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With another baby on the way in a few months, we decided to move our 2+ year old daughter across the hall into her first big girl room. I built big sister the Kendal Extra Wide Dresser, Traditional Wood Toddler Bed, Letter A Shelf and a Dollhouse Bookcase and matched the colors with her new comforter, lamps and princess canopy tent from the Land of Nod outlet.

While I have built drawers with other projects (with less than spectacular results), it took some time and trial and error, but this is the first project that I was able to install drawers with any sort of success in lining them up (kind of) and getting them to work properly. Of course, bookcase drawers in a child's room are succeptible to a lot of wear and tear, so hopefully, they will hold up on us. We definitely have been satisfied with the result and love how it turned out.

Dining Room table and benches tops built from reclaimed Douglas Fir and table and bench bases built from 4x4 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.

This angle frame Twin over Full bunk bed with a trundle was made of yellow pine and stained with a dark minwax stain from Homedepot. 

I believe I built this to spec from the original plans without much deviation using higher-grade pine boards (straight and not too many knots).  It took an afternoon to build.  I primed then painted with 3 coats of "Mocha" paint.  There are 3 antique bronze hooks which are hard to see, but go well. The biggest challenge was finding baskets to fit, after the fact.  I happened to get lucky with baskets for the bottom bench, but never did find anything to fit the top, at least in the way I envisioned.  I wish I'd have located a set of baskets first, then measured and built the bench and shelf to suit the baskets.  The bottom baskets actually stick out the back of the bench by about 3/4". Any rectangular baskets I found for the shelves seemed to stick out the front a couple inches.  I highly recommend getting your baskets FIRST, then adjusting your measurements to accomodate them.

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...

3x4foot wall unit for displaying pottery and your kid's Lego sets that took you 3 hours to put together.  Back boards have been washed with diluted blue green latex paint and then stained with Minwax Special Walnut.  The main frame is just stained, distressed and then waxed.

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

Built this set of Nightstands to match a bed that I made.

Just finished this for our front hallway. 

All made from one ripped down 8ft 2x10 board of fir. (table saw to cut 2 strips at 2.5 inch wide (top rails), and 2 at 1.5inch wide (legs), and one at 3/4 inch (stretcher).

Leg braces are angled 20deg / 70 deg to make them more upright and give a sleek profile. 

Stretcher goes through the legs and is held in place by wedged shims.

‎Stainless tension wires and turnbuckles underneath to keep it all tight - and give an industrial look. Need a lot of strength to crush teh ferrules onto the wire.

Top surface is 2 of 12" x 24" bathroom slate tile inlaid into a recess that was cut into the top rails.

finish is 3 coats of minwax glassic grey, and 2 coats polyurethane, sanded deeply in some parts to weather it.

Took me about 8 hours. 

I can provide more instructions if anyone is interested. 

Austin

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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!

I needed chairs to go with the table I built the previous year. Thank you so much for sharing these plans. The plans are easy to follow and adaptable to any need.

I narrowed the seats to 17" wide and adjusted all measurements accordingly. I used a scroll saw for the backs, dark walnut stain and poly to finish. I was in a hurry so I managed to get all 12 chairs made, with off and on work, approx. 1 month. 

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!

This was very easy but was still one of my favorite builds.  I used oak for the bench top and poplar for the rest.  I used the pocket hole jig and gorilla wood glue and it is incredibly rigid and sturdy.  I changed the height to 24 inches so I could raise the shelf platform up to 10 inches from the floor.  This allowed me to place shoes under and on the shelf.  I stained with polyshades mission oak and added an additional coat of satin polyurethane.

I have a good size bedroom, but things kept cluttering. I needed somthing small where i could store a few thing's like, movies, x-box, and cable box. So decided on the bookshelf. It's the perfect addition to my bedroom set. Thanks Anna for your awesome projects.