Community Brag Posts

I wanted to build a structure for the kids to play in and on. I used the playhouse deck design and made it 8 feet by 8 feet. The "roof" is removable to provide shade when it's sunny. It's just 2x2 and a tarp - pretty simple, but it does the job. I used treated posts, dog eared fence boards andlots of screws. I stained and built the walls in my garage before assembling it. Once all of the wood at been stained, it came together pretty quickly with the grandkids help...Lol

Ana White's plans are super easy and fun to do! I made these for my mom and I really enjoyed doing it. It’s an antique white water base stain.

David Marks

I loved the look and design of Ana's Simple Bunk Bed but due to limited space in our home, needed a triple bunk bed. I wasn't interested in the hassle of a trundle so I decided to modify the simple bunk bed plan and make it a triple. I have to say, I was a little worried about how sturdy it would be but this plan is so solid with the 4x4 posts that there is no need to even even think about that for another second!
I changed the ladder so that it was attached to the side rails of the bunk bed as someone had posted they did earlier and decided to add another little ladder for the middle bunk so my little one wouldn't have to leap from the ladder to get into her bed. ;D

In order to do a triple in our home (with 8 ft. ceilings), I needed to bring the height down so I made the bottom bunk sit on the floor with the legs only being as long as the height of the headboard. I also made all the headboards and footboards only as tall as the footboards in Ana's original Simple Bunk Bed plans.

This was my first build and there are definitely things I would do differently to make this work better if I had it to do all over again. I would make the legs a little shorter on the 2nd and 3rd bunk so that there is more head room for the person on the top bunk.

All in all though, I had a great time building this and can't wait to try some more of Ana's plans!!!

I was looking for a way to better organize my basement workshop. After looking at your Ultimate Workbench / Miter Station project, I became both inspired and motivated to organize my workshop bench equipment and power tools. I was tired of moving equipment around in my small shop area to use it and the amount of time required to clean up the saw dust during and after project work.

I modified your plans to allow me to incorporate the use of a solid maple shop table that I have had for over 30 years and provide a means to have my main benchtop equipment (miter saw, table saw, and drill press) be readily available for use. I substituted the 3/4 inch plywood top with a 3/4 melamine top with a popular edge trim to allow the workpieces to freely move through the miter saw, table saw and assembly stations. In addition, I added a removable miter saw fence using the Kreg Precision Trak system to facilitate miter saw work setup and to make multiple repeatable cuts. I made the fence easy to remove and store by using 5/16-16 inserts on both the work surfaces and on the he overhead material storage rack allowing full use of the workbench surface.

I also incorporated a separate rolling cart that served as an assembly table, table saw outfeed table, shop air compressor and pneumatic nail gun storage, router and router accessory storage and Kreg Cutting Guide Storage.

I wanted to have ready access to my cordless tools, so I built a separate wall mounted cabinet that holds my drills, impact tools and drill bits. Of course, that lead me to build a wall mounted battery charging station to consolidate and organize all the different battery chargers and spare batteries. Tried to make all things Easy to See, Easy to Get and Easy to Return.

Finally, I spent quite a bit of time researching how to design and add a dust collection system. I ultimately went with a simple, but effective system that incorporated the use of a Dust Deputy Pro, 14 Gallon Rigid Shop Vacuum, Powertec 2 1/2 inch Clear PVC tubing, Blast Gates, Flexible Hose along with Dust Rite Hose and adapters to connect my portable wood working tools. The dust collection components work work well together capturing about 85% of the generated saw dust, but I want to give a special shout out to Shop Nation which supplied a custom 3D printed dust collection adapter for my Hercules Miter saw. It is really amazing how much of saw dust generated by the miter saw is now being channeled directly to the dust collection system.

