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I built these planter boxes to hold my raspberry and blueberry plants. Also by connecting them with 2x2s, it keeps my dogs out of the garden

We don't have a ton of space in our back yard thats in direct sunlight. Also we have an ugly old chain-link fence. I saw a lot of vertical gardens and decided that would help two issues, maximize sun space and obscure part of that ugly fence. It's super easy to put together and was pretty cheap as well. I took some inspiration from the cedar raised beds on the site and built all the planter boxes out of cedar fence pickets. I added some extra supports so that the weight of the boxes wouldn't rip down the planters.

I'm so excited. I have my very own work bench! Thank you Ana for the sturdy work bench plans. I've added drawers and some curtains to keep the dust out. My brother did most of the work on this but I did some of the build at the end and all of the painting. Even though this will be stored in the garage, I wanted it to look like a piece of furniture found inside the house. I love the distressed look and I think I've succeeded in making it look old. I've made a few of your projects which I will post later. Right now I'm enjoying my new (old looking) work bench and I think it's really cool that it looks like it belongs to a girl.

I learned from other project fails to sand down the boards as I go. So my hubby cut the lumber and handed each board to me and I sanded down the boards with 120 grit sand paper followed by a finishing sanding block. Luckily the lumber that we purchased was not super rough so I hand sanded everything down. Once each board was mostly sanded down we put it all together.

Since my hubby countersunk the screws I applied standard wood filler and sanded it once it was dry (about 2 hrs later). I then applied wood conditioner and about 30 minutes later, followed by 1 coat of stain and 1 coat of polyurethane finish. Once the polyurethane was dry I sanded it down one more time with the fine sanding block so it was perfectly smooth.

I must confess: this was the second time I built a coffee table from this plan. The first time I built it I did a HORRIBLE job with the sanding & staining. When my husband and I first built from this plan it took us about 8 hours to build it. The second time it took us 3 hours.

New Deck Chair

My daughter's school needed a personalized item, (a class gift) to be auctioned off at the annual Spring Gala. The project needed to be personalized by the children in the class. I used the plans from Ana's toy box project plan, changed the footer to bun feet, and added a lid. The lid is also an upholstered top that can be used as a bench. I used two slow close hinges, one on the left one on the right, then two regular hinges to hold the lid on. We sent in blank tiles for each of the children (4 year olds) to paint in class. They turned out pretty abstract but cute. The tiles on the front are supposed to be bee's, the school's mascot. It turned out great! Having a hard time uploading other pics of it, specifically how I did the lid inside and attached it to the box.

I built this piece from ana white's plans. I modified the shelf design and also the dimensions to meet my needs. Instead of using 2x6 douglas fir for the top, I built the top out of hard maple. The top is built by ripping down several strips of hard maple 1.75 inches wide, turn the strips on there edge and gluing all the strip together. This is what is known as a edge grain cutting board. I finished the top with mineral oil and bees wax. The top is food safe and knife friendly. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. - Brad

Plan for this table was easy to follow. Loving me new table.

I made this for my daughter. She placed it at the end of her bed. I was really happy with how it turned out.

We ended up going with a combination of pine, cedar (posts - from Ace Hardware) and regular ole 2xs. We ordered our hardware from Rockler ( http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10).The bed can be easily disassembled down to the headboard, footboard, side rails, support beams, and platform. It's a quirky combination of woods, but overall we are happy how it turned out. We thought of painting it, but have really been enjoying it as is.

I was inspired by an A shaped shelf I saw on this site. My wife and I were expecting our first child on January 18th of this year and I decided that I would make a shelf for her nursery. We decided on the name Laney so I figured it would be very easy to make. And it was.

I started out with a couple sheets of 1 x 6 x 8s of pine from Home Depot. Not very expensive. I decided on a size and then cut the pieces to length.
I then set it up to see how it would line up and once I saw it lined up I cut each ends to 45 degrees to match up nicer.
I glued the ends together and then hammered finishing nails into the ends.
Once it was together, I added to shelves, put L brackets on the back side to add stability, and attached some hangers.
Finally, I painted it white to match her nursery.

Laney was born on January 23rd and we are so excited to have her in our lives.

My take on this bed. My wife said she wanted me to build her a bed after I built the toddler helper tower for my daughter, also from this amazing site. And when your wife asks you to build her a bed, you build her a bed. It was a fun project aside from the shim work. It was very tedious but well worth it in the end. I made a few changes but not many and discovered a few tips along the way that might help someone else. In the pictures you can see a more detailed picture of how I layed the shims out. Staining before you attach the shims is a must. And I decided to stain the shims themselves before I attached them as well. I did that because I wanted a more "weathered" look to them and didn't want them all one uniform color. They each have one coat of stain. Just applied a little thicker to some. 

As for the rest of the frame it has two coats of Minwax polyshades in Satin espresso. I'm curious to see how it holds up but so far I love the way it looks. So when I bought my 4x4's they had rounded corners. In retrospect I should have not made everything on the head and foot boards flush but instead pushed it back 1/4" or so that way theres not a gap where the rounded part meets the panel trim. 

Back to the shims, after testing and debating with myself, I decided that attaching them with hot glue worked best for me. Wood glue curled the edges causing them not to sit flush. Nails would be too much of a pain as every hole would need to be filled. Hot glue seemed to do the trick and they feel solid. OK enough for me. Thanks Ana for the plans. 

Miniatures are a cute and easy way to see your project before you start the full sized version. And if you know someone who likes minis, you have a nice gift for them later! (or you could start a new hobby)

http://www.the-art-of-dollhouse-miniatures.com/miniatures-scale-calcula…
This is the link I used to find my measurements in mini. Just in case you guys might enjoy trying a smaller scale.

Its a good idea to very lightly sand your pieces, I used a metal nail file.
After adjusting your measurements, follow Ana's instructions for the desk. For the drawer to actually work, I used mini 1x's and made old-style slides that are mounted to the underside of the desktop. these support the drawer and guide it also. Similar idea used for the extra desk space via the pull out. For the hutch doors, I made simple paper hinges. Make sure you use cardstock or layers of regular paper.

The full size hutch is screwed to the desktop, but the mini needs more support, so spare parts make good braces. I also used spare bits of wood for the handles on the doors, and half a wooden bead for the drawer handle.

After making this mini version of the Channing Desk, me and my husband were able to adjust add-ins like the pull outs (my full size will go above the drawer) and even thought about making the whole section of drawer/shelves detatched for more manuverablilty in a tight corner space.

I can't Wait to start the full size version!!

This was the first project my husband and I built from scratch. We experimented with our brand new Kregg Jig for a little while until we felt comfortable with it, and then nervously got started. Surprisingly, the only mishap we had was that we (ok, I) accidentally bought 1X10's instead of the 1X12's. Nothing a quick trip to Home Depot won't fix! We followed Ana's directions exactly, and definitely recommend the Kreg Jig! Our neighbor is a contract worker, and he was pretty impressed at how sturdy the bookcase was. The only part that gave us a little trouble was that our planking on the back (from Lowes), was a little too wide, so we had to trim it down a bit. This was also my first time staining, but thankfully I was going for the rustic look, so I just sanded off the corners and any weird spots.

Perfect little playhouse my husband built for our girls.   It took about a week to build by himself, but worth every minute.   He did a wonderful job.   Such a good daddy!

I made two of these side tables for my niece and her new husband as a house warming gift. I dropped the top down 1.25 inch and added a glass top so she could display items. They are going to be a surprise, so I left them bare. She can stain or paint them whatever color she wishes.

Donna Cox