Community Brag Posts

We had a big wall in our living room and nothing to fill it.. To buy a piece of furniture this size would have been so expensive. I worked on this piece over a week and a half... during kids naps. I used cove molding around the outside edges instead of the two base moldings on top and bottom. I added a very large crown molding on top. I wasn't able to find a prefab base molding thick enough that was stain quality so I just used a 1x4 and another molding on top of it. I made 4 shelves but after getting out all my decor I decided to only have one on the left side. I applied edge banding to finish off the plywood edges on the shelves. It was super easy to use and was stainable. The kreg pin hole jig was used so that that the shelves can be adjusted to different heights. I'm planning to order cabinet latches for the doors.. for both look and function with two little kiddos. I used minwax dark walnut stain. Oh, I also added a support underneath the middle bottom section.. it really needs it otherwise its flexible.. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Sofa table

Made the swing then just kinda came up with my own frame.

After being deployed for a year, my husband and I needed to spend quality time together.  I showed him the Queen Farmhouse Bed Plans and he loved it. We spent a weekend clearing out our over stuffed garage - sorting through things with a common goal in mind.  He loves woodworking and we love spending time together.  We spent two weekends cutting and sanding and putting it together.  We spent another doing three coats of stain and two MinWax poly coats.  We finally finished this weekend and I absolutely LOVE it.  I SERIOUSLY love how solid this bed is.  He bought the wood to build two matching nightstands this morning...and I can't wait until tomorrow to start on them.  

Thank you so much for sharing your plans and for so many sharing their brag posts - it was wonderful to read through them and see all the variations. 

DIY Wood Barn Door

The Swede in Norway

This is my second build - first one using a jig saw. I built this so my daughter can easily get up and down on the daybed we have in our sunroom.

I built this for my grandsons first birthday! I added a hydraulic shock from Lowe’s. It was really stiff and it took two cabinet door magnets to hold it shut. The name board is from my great grandfathers saw mill from the farm my dad still lives on. I do hope he enjoys it as much as me and my dad enjoyed building it for him!!

Chappy

We built these bunk beds and absolutely love them!

A nice quick build to add some decoration to the house. I made three ledges at 80" long. I had initially made them for a different room that could only allow 80" ledges, but ended up not being able to put them there because the wall was too curved to attach the ledges. Ledges have two coats of Miniwax Special Walnut Oil stain and Polycrilic.

All the "art" things were painted on old scrap from a years worth of ana-white projects. I used the three different stains I had left over (Miniwax Aged Oak Gel Stain, Weathered Oak Oil Stain, & Special Walnut Oil Stain) and alternated them on the three different types of wood scraps (Oak, pine, & maple). Then I "distressed" them with physical abuse and watered down acrylic craft paint. The designs were also acrylic craft paint. Then I sanded it all down to give it a worn look.

We needed an entry way table with storage.   The Balin Console Table was the perfect size for our needs.   I modified the drawers by attaching a wood frame around each one.  I decided to taper the legs with my mitre saw.   The hardware was purchased at Pottery Barn ($4/each) and the color is Valspar Turquoise / Gray - Semi Gloss.   I extended the leg length 6" to make the cabinet counter top heigth (plans call for a table heigth).

Project was easy (8 hours) from construction to finish.  

One advantage I had was using a sliding power mitre saw with a 12 1/4" cross cut for the 1x12 material.   It's possible to get a decent cut with a circular saw but the sliding compound mitre saw definitely makes that portion of the project go much quicker.

For best results, I recommend finish sanding with 220 grit and 2 coats of paint rubbing with steel wool after first paint application.   

I used 1 10 ft long 2x6 and 3 8 ft long 3x6 along with recommend 2x4’s and had enough material. Fun build made for brother in law, 2nd person really helped for step 7.

This is a Pottery Barn inspired headboard. You can see from the pictures posted that I used 4 different kinds of wood. Reason being that money is tight and I had extra wood laying around the garage. I really enjoyed this project thanks to Anna's post here http://ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-mason-headboard-its-all-in-finish.ht…. I noticed there was a lot of posts concerning the finish. For my headboard I used 2 coats of primer, sanding in between coats. 2 coats of paint. 1 coat of chocolate glaze ( 4 parts glaze, 1 part stain). 1 coat of sealer. I followed this post for my finish http://ana-white.com/2012/05/distressed-turquoise-chocolate-glaze. Good luck everyone. Feel free to ask questions.

- Brad

Build time: 2.5 hours
Painting time: 4 hours
Building cost: Free (reclaimed wood)
Painting cost: $25-$30

This was my second project off Ana White's website. The construction was not as difficult as I would have thought. The staining on the other hand was very time intensive. I made an amended version of the table since I only wanted a 1x12 vs. 1x16. All in all, I am extremely happy with how this turned out.

Laundry Sorter

We are expecting baby #4, and I knew we needed to get the laundry under control before we added a new family member. I cannot tell you how helpful these have been for eliminating laundry piles and encouraging our kids to put away their own baskets. And I splurged on a $9 gallon of "oops" paint from Home Depot to make them fun and cheery, too. I highly recommend this laundry sorter project for those who feel like the laundry never ends. It's such a great investment in your sanity!

Finally finished my outdoor space just in time for the start of summer! Thank you for sharing the plans and instructions. I also made the beginner dining table for my outdoor eating space.

We have Pottery Barn furniture in our cottage and I wanted a bench for our bedroom. I found this plan was very close to the "Benchwright" style and I'm very happy with the results, including the match in stain colour. It cost me approx. $40 vs $650 at Pottery Barn. The effort was definitely worthwhile !

I needed a table to fit in the gap of my offset and back to back couches. I made the bottom shelf a little bit longer to better fit the space. I also added additional screws to the back for more stabilization since I knew my kids would find the steps irresistible. The different hues of blue make it more interesting.