Community Brag Posts

I made this two years ago in my daughter's room, before I got to know Ana's site. This was my ever first carpentry project. It took me 4 whole days to finish. The whole wall is like a bay wall so I had to custom make the built in. Also – I did that when my husband was out of town so in order for me to be able to lift all the pieces from the basement to the second floor, I made it of 4 pieces. When my husband came back home he thought I paid someone to built it.

I made it out of 2x4’s and plywood. I trimmed the bottom with a trim.

One day I will add drawers and the cushions are in the making.

So, so happy with this table! I've always been a fan of the Pottery Barn Bedford Project table, but even if I had the $1,200 to spend on a craft table I doubt I could ever justify it. When I saw these plans I knew my dream table was within reach!
This is my second build using Ana's plans. I worked carefully and used the Kreg Jig, and it came together easily. I added an extra trim piece here and there. I painted the whole thing with Valspar color "Storm At Sea", which is a gray. It took forever for me to choose the color, too many choices! Then I used some wipe-on Poly to protect it.
Now my kids and I have a dedicated art station stocked with all the supplies, I can see us spending many hours creating at this table.

This is the first time I have ever built anything and I'm very pleased with the results. The stain is water based 'charcoal gray'. It took 2 - 3 rounds of sanding, one coat of pre-stain, two coats of stain, and 3 coats of polyurathane. Total investment was about $350. It took me 3 months (I didn't have but an hour here and an hour there to work on it). My main concern was that I make it so that the screws were not visible. So I drilled a hole the size of the head of the screw about 1/4 in deep (then the typical pre-drill for the actual screw), screwed it together, then glued a wooden 'plug' in the hole. I'm very happy with the result of that. I also struggled a bit with how to attach the side rails - I ended up using 2 door hinges at each corner. The bed frame is completely separate from the mattress. I have a metal frame that is working fine, so the wooden frame actually does not touch the metal mattress frame. It is just built around it. Tools I used: Hammer, Paint Brush, Electric palm sander, Miter saw and a drill. The miter saw was huge for this project. 

Hello everyone, today I’m sharing details on something I built recently: a Bailey Chair for dogs suffering from Megaesophagus.

Dogs with megaesophagus have an enlarged esophagus. This makes swallowing food difficult. Eating while in an upright position helps and the task of keeping the dog vertical is easier when the dog is sitting in a Bailey chair.

This blog post is less of a detailed how to and more of showing in progress photos. Adam, over at Lazy Guy DIY, has put together a great tutorial on how to build the Bailey Dog Chair. I followed his instructions with very few modifications.

CLICK HERE to read my build details and see more photos!

I have waited ten years to get the table I wanted for my back porch. I have 6 kids and wanted a LONG plank table. When I found Ana's page I knew I had what I wanted. It was so easy and exactly what I wanted. I extended the top to 10' and added a middle leg to accomidate the length. This was so do-able following Ana's plan. Don't be intimidated! It is AWESOME!

My sister and brother-in-law recently moved to Albuquerque and purchased a home with a wonderful view of the Sandia Mountains. I built them the mirror from The Handbuilt Home (p. 36), and they hung it in the entry hall. The reflection in the mirror is a gorgeous view of the mountain range out of their large living room windows. Because this was not a rustic build, I used better pine boards, sanded very smooth.
Thank you to ANA for the great plan (and book!). Also a great big hug to JOANNE and TRACY for responding so quickly to my query regarding attaching the mirror to the frame. I ended up having the mirror company attach the mirror with silicone because I was afraid mirror clips would mar the smooth, shiny surface of the wall. We also covered the back of the mirror with craft paper, contact cemented to the frame to protect the mirror silvering.
This was a fun build, and my sister and b-in-law are very pleased with it.

We added additional trim to the top and also a thin trim across the front of the shelves to hide the raw edge.  For paint, I used a grey chalk paint and then wiped an antique white chalk paint over it. I had stained the edges before painting and lightly sanded the paint off of the sharp edges so you see minor amounts of exposed stained wood. 

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/e9J96Q2 Good build, certainly had its challenges. Overall totally worth it to see how much my wife liked the end product.

This was our first ever building project. We our so happy with the results. Read more about it at http://www.sidetrackedsarah.com/2011/09/build-your-own-dining-room-tabl…

I slightly modified the X Shelf plans, using 2x2's (actually ripped my own from 2x6's since the only ones I could find were in horrible shape). The X's were a little trickier than I anticipated, but well worth it! I really like the look using 2x2's vs. the chunkier 2x4's.

I built this above toilet cabinet for my son and his wife for Christmas.  They needed a little extra bathroom storage.   Turned out pretty good.

Made it taller and added a shelf

I love to sew and create new things so I decided I would make a leather upholstered ottoman. Leather is extremely easy to work with!
I started by sewing together leather rectangles that I purchased from an online auction.
When that was complete I determined the size of the box, foam thickness and the overall height I would like for it to be, I created/designed as I went.
Other than the upholstering items (buttons, needles, foam, batting, leather) everything else was scraps that I had and was able to reuse to create my ottoman. I added a shelf below for storage and am glad that I did it is a great place to put magazines.
It ended up taking much more time that I planned because I didn't follow a definite plan. Now that I have completed one I am sure that the others will take much less time. I am so happy about how it turned out!
I gifted it to a friend for a housewarming and she loves it! It even matched her area rug; apparently it was meant to be!

This is my first woodworking project and when I saw the plans, I knew it would be perfect for an indoor study and work bench for my hubby. Not having any power tools except for a drill and two sanders, I went to Home Depot and they were obliging and patient enough to cut my lumber for me (I loved making the bench so tools will be next on my list). The plans were easy to understand and since Maths is not my strong point, I was happy to have something so easy and methodical to work with. I loved the extra shelf on the top and the larger one on the bottom.

I made 2 modifications:

The height of the front legs are 33” instead of 36” because I wanted it at wrist height for my husband on the current stool he has in his room. I kept the back legs at 48”. I forgot to account for the 3” difference when I was assembling the lower shelf, so I ended up taking a hacksaw to the base of the 4 legs after assembly to account for this and this explains why the bottom shelf is so low to the ground. But it works!

Hubby wanted something attached to the back of the bench to protect the wall behind from spills. He also wanted a smooth shelf surface where nothing could get stuck in small spaces. The shelves also needed to be able to take weight and being a newbie, I didn’t want to mess with the measurements too much. After assembling the bench (including the back supports), I purchased a large 3/8” sheet of plywood and had it cut into 4 pieces – two for the back spaces and two for the shelves and then used screws and glue to attach those to the piece. The one thing I should’ve done was purchased 1 ¼” screws for attaching the plywood to the shelves, because I overlooked it and they went straight through to the underside of the shelves and had to have someone cut the screw ends off, which was no small feat.

But overall, I was very pleased with the way it turned out, especially for a first-time project.

American Girl Doll House

Loft bed over perpendicular twin base. Added puck led lighting for about $10. 

This was my first project, so I picked one of the easier table plans. Once I learned how to work the miter saw, Kreg Jig & drill, it was pretty easy!