Community Brag Posts

This is my first ever wood project. I helped my dad frame his basement a couple years ago and figured that a hand built table would be a nice piece of furniture to have as my wife and I begin to start a family. I've been gathering tools for a few months to begin making furniture and I chose to start with this piece.

I had read that a few people found that the 2x6's on the table top caught crumbs so I picked up a cheap, used table saw and squared off the edges so that the table top would be more consistently flat.

For the legs, I wanted to use 4x4 untreated posts but could not find them so I used the table saw to cut down the 2x4's so that, when screwed together, they formed 3x3 legs. I then used a 0.25 inch round router bit to sound off all the edges on both the legs and all exposed edges around the outside of the table.

I finished with two coats of early american stain and in between applied a distressing technique I picked up from one other blog post.

I am 95% happy with how the table has turned out. Structurally is it very sound. If I was to do it over I would have screwed the entire tabletop in with pocket hole screws to eliminate holes on the surface.

Used the Farmhouse Style bed plan and stacked them, two headboards for the bottom bed, two footboards for the top bunk bed

Was very simple and the plans we very well laid out!

How I Spent My Spring Break Well, it was a long week but I finally finished. I made 2 complete sets of loft beds for my oldest son and my daughter. The plans were great and easy to follow. A few notes; the actual width of a 1 x 8 is 7.25 inches (not 7.5) and a 1 x 12 is actually 11.25 inches (not 11.5). I noticed this when constructing the legs and putting the optional shelf supports on the large bookcase. It's not a huge deal, it's only a quarter of an inch. Also, if you are going to assemble and paint in the room, paint the interior of the bed area BEFORE attaching the slats. That added a lot of extra painting time for me. I made a few modifications as well. For the desk, my wife suggested that the width of a 1 x12 was a bit narrow, so I cut a 1 x 6 and biscuit joined it to the desk front. I cut a 22.5 degree angle on the end that meets up with the small bookcase that is attached to the desk. The straight edge lines up with the face of the other small bookcase, like a puzzle piece. I then covered the desk top with a piece of plexiglass to make the surface smoother and to hold picture (slide under the plexiglass). In addition, I bought an LED light system (about $40 from IKEA) and installed under the 2 top shelves of the large bookcase. Really cool effect and the kids love it! Overall, I am very happy with the project results. Looks great, very solid and lumber on cost about $400 for 2 complete sets. Just need to put in some sweat...

I was a bit over my head with this one but I am so far very happy with the project. It is not quite finished. The marble was installed last week and we are awating the plumber to come back to hook up the sinks. I will install the second slatted shelf once the plumbing is in. Will post finished pictures soon. The mirror is made from 6x6 posts from the lumber yard. We had a friend cut them to size using a band saw. We made the mirror frame based on a picture I found on Houzz.com. The mirror glass was something I picked up off of craigslist for next to nothing and removed from the original frame. It is HEAVY (~200lbs) and attached to the wall with metal brackets. We purchased the sinks/faucets on ebay. 

We added Ana's truss beam base to an already-existing table top that we had DIY'd years ago (our very first project!). We made the benches per her plans as well and now we all just love it! The whole thing is big, sturdy and beautiful. The only thing we didn't do were those two pretty beams that come down in the center - my hubby liked how simple it looked without it :) Loved this project! (And love how my three kids crawl all over it! Memories!)

This was my first time using my jigsaw. Easiest project ever, and I love the result!

Made whith Pine, Changing Table fitting with Kendal wide dresser.

The Big Kid and her friend were standing behind me when I pulled up Ana's birdhouse kit plans and they begged to build one, too. Initially, I wasn't wanting them to use my nail gun, so I predrilled the holes for all the brad nails. Details are on my blog.

I was able to get three birdhouses from two 6' fence pickets (had to make one about a half inch smaller all around, but it's barely noticeable!)

Thanks, Ana!

Since I am a very visual person when it comes to drawings and 2D/3D renderings, I have included pictures of the cut list shown on the boards you will need to use.  I hope this helps some people!  Keep in mind, if you use side mount drawer slides like I did, you need 3 extra 15.75" pieces for the slides to mount to.  I just used extra 1x3 boards I had hanging around.

We built this dresser plan to be used as a dresser / change table combo.  The guy at the home improvement store said to use oil based polyurethane so that it was more resistant to change table spills and traffic/wear over the years.  The oil based poly also added a nice amber color to the stained wood which I really liked.

This is the most complicated project I've made so far (because I've never made a plan with drawers), but after a couple tables and a desk from Ana's site (and referencing Shanty-2-chic also) I was confident that it would turn out well.

Change from the original plans --> We used 16in ball bearing "soft close" side-mount drawer slides instead of the euro style bottom corner mount ones mentioned in the plans. This requires adding the supports shaded in blue on the plans near step #7 pictures.  Getting the exact spacing width for those slides was a bit tricky and the drawer boxes had to be within 1/16" for them to work, so if you want simple you might want to stick to the euro style ones.  They allow for more "play" in the operation. 

Tip for attaching drawer faces:  For one thing, make the attahcment of the top and back of the dresser the LAST two steps you do on the whole project since it makes installing drawer slides and drawer faces a breeze.  That said, when it cam time for attached the front of the drawers I used 1/8" tile spacers all around the sides to make sure that gap was uniform and correct (see pic #4).  It was the simplest way I thought about of going about it.  Mounting the drawer boxes to the slides needed to be done before attaching the face boards for me.  And instead of nailing the faces on from the front and then screwing from behind; I put glue on the drawer box, put the face board in place using the tile spacers, and then added screws from the inside of the frame side.  It was a breeze. 

As the plans stated, I attached the top with PH screws through the side panels and six countersunk screws in the 2x2s along the width of the top using 2" screws.  It would have been a lot simpler to install the countersunk ones if I had a right angle drill or short handles screw driver, but I did not, so I made a normal one work.

If you have any more specific questions about my version of this project please let me know.  I was hoping to get to share more than 5 pictures, but that seems to be all the posts let you put up so I tried to included the most helpful ones.

I used the plans for the outdoor sofa and just changed the measurements to fit the tailgate back. 

My first attempt at this type of project. We needed a good place to store the pool towels. My wife asked me where I bought it from!

I needed a custom built printer table for the massive printer I just bought.  I figured if I was going to custom build it, I might as well add a couple storage areas.  Then I thought, I'm tired of having this VCR sitting on a TV tray to dub home movies to digital. So, I turned the top drawer area into a fold down face droor for easy access (and hiding) of the VCR.  Turned out great. 

Made this for a fund raiser auction.  Highest bid of the event.   :)

When I first saw this and showed it to my wife it became number one on my Honey Dew list. I did not like the open space between the bottom shelf and top, saw on this site where someone put a wine rack of shorts as a second shelf. So I did the same I used 1x4 instead of the 1x10 used on bottom shelf. I also used 1x4 for the top to help eliminate the gaps between the boards that the 2x4’s would cause. To help give something for the 2x4’s and the 2x6’s to attach to I screwed 2x2’s to the 1x4’s around the edge. Gives the illusion of 2x4’s and makes for a very smooth and flat surface for the top. The Hutch I made it taller to be able to put taller things under the first shelf. I also installed lights on the top shelf and trim.