I now smile every time I enter my workshop :)

This is my first try at building furniture. I've built larger things in the past like decks and a fort for my nephews, but never furniture. Even though I used the plans to build the main box, I did change up the bottom and added some new stuff. I added wheels to the bottom my wife could easily move it around her classroom. I didn't want to put a square base on it because I thought it might hit her ankles when she was standing close to it. So I sort-of notched it out to give an opening for her feet and I used some scraps to create a short shelf at the bottom. I also added more trim that the plans call for. I cut strips of the pine plywood for the base molding and topped it with quarter round. I used corner trim for the front corners, the self inside and the bottom notched shelf. I also used screen trim for the back of it. I think it came out nice and I've very pleased with it. I used 2 coats of Minwax PolyShades American Chestnut on it.

The husband and I have been very inspired by the awesome women (and men) on this site that have created their own pieces of furniture. They all look so amazing! So the husband wanted to give it a shot and try creating this dog crate / end table as his first ever project. Now mind you, he hasn't done any sort of woodworking since wood shop class in high school... and that was at least a decade ago.

I have to say that I'm quite proud of the hubby's first finished project! Although, he did mess up a bit with the table top being an inch too short width wise. I really didn't want him to create another one because that would mean I would have to stain another one and I really REALLY do not want to stain again! So we compromised and ended up gluing a thin wood trim on the side end of the table top to cover up the mistake.

I was looking for a way to give our house some better curb appeal and decided our stree numbers could use a facelift.  The majority of money spent on this project was for the numbers since I had enough spare cedar laying around.

I make and sell kids picnic tables on craigslist and a buyer asked about making one of these. I took it on and found the plans on here very easy! I now list these on craigslist also and hope to sell more before the summer is over.

This was the second building project I've ever completed. I had to make a few adjustments to make it fit the size of ray's closet, but it was totally worth it. most of the work was in the measuring, sanding, and sealing of the wood. Ftting the frames can be a little tricky if your planks aren't perfectly straight. Otherwise, this project was pretty straight forward and can be done in just a few days depending on how much time you have to dedicate to it. Thanks Ana!

I wanted to attempt making a dining room table. This is my very first woodworking project. I did use store bought legs from one of the big box stores. Your site completely inspired me to just go for it. It's not quite finished. I've got to do all the sanding and staining. I plan to use a mahogany tone stain to coordinate with my brown/black parsons chairs and hutch in my dining room. Finally finished and I think it looks great! It took a lot of sanding to get all the wood pieces even, but so worth the effort. I love the rustic country look.

New to raising chickens, but eager to jump right in to it.
We bought a pre-made coop for the main home for our new chicks and it's very nice, not something I could do myself since I'm not yet at that level, but I saw this chicken tractor and thought it would come in handy for what I have in mind so I made up my mind to build it.
The lumber, chicken wire, staples, and wheels are all store bought new and came to about $75. The materials we had on hand were the screws, hinges, plastic coated metal shelving (used in the nesting area, I thought that would make it easy to clean), paint, and the corner piece of vinyl siding for the roof cap (hubby's brilliant idea, and I painted it green with spray paint for vinyl).
I did not try to build it quickly, I don't really know how much time it took me, but if I had to guess I'd guess total time would amount to about 3 afternoons, by myself.
I wanted to leave the top on the one side open with the option to slap on the other boards if/when the need arises. I have the other t1-11 panels that can sit right in those areas because I stapled the chicken wire in a way that would allow it.
I also added a flip up panel as seen in the pictures for access. I didn't want a small door that I would have a hard time getting to things in there. I'm so glad I added this feature, it sure gives plenty of room for me to maintain the food and water dispensers as well as get in there and catch the little chickies :)
I wanted it green to blend into the wooded background in our backyard. I didn't want to take any beauty away from the cedar greenhouse and fencing we added last year, and this tractor would be moved from time to time and I felt this green that we had on hand was perfect to help it blend in rather than stand out.
This thing is heavy! I have a hard time moving it around and usually need my husband to move it so I won't hurt myself. I am considering some options... I don't like the rope I have on it to pull it, any suggestions would be appreciated.
As with the other items I've made with Ana's plans, this was fun and pretty easy to make. I love this site! Soon I will take on my next project, I've bought and gathered the materials, I'm anxious to get started :)
Thank you for looking :)