Community Brag Posts

This project was meant to be a birthday present for my niece; however, after showing it to other people, there are now multiple people that are interested in having their own, understanding that I will be able to make it for much cheaper than buying an equivalent project from a store. It was a fun project and took little time to complete with minimal resources required....and for cheap

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!

Rustic Industrial Shelf

The Swede in Norway

I built this for a friends upcoming baby shower! She has yet to receive it so I hope she loves it. It was super easy to build, even the fancy scrolling at the bottom of the sides was relatively easy. I can say that only because I'm an experienced builder, but for someone new to this, it could be daunting. Just go slow and try it out on practice boards first!

So easy and fun!

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.

Love making it!!!

We modified the farmhouse table plan and made office desks from reclaimed lumber! Check out the full post on my blog: http://livingvintageco.com/category/do-it-yourself/woodworking/.

My husband and I took two plans, the Mantel Moulding Headboard, and the Chestwick Platform Bed. We made some slight modifications which are as follows.

For the Mantel Moulding Headboard I wanted it to be a tall. The original plans called for the headboard to be 61 1/2 inches. We made ours so that it sat at 74 inches. We also made the width of the headboard 60 inches so that it was a perfect fit for the base.

For the Chestwick Platform bed we used 2X12's. Since we decided to make the headboard taller, I felt that the 2X8s wouldn't have been aesthetically pleasing. We used heavy duty top corner plates to screw in the bun feet.

Mounting the headboard: Due to the size of this headboard, it is recommended that you attach to a stud in the wall behind headboard to prevent forward tipping. We used french fleat picture hanger with wall dog mounting screws (200 lbs), read instructions. We attached two vertical 1X2's to the back of the headboard for added support, since the headboard rests on the platform bed. After the headboard was properly secured to the wall, and resting on the platform bed, we then installed four mounting brackets. 2 heavy duty corner brackets, and 2 mounting brackets. The heavy duty corner brackets are long enough to screw into the mattress supports, the platform bed, and the headboard (see pics).

This was our second project, and we couldn't have done it without Ana's help.

Was realy easy to build.

DIY Entry Table

My husband and I are very happy with how this table turned out, we put it together in a couple of hours on a weekend. It took me a couple weeks of sanding and staining and sanding and staining to finish it, but it was worth it.
Decided to use up some previously bought stain, Minwax Polyshades in Royal Walnut, but it just wasn't getting as dark a color as I wanted, even after three coats, so I picked up some Varathane Gel Stain in Dark Walnut. 2 coats of that brought it up to a nice rich color.
I'd like to say that I'll never do that many coats of stain again, but I will probably have to go through the whole process again, as we have a in-progress matching side table that I want to finish the same. :)

I made these chairs for friend. Very sturdy and look great!

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

Fancy turned leg dining table.

We are in so in love with this finished piece! We made some modifications to the original plan to fit our needs. We made the top wider - 24" wide like the Pottery Barn original. We also used 4X4's for the legs and widened the distance between the legs to sit the shelves inside the legs.

We also built the second shelf. We created the second shelf to hold wine, so we modified the front of the shelf to allow for the wine bottle necks to rest. The handle was made from plumbing hardware. We got this wonderful idea from one of the posters on this site, I need to find their name to give proper credit, but it worked beautifully.

For the hutch, we also made modifications for our needs. We made it taller by 4" (so 40" tall). We used 1 X 12's for the shelves for a deeper shelf. We also raised the bottom shelf up to accommodate our Keurig coffee maker. We did not divide the middle shelf to leave a tall opening for some items we wanted to display. We also left a gap at the bottom of the hutch for cords.

Once built we distressed the entire piece, then stained with Provencial stain, and finished off with a semi-gloss poly.

The best thing, it cost about 10% of the price of the original!!

Child's chalkboard as a birthday present. "Frozen" inspired color theme. Received feedback that it would also work very well as a boutique store sidewalk sign.