Community Brag Posts

My first project from this site. My 3 year old daughter uses it every day. BTW...she picked out the color and she helped me paint it. gotta love pink?

This was my first project from Ana's site. I wanted something simple and cheap to make, so all in all, this project was very simple.
I think I will paint instead of stain next time though as the quality of the wood I purchased from Home Depot wasn't the best.
Very happy with it though, and I'm planning on making more.

I had been searching for a loft bed for my son for some time but couldn’t find anything affordable until I stumbled across these great plans! I found the instructions to be very easy to follow (though I did spend a lot of time going over them first) and the cut diagrams were great to prevent waste. I also fell in love with hmkeith11 paint job which I copied as well. I used Behr paint in pencil sketch and just a large grout sponge to make the bricks. Super easy and turned out great.

I made a few modifications to the plans. First I made the towers 6ft tall but did not change the height of the mattress platform. I also made the towers one piece and just cut the tops of them to get the “castle look”. I made the towers taller so the rail on the front would be bigger and allow for a more “secure” feeling when sleeping (and to ease my fears of two fearless boys jumping on the bed). I also eliminated the small front piece that connects the slide to the tower. I just made the front door panel longer and attached the slide right to the tower with a few screws. I like the look better and it eliminates a small rail at the top of this small panel giving it clean look (in my opinion). I also added a small door under the stairs since the wall was long enough in my son’s room. Its fun and adds a second exit point. Lastly, I modified the supports for the mattress based on some other brag posts feedback. I rested the support beams on the plywood sides and added a third beam and 2 beams going across tied into the wall studs and the front door panel. I wanted to feel 100% sure my very active kids couldn’t bring this bed down. I also added a piece of plywood on top of the bed supports since we have memory foam mattress, this gave the mattress the correct support it needs.

This was by far the biggest woodworking project I have ever taken on. It took me 2 months of working just weekends for only a few hours a day and some evenings after my kids went to sleep. Perfect size project for me. I’m also a short female, so go for it moms! You can do it!

I had also never cut such large pieces of plywood and didn’t know how to get my cuts straight. I found out how to make a skill saw guide and boom! Problem solved. Just buy a piece of Masonite, rip a 4 inch piece then glue it down on the other piece with the manufacture straight edge pointing in and you got yourself a guide for straight cuts! Here is a link: http://www.provenwoodworking.com/woodworking-saw.html

My son is thrilled with his bed and it was a great challenge to build!

My first time building anything. Came out great. Thanks for the great instructions!

I love the 20 second tidy up coffee table, and thought it would really help with our living room storage issue. I stenciled the inside for a cool look and added some handles from Martha Stewart that I found at Home Depot. I built the base and sides out of #2 pine, and made the top of Poplar for more long lasting durability (though it did bump up the price a lot!) I am so happy I spent the money on the Kreg drill system, it really made things so much easier. This was my first building project, but I think it turned out really well!

My wife had purchased a few antique printing press trays a few years ago to use to display family keepsakes. She also wanted a sofa table for the Living Room so I combined the two concepts into one table. I used the Rustic X Console table concept and modified it to fit my space and added the drawer compartments for the trays to slide into. I added two glass pieces to the top and there you have a sofa/display table. I used pine boards, hammer to distress the piece, Early American stain and a couple of coats of poly for the finish. The glass pieces we the biggest expense at $50. The table itself was built for around $55 before the glass was added.

Eaasy to build. Just measure the wood. I used My finish nailer and pocket hole screws and counter sunk wood screws. I used 1/8 piece  masonite instead of the plywood. My wife also knited blankets and  my mother made the mattress and pillows. They just loved them.

I have followed Anna for several years and really liked the Adirondack chairs so I finally got around to making mine, the plans are the same but I made some modification so I could use as much of the recycled mahogany I had. The wood came to me from South America in the form a crates, I kept as much of the original patina as I could as well as the chainsaw kerf marks. The seat was the only part where I used a different wood and that is kiln dried beetle kill pine.

We combined two projects into one area to create a wonderful spot for reading to the grand kids.

I used 4 board instead of 6 for the seating to fit the cushions i have and i changed the plan a little bit so all my cushions would fit in it. I also made it 2" higher, i just thought it would be more comfy for my 6 feet 4" husby. Took me 5 hours to do the whole sectional all by myself. I found the cushion at target at 70% sale so each of them cost me 9$ instead of 32$. I have not stained it yet, but will do with a sico brown outdoor stain.

Was realy easy to build.

Thank you Ana for these plans!
This is a wonderful sandbox for toddlers, my kids love it. I build it a couple months ago, and it's gotten quite a bit of use already. So far it's even stood up to them jumping on it when it's closed, which is the only thing I was worried about. ;)
I'm not an experienced builder but i built this in an afternoon with the kids playing around in the yard with me, so this was a great project for me!

I used Minwax Polyshades, a stain and seal in one to finish this project. (I thought that would be a neat idea to skip a step, but I should have known that's usually a bad idea) I noticed that it didn't turn out to be nearly as dark as I expected and though I like how it turned out on this project just as well. I don't think that I'd buy another can when this one is used up.

I used the 2x4 modified plan to make these, minus the corner section which I took the back off of and converted it to an end table. I also modified that end table to have a "cooler box" in it. We have used this for 2 years and its still as strong as the day it was built, finally got cushions last week and it looks even better. I have had several friend and family ask when I am going to build theirs.

I just pictured what it was supposed to look like and winged it

Built this potting bench for my sister in law. Added an aging finish to give it a reclaimed patina to match the reclaimed cedar used on the back. Also added a bin for soil and a removable panel to cover it when it isn’t in use.

This project was a lot of fun for me and my husband. Extremely simple. We bought a 1x12x4 for $6.42 and spent about $3.00 for stencils, the rest we had on hand. We cut the 1x12 into the two 1x12x11.5 (for the sides) and then cut one piece in 1x12x18 (for the bottom) we decided not to cut it into two 1x6s because they would practically be touching each other anyways. We did not put wheels on the bottom either, as it is going on a shelf in our laundry room.