Community Brag Posts

I got a puppy. A joyful, full of energy and fun-loving English mastiff puppy. Best way to potty train a 40 lb puppy is crate training and the entry way's wall was getting eaten. So I made this in a couple of days. Mostly just waiting for the stain, paint and poly to dry and it's up and working. 

Hinges on sale at Lowes going out of business =$0.99

Latch on sale at Hobby Lobby 50% off = $5.50

Knob purchased at ReStore =$0.50

I used the plans for Ana's vintage crate cart, but made a few changes. I made my boxes 11"W x 12"T x 15"D. I did not leave spaces between the pallet pieces and added a cheap wrought iron style handle from the hardware store for a pull. I only stained the fronts. I love these drawers!!!

My wife has been wanting cabinets under our bathroom sink.... So, I made plans and gave it a whirl. How did I do? If anyone want plans or more info how I did it feel free to ask.

Keep on building on! This is the second peice I've built for our dining room - built a bar first. I opted to only make 2 pedestals instead of 3 that was on the plans. Dimensions are a tad smaller to fit our room nicely, measuring 90in x 40in. My wife and I absolutely love this table! I used Red Oak for the top and Doug fir for the base. Hardest part was lugging around that dense oak and looking for chairs! The stretcher was also a bit of a task as well. Had to go out a buy a rubber mallet to bang it in enough so that the slack on both ends were even. We particularly like this piece because it will be used often and many memories will be created around this table! Thanks again for the inspiration!

Hey All,

My wife and I had 5 children in 5 yrs (no twins), our oldest being 6. Christmas was fastly approaching and we were brainstorming on what to get them. Through the years we had spoken of an indoor climbing wall and/or ballpit due to the long hot summers in FL but never really dedicated the time to researching our options. We decided that Christmas would be a great time for a project like this. I sketched out a few ideas and started to google. I came across your site via a pintrest image. The wheels started turning very quickly for me, we were super excited as you can image. The dimensions are different (8x8 ish) from the indoor playground you all constructed but the bones were there thanks to you all. 

I measured our room, purchased the wood after creating a diagram of the basic frame work. 2 weeks (20hrs ish) later of sanding and precutting I started lugging approx 300-500lbs of material to our second floor playroom area.  Why so much material, you ask... We wanted to include all of the ideas we have had through the years plus a few others we came across on your site. It was a huge undertaking considering how many eyes were watching and the fact that we wanted to keep it a surprise. For the framwork I enlisted the help of #1 (the 6yr old) and we stayed up late and had great fun. Once we got to the point were I thought she would start connecting the dots I continued on by myself mostly. Every night I would mock up what was needed and then break it down to not give it away. Many long nights, cuts, a broken toe and a hole in the sheetrock later we were getting close.

The kids had their guesses as to what it would end up being but were ultimately super surprised. After 8 weeks of work during which we had my wifes family visit and then my parents came. Thank you to them all by the way b/c they worked on this too, which helped me immensly. Christmas Morning 90% of it was finished with the exception of the ballpit, canvas & foam coverings for safety. It took another 3 weeks to finish as I had never used a sewing machine before and wanted the kids to know this was a labor of love.

We ended up with monkey bars over a ballpit, cargo climbing nets on the far back wall and also transition from the ballpit to the top deck, outfitted with pirate telescope that leads to the slide and  LED lighting throughout. Under the deck we have a small fort like area for them. My wife and I decided to not fully enclose this space b/c we all know kids get into all kinds of mischief when they think noone is watching. The kids chose the name for the playground. Hope you like the "Toledo Towers" , I know they sure do :)

Thank you for access to plans, endless threads with advice and plenty of pics to motivate.

Juan Toledo & Fam

Tampa, Florida

My wife has been wanting a farmhouse table for our kitchen for a while...so I looked through this site to get some ideas and finally built her one she loves.

My version of the Simplest Stool will a larger rounded edges top.

This was my first attempt at a cutting board, in retrospect I maybe should of made a simpler one. I made a few mistakes and it took longer than anticipated but I'm happy with the way it turned out. l've shared some of my mistakes and provide some of the tips on my blog. More pictures as well. Cheers, Ian http://www.woodworkingfourdummies.com/blog/diy-brick-cutting-board

My Husband and I built our Farmhouse bed as our 2nd project, out of necessity. Our bed broke, and I was really lusting after a Farmhouse bed, so we took the plunge. 6 months later, we moved and our style changed, so we painted it. I love it even better in gray! The best part of building your own furniture is that you can change it as your style changes!

I've wanted to have a go at an Adirondack chair for ages but never had the wood available - I refuse to buy wood for ANY project so I had to wait until some came along. We had heaps of pallets delivered FOC so I dismantled them and had the perfect sized wood for the chair.
Because I used pallet wood there's the odd nail hole etc but each piece was sanded down with various grit strengths until I had the wood as good as it was possible to get it.
I did have trouble with the plans because some of the dimensions did not fit for the size of wood they stated to use but no one else has said they had any problems so I'm guessing the issue was down to me and not the plans. The main sticking point for me was that I had to use a 2" batten in the centre back because the dimensions given for the stringers did not allow for the right number of 4" wood to be used.
This project was the practice run though and so I will make some more with a few minor adjustments to the dimensions. I would also recommend counter sinking the screws (I pre drilled also which makes for an easier finish) and next time I will give each piece one coat of paint/stain/finish before assembling - these images show my unpainted chair and painting in between all the slats was tedious.

I combined two plans to make this and added my own touch to it as well. I am 6' 4" and wanted a taller table but I really like the farmhouse table. I found 35" turned table legs at Lowes that worked perfectly. I also found these really cool 2'X4' butcher block style spruce panels that worked great for the table top. I pocket holed 3 of them side by side to get the size I wanted. I built the frame out of 2X3's and trimmed them out with some molding. I had seen people blowtorch tables before and I thought it would look really good. I added the stain afterward to darken the color and it came out awesome. I painted the legs and frame white to match the trim and cabinets in my kitchen.

This was a challenge for me, since those 2x6 top boards were slightly twisted and or cupped. I love the X detail and that was fun to put together. I found some "L" brackets and spray painted them for the ends. I stained all the wood first, before assembling.It's a gray/brown stain, one of my favorites. I decided to white wash over the stain doing all of table except for the top. I used a wax finish. 

 Love it, many times my ukulele, mandolin, banjo and fiddle are all tucked away underneath.

Thank you so much Ana for posting these plans for us! A huge thanks to Crafting Chicks for some artistic inspiration, too. I referred back to the "original" many times in order to make mine as adorable at theirs!

I've been planing on making this for a year. When I finally decided to start building I was, as always, surprised at how quickly it went together and how simply. The finishing details is the most time consuming, but also the most rewarding. I'm in LOVE with this thing. It will be auctioned off at my childhood elementary school. I hope whoever goes home with it will enjoy it for generations! I wish I had time to blog about all the details for those of you that are interested! I'll be happy to share my finds, experiences to any questions posted.

This was my first big project I've ever done. It certainly didn't come out perfect, but man, was it easy. All wood (select white wood) was bought at Lowes and was around $80 for all the lumber. There is 3 coats of Minwax Provincial 211 and 4 coats of Minwax fast drying poly.

I had everything cut and put together in 3 hours. Its the staining and poly that takes the time. I've been asked to make some more for family and friends and can't wait to get started.

This my first woodworking project. It is far from perfect but turned out okay!