Community Brag Posts

My brother and I built this table in about 4 hours over two days (finishing took longer) shortly after I purchased my first house. We needed a dining room table, and everything was super-expensive that we liked, so I luckily came across Ana's site and found this bad boy. I had never built anything in my life, but my brother had a little woodworking experience and, very importantly, some tools, so I ordered the legs from Osbourne Wood, got the rest from Home Depot and got building! We've gotten so many compliments on it. Thanks, Ana!

Here are two table pedestal bases I made for a friend.  These are made from standard 2x8s (I could have used 2x6s, but I wanted enough extra to cut off the rounded corners), 1x6s and 1x3s.

More pictures are available on our blog here: http://famousartisan.com/hand-made-table-pedestal-bases/

I was in Home Depot one day and found a large piece of MDF & straight 1x4 in the "scrap bin". Because my to-do list is longer than any christmas list, I knew I could find a use for it. I ended up buying a quality piece 1x4 for the legs. The remainder were scraps. My total cost of the wood for this project was approximately $20.

My living room space is narrow and awkward, so I subtracted 4 inches from every horizontal measurement. This plan was very easy to adapt for your space.

To round the edges, I traced with a circular piece of tupperware, cut with my jigsaw and sanded. To build, I used a nail gun and kreg jig on some parts. I also stained before putting it completely together.

I'm very happy with these plans and how the finished project fits right into my space. This project was easy to follow and easy to adapt. I would recommend it to anyone starting out

PS: I could use some help with my shelf styling. Recommendations welcome :)

My version is a 7' table. I made the distance between legs 60" with a 8" overhang on each side. The stain is Olympic Driftwood. I also added 1 x 2 pcs on the ends for a more finished look & to secure the 2 x10's. One last thing, I used a router to round out all the outer edges of the table top and the legs.

Highly recommend....

I used some T braces/plates on the bottom of the table to connect legs with 60" pcs. Otherwise there is nothing to keep the legs square with the table.

Love the look...thanks so much for the plan!

Other notes: I used treated lumber so it's VERY heavy.

We were looking to make a king size storage bed in the farmhouse style, but couldn't find anything that was exactly what we wanted, so we stole pieces from several plans and ended up with this! 

Princess loft bed

Made these for my guest bedroom!

I used the Reclaimed Wood Look Headboard plans to make a headboard out of found, discarded wood. The only new wood is the vertical 1x3s and 1x2s that form the sides of the headboard. The bed is also made of reclaimed wood, using a modified version of the Hailey Platform Bed plans.

The plans are modified to create a patchwork look using scraps of wood in different sizes and thicknesses. The wood scraps were cut so that when put together they make up the total length and width of the horizontal planks in the plans. I glued and nailed all the patchwork pieces to a piece of MDF board I found, and added a vertical 1x2 for added support down the middle of the back.

The top 2x4 is made up of two pieces glued end-to-end with dowels in between, because I didn't find any long 2x4s I could reclaim. I didn't put the top and bottom trim on the back side, because it was already quite heavy and sturdy.

Bathroom mirror made from 1 by 6s and a 24 inch by 20 inch plain mirror.

We really needed a place to organize my daughters books in the living room. These were fairly easy to make - my husband built them and I did the finishing.

I HIGHLY recommend the water-based poly. It is almost twice as expensive but it isn't near as smelly and it has a much lower VOC level.

When my daughter asked for a dollhouse for her 3rd party I decided to just make her one and this Dream House plan was just perfect. I got a little carried away and added an extra floor. I also made some furniture out of scrap wood and I plan to add an elevator. This was a very fun project and my little one is already making requests for more furniture, pillows, blankets and a TV and video game room for the house.

I only spend about $50 total but that was using the cheapest wood I could find. The floors were made using plywood that was pre-cut at 24" x 24" . This project was a big hit with my little one. Thanks for the plans Ana.

My father-in-law and I knocked this project out in about 5 hours including the trip to the lumber yard. You've got a great basic design here! A few modifications we made:

1. I thought the depth of the shelves in the original plan was a little too shallow so I used 3 2"X6"s instead of the 4 2"x4"s. That made the shelves 1 1/2" deeper. Although 2"x6"s are obviously more expensive, the overall cost for the project didn't change much because we only had to use 3 boards per shelf instead of 4. This also reduced the amount of screwing and made it easier to position the shelf boards without taking measurements since we only had one middle board to deal with (instead of 2 with the 2"x4"s). We just eyeballed the spacing of the middle shelf board as we worked.

2. Since our garage has a 10' ceiling, I decided to go 8' tall with the unit. This allowed us to add a 5th shelf.

3. Some oversized tubs can be 18-20" high or more so I varied the height of each shelf -- 24" at the bottom, then 20", 18" and 16". There's approx. 24" available between the top shelf and the ceiling.

4. Due to the position of the garage door track, I had to notch out a couple feet at one side. The end support piece is only 6' high.

5. Since many storage tubs can be 16-18" wide, I made sure that there was at least 54" between 3 of the vertical support structures. This will allow us to store 3 tubs side-by-side and maximize storage. You might notice that I have two vertical supports that appear to be very close together near the back wall. I did this so I would have something on that side to attach more shelving to on that short wall where the garage door opener is. 

The only cuts we had to make for this entire project were for the 18 1/2" 'braces' or support pieces on the vertical ladder structures. The shelves are either 14' or 12' (top shelf only) and the vertical 2"x4"s are either 8' or 6'. Most lumber yards will carry these lengths in either 2"x4"s or 2"x6"s. 

We didn't use any wood glue, and I admit this may come back to haunt me. However, to get a good fit and eliminate gaps, I used clamps I already owned to squeeze the boards together before adding the screws. Everything feels very solid and sturdy to me. 

Because of the extra height compared with the original plan, I was worried about it possibly tipping over (we have a 10-year-old who likes to climb ) so I made sure that 3 of the supports are lined up with the wall studs. After leveling the entire unit, I plan to anchor it to the wall using 3 1/2" screws.

So for about $187 in lumber and maybe $20 in construction screws, I've got 76 feet of STURDY shelving that should accommodate hundreds of pounds! Not a bad investment at all...

I loved the design of this planter and have been making wood quilts. This was a natural combination, incorporating a red, white & blue Americana quilt design into the front panel. The only modification I made was that the boards were 14" long instead of 15 3/4".  This way the 1x4 boards could create square sides. I also made the 2x2 corner posts 20" high.

This was the first project in many years and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I am so happy with the results. It was a great starter project to get me excited to do more projects.
This book shelf can be done even cheaper had I left the base trim off. It would have looked fine without it as well.

Thanks for the great plans!

I was inspired by the Cutest Mudroom project. Our previous mudroom didn't work for us at all. There was wasted desk space and not enough storage. It was also a mis-match of cupboards, and without a window in the room, the wood and wall color made the room feel small and dark. We ripped out the previous shelving and desk and repainted a light blue color. I drew up plans based of the plans here to maximize our storage space. My husband and brother-in-law built the custom bookshelf towers on each side. We went all the way to the ceiling to maximize storage. I also decided to add cupboards across the top. We painted the entire thing white to keep things bright. We made the bench into a lift-top for storage of winter hats and mittens inside the bench. I upholstered the bench with fabric from Jo-Anns and found bright orange pillows at Linens and Things to give the room a pop of color. We put doors on the top and bottom cabinets and left the rest of the cubbies open and used fabric storage bins to keep everything organized. I love the touch of wainscoting in the middle and the hooks in the middle are for the kid's coats and backpacks. In the center of the whole unit is our family messaging and mail system.

Great plans and we love the finished product!