby and we decided to build him a big boy bed using the Kentwood Twin Plan. Used only pine and the mattress is supported by slats. The bed looks great and is incredibly solid. Thank you for the plan, Ana.

Heres my final product of Anna's X Rustic Table. 

Check out my page for future projects. 

https://www.facebook.com/J0EPEREZ/

Queen size head board.

Made of old fence rail (the dark pieces) and cheap 2x4s and 1x12s .

This is not as stable as I hoped, but for an afternoon's project that got all those tools off the workshop floor, it's not bad. I will add a diagonal brace at the back later. Much later.

NOTE: My engineer friend notes that 2 braces at the rear, below the bottom shelf and below the top shelf, would minimize side-to-side wobbling, and 2 braces front to back, both under the bottom shelf, would minimize the front-to-back wobbling, They could be a scrap of plywood, a 1x6 or wider scrap. Just nail them in two or more places on each of the ladders and they make the structure more rigid. Screw them in if you want a shelf unit you can disassemble.

TIPS:
If you are using pockethole screws, start the screws in all the holes before you put the crosspieces on. Stop when you see the tip of the screw come through the first piece.

Clamp scrap 2x4 to the uprights to hold the crosspieces in place as you drill.

To get the shelves in place, lean the ladders against each other and attach the bottom and top boards on one side. Than pull the other ladder out as far as it needs to go and screw that side of the shelves in place.

Don't try this without clamps.

It could have been cheaper if I had used all reclaimed fence 2x4s, and if my errand runner had bought cheaper 1x12s. He bought top-grade when #2 would have worked for half the price,

This was my first project, my wife and I started with the table, which took us a little while but ended up being pretty simple. Unfortunately we do not own a saw but discovered that Lowes will happily cut the wood for you. After we completed the table we started working on the bench, which is where we ran into a slight problem. Some how our frame boards ended up being two short, so as a fix we did not put any spaces in between the seat slats and used four 7 inch pieces we had left over to complete the full frame. We also altered the plan to make our bench a little longer than the original its 57 inches instead of 52.

This leaning shelf was the perfect solution to my tiny (and tiled) bathroom. I didn't want to have to put screw holes in the walls and have been searching for a project. 

I made the shelves out of reclamed barn wood which made the project a little bit harder to get perfect square and level but it was worth it. The legs are 2x4s. The hardest part was definitely making sure the shelves were level on the legs. Lots of clamps helped!