Community Brag Posts

My first build. Wanted something to put in front of my window for my cats to sit and look out on.

I thought you had a plan for these but I'm looking through and the closest I can find is the Vintage Step Stool. Either way it is because of your site that I have learned and become comfortable with building so I thought I would share these stools here. I made a little toddler chair to go with them to that you can see on my blog. Thanks for helping to make things like this possible!!

This is a matching book shelf to the 55-fancy-x-desk.

Build Instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Rustic-Book-Shelf-or-TV-stand/

We needed a custom bed to fit a niche. We used the Daybed with storage drawers, but shorted the length by 1.5 inches to fit our space. Our daughter is very happy with her new bed.

This is my first wood project. Thanks Ana for the plan. My wife and I will enjoy the dresser.

All pine 2x4, 2x6, and 2x10 seating for 8 in espresso stain and semigloss top coat

I saw the Shirley table post and was inspired to build this for our entryway in our new home. Maybe not the best first project to pick in the new home, but man was it worth it! Turned out great. Used some leftover paint from an old painting project and it works really well with our new living room set. I listed it as a weekend project because if you're not super experienced or don't start this early in the morning you will probably need to take your time and finish this over two days.

Douglas Fir 4x4 truss beam table, made from the listed plans (modified for a 72" table top and concrete used for the top).  Also, added steal gusset plates with lag bolts to replicate appearance of exposed truss beams.  Used pocket screws in conjunction with lag bolts.  Benches were altered with half-lap joints for strength (very time consuming).  Concrete table top made with Quikrete countertop mix (charcoal powder pigment added), an aluminum "M" inlay, and slurry coated with a lighter gray grout to fill in bugholes/ voids.

Table was fairly easy- hard part was finding straight wood (mostly green DF is sold near me, so some beams would warp beyond suitability as they dried).  I had to purchase a few extras to get the pieces correct.  If KD is available, go with that.  I was able to find KD DF at another hardware store for the benches.

Concrete was a PITA.  I never worked with concrete before. Watched a million youtube videos, read countless blogs, etc.  So much good info out there and I probably over-researched it.  I despise concrete, now (the mixing/ pouring/ screeding/ and weight) but I LOVE the result.

The project was my secret excuse to buy tools Ive always wanted.

If I wouldve been able to work straight through, I think I couldve completed this in a month.  The table and benches were a couple of weekends worth.  The concrete took most of my time with making melamine molds, special ordering the bags, renting the mixer, waiting it to cure, polishing and filling the top, etc.  A wood top wouldve cut down on the overall time considerably.

If you do a wood top (as I did for my benches), either use some type of joiner to get the board edges perfectly squared against one another with no gaps, OR leave gaps big enough between boards to let crumbs fall through, OR (this is what I did for my benches) I used a super clear (Lexel) caulk for the seams of the boards and then went over it after it dried with the satin polycrylic to take away any gloss.  Now all those crumbs dont get wedged between the boards.  They wipe away with ease.

Finally, I used heavy duty felt (4x6") from the local HD at $2.50 a pair.  Cut them to size and used the self-adhesive WITH gel superglue to put on bottom of bench and table legs.  A must.

I had a console (or three tiered shelf) that I made with 2x10 and black pipe. At first I was happy with that but when I saw this console and another one on the blog of "Shades of Blue's", I decided to change the designe of my three tiered consol to Emmerson console. I love the console. In new console, I did not use any side pieces. I didn't want to throw away the black pipes because it cost money. So I ended up with this designe. I haven't put any stain or paint. I am not sure what paint or stain to put. So I leave it as it is.

I've been wanting a farmhouse table for the past year or so ever since we updated our kitchen cabinets. The thought of spending lots of money on a dining table was not something I wanted to do with two little boys who tend to get a little rambunctious at times! I found the plan for the farmhouse table, sent my husband a text with the link and asked if he thought we could build it. We've been on a roll recently building closet systems, and laundry organizers so I thought I would nab him while he was in building mode. He agreed to give it a try, and we built it this past weekend, with the help of a 2 and 4 year old.
The plans were very straight forward and easy to follow. We moved it inside to build after all the cuts were made (other than the bread board ends) as we knew it would be too large to carry in the house. We also cut 10 inches off the length as we did not have a big enough dining area for an 85" table.
Then we made the large rustic x bench for seating!

Combined Mimi's Storage Bence with the Shoe Shrine Shelf and came up with a what we really needed.  I like how it turned out!

Had a lot of fun making this, and it only took an afternoon! Had all the hardware and finish needed so it was a quick trip to Home Depot for the 2x2's, pavers, and adhesive.

One caution I would give people is check how the pavers lay on the top before applying finish in case some sanding is needed to get the pavers to all lay flat and level. I had one of my cross pieces bow a bit and it needed some sanding to get the pavers laying on it to be level with the others.

Great table for outdoor use and has been a functional table for a lot of BBQ's already, thanks for the great plans, Ana!

- Mike

There were no exact instructions so the project was just eyed. We used finishing nails to put it together so it would be easy to take apart if a mistake was made, then later we added the screws. Bought a can of rustoleum paint in navy blue. I get pallets for free from my mothers work, and we had screws laying around, so essentially the project was free.

Ask for materials and how to

Thank you for your Adirondack plan. I used 2x6s for the arms and 3 coats of outdoor polyurethane over the paint. These are strong and sturdy. Thank you!