Community Brag Posts

Childrens chair 

Outdoor patio chair from your collection with torched and polyurethane finish.

With two small boys it took me several days to make. I had some problems in the beginning because I cut the legs using a carpenter square and not a miter saw. But it worked out in the end. I love the way it came out!

I've been wanting to build some built ins in the recessed area surrounding our fireplace for awhile now. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to tackle this and at first it was just going to be shelves from the floor up. After browsing around, I stumbled onto Rebecca's media center and could see how I could turn this into my built ins!

The whole thing is mostly boxes placed next to one another with trim that covers all of the seems. The bottom left and right cabinets were inspired by her media center side base and the middle of the bottom row is a modified version of the center console piece. For the top I combined the console side and hutch piece to get something that would work for me.

I learned a lot on this project and tried to take my time. Using trim across the entire project help make it look like one big piece of furniture. One thing I would do differently if I was to do this again is to use higher quality trim, such as hemlock as the pine required lots of wood filler, sanding and time, all which exceeded the cost difference between the two types of lumber. I used the Kreg drawer jig for the first time, which was nice and also used the Kreg shelving jig after I decided to make all of the shelves adjustable. It to was a nice and easy to use tool. A must for anyone who makes adjustable shelves.

I sanded, sanded and sanded some more and than put two coats of high quality primer (57$/gallon) from Rhodda, which was a God send. It hid all of the imperfections and created a nice smooth area to paint, which I used foam rollers and the Renaissance paint also from Rhodda. They said it went on and dried like a oil paint, which I love, but cleaned up with water. It was awesome paint to work with, but we'll see if it gets that hard eggshell layer that oil paint gets. It's already pretty hard the night I painted it!

The hardest part for me was going to the local Woodcraft store and deciding what hinges I need and how to adjust them perfectly! This was so hard as the tolerances were minimal and I wanted everything to be uniform. I could probably adjust them a little more!!

I included a picture of what the area looked like before!

The idea I had, which was the best, was when it came time to decide on a color, I had my friend who is handing in Photoshop, show me several colors on a picture I took. This changed the planned several times and save a lot of money in paint. In the end, we decided to paint them the color of the walls to make them look like they were always there. It also worked with the stained mantle next to them!

Finished it with two coats of shallac and used black iron hardware.

I built it for a cabin I am building. Thank you for the palns, they were great!

Wood Organizer for Desk by Linda G

I loved Ana's cubbies the first time I saw them. :) I used different measurements and set mine for one large cubby to hold class papers and the others each fit a mason jar that holds chalk/ eraser cloth/ misc. Measurements/Wood Used: back: 4" x 1" x 44" bottom: 3" x 1" x 44" front: 3" x 1" x 44" I miter cut the insert separators to go edge to edge. Setting was 31 degrees and sanding to finish top point to back I added the inserts last after distressing the front/back/bottom assembled. I stained the inserts with no distressing and slid them in and used finishing nails to hold them to place front and back as my last step.

I built this in small spurts over a week. The most time consuming part was waiting for paint to dry. I painted all of my wood before I assembled since it would be too hard to get in the crevices after putting together. I painted the table top at the very end after it was assembled. I used painters tape to make sure I didn't goof and the stars are stenciled on. I extended the table to 20 inches wide so it would look more like a flag and just adjusted my other cuts to make it work. I built one for my Step-Mom and had to build another for my Mom after she saw how cute it was.

I modified the plans to fit my space. I needed a shorter wide shelf. This project was easy and fun. Turned out great

I wanted to make this porch swing ever since seeing it in the plan catalog (Large Modern Porch Swing). Just a matter of setting aside a weekend to get it done and then to find A frame to support it. I made the A-frame from a combination of this post:
http://www.buildeazy.com/newserve/swing_seat_support_dec07_1.html
and this one:
http://www.hgtv.com/home-improvement/custom-a-frame-childrens-swing-set…

I made the back a bit higher on our swing... and not quite as wide.

Reading several other blogs on this- I chose to attach the chains to the top back of the swing to keep it from tipping backwards...

Now just get to enjoy it!!

Built two of these over the weekend. The first one took 7 hrs to build and the second one only took 3 hrs. Things I learned:

1) Do step 3 before you do step 2. It was a nightmare trying to fit the 1x12s into the rectangular opening. Once you get the 1x12s in there, you can sandwich the 2x2s neatly onto the sides without having to shave down the 1x12s trying to get them to fit.
2) Check for square as you go. This will be important when you get to step 4 and 5.
3) I don't know about other folks but the 2-1/2 PH screws were always screwing all the way through to the other side so I used 1-1/4 PH screws for most places.

And that's it folks! A gorgeous and easy side table. =)

First table my husband and I have ever made, and it turned out beautifully!

I used your plan as a base. I do not have space on counter so I chose to hang it on the wall. I placed dots of hot glue on the back to offset from wall and used D hangers.

This was my second big DIY project ( I should say DIO for Do it OURSelves) since my husband had to help me with a few things. Anyway, I chose to paint the whole thing the same color as my office/craft room; BM Revere Pewter. Then, I stenciled some flowers in different colors of gray and white on the top. I had a piece of thick glass cut for the top. When I need to do anything heavy duty (like the open shelf console I did next) I simply put a bath rug on the glass. Even so, it's pretty tough as I've dropped lots of stuff on it without a crack!
I made this from the plan in Ana's book. Before we tackled this, I pulled all the carpet out of my office and put in a plywood floor (ripped into 6" widths).
I just finished the console which was made with plans from Ana and Shanty. Looking to move onto the next big project; a bar cart with doors or a dresser. Yikes! This is fun!
P.S. Love my Ryobi One Plus tools!
Thanks Ana, for the inspiration!

First of all I want to Thanks Ana for such a great website and projects and all she do. Its amazing how a person can do all of that for free. If all Americans were the same we would be the greatest Nation by far (anyways we still great!).

     I wanted to make this bed full so I had to re-scale the dimensions and I wanted to share leasons learned.

First: The legth for a full size is the same.

Second the width for a full size will be 52 inches (I would make it 53in); if you are going to follow Anas design and use a 2x6 as a side rail then then the width of the header could be 53in.

I made a design change at the last minute (and paid for it at the end :-s). Instead of follow Ana's design I decided to use railing hardware in this link to be able to take the bed appart without any problem.

 Using these mortises I was able to change the side rails for 1x6 which in my opinion look way better. The problem is that now with those mortises the bed frame is going to be wider (56in), so instead of an extra 1in for play with the boxspring I have 3.5in :-(

My wife is nice enough and tried to gave me moral support and she insist that is not a big deal because the gap is toward the wall and my doughter can't care any less; she has her big girl's bed and thats all she wanted; but I know is there and I hate that gap!

Summary:

If you stick to Ana's design 53 inches for headboard is perfect; but if you want to use the mortise then 50.5 should work fine.

To paint the bed I did two coats of primer and two cotas of semi-gloss white paint; in my opinion for furniture I probably would go gloss next time, but this doesn't botter me.

I used prime pine wood so the price went to the $300, if you choose mid-grade pine (it has a lot of knot) you can probably drive the cost down by good 25%.

Time: took me one full day to build the bed and since I had to go to work every day and I was doing one coat of paint every afternoon after work (so "five" days total); maybe you can do the painting it in one day if don't have to go to work and the weather is right!

The foldable plant table with some modification to make it stationary instead! Freaking loved this challenge. Gave the 1st one away as a gift. Now selling one!