Community Brag Posts

Reclaimed wood desk top for a Geek Desk stand.

This was my first build of this Rustic X Coffee Table and I really liked how it turned out! This one was modified to 43" long, same height and width. I love all the Rustic X pieces in this collection! They have been a favorite.

I finished the table using black tea, steel wool and vinegar, followed by Minwax's Dark Walnut stain and topped off with a Satin oil-based Polyurethane.

To see my other projects, make sure to visit my facebook page (only after you have spent enough time on Ana's site!)
www.facebook.com/simplyrustik

Needed a small table for the nursery and this was perfect! 

I zigzag stitched vintage neckties to plain canvas and used these directions to construct the stool frame. I used 1 5/8" screws.

Based this wagon on plans found on Ana White's site. I built this for a 2 year old girl of a co-worker. She is right now using it to pull around her dolls.

Sliding barn door tv console. Created the metal hardware from aluminum i bought from home depot ($80)

A while back I saw some posts on how to convert Ikea furniture into a litter box hider, which I thought was a great idea. Then I stumbled across the "Shanty-2-Chic" blog and the Kentwood Nightstand (and then of course Ana's site). I LOVED the stand and thought it'd be great to modify that plan into a bench version, so I could hide the litter box. I loosely followed the original plans and modified them to suite the dimensions of the litter box. I also wanted a lid that would lift so I could easily clean the litter box. I also cut a hole in one end so the cats could get in and out. I loved the look of the door on the Nightstand version, so I made two to fit the bench shape. I made one door first, then re-measured for the other door so that they would fit perfectly (good thing I did as the second one ended up needing to be a little longer than the other). In the photos I haven't added the bottom of the box yet, but I'll use L-brackets, attach leftover 1x3 as a border, then lay down old ikea shelves I had kicking around. The shelves will actually work out quite well as they have a laminate finish - making it easier to clean. I have a little carpet square to lay in there are well to catch the litter before the cats walk out. I intend to get a cushion for the top, so that my guests can sit on it when we're hanging out in the kitchen. I won't tell them they're sitting on top of the litter box :) Over all the project took me a really long time, but that was partly because I didn't have all the right tools, was often working in my living room (due to rain and working late at night), and I'm super anal about measuring! I'm really really happy with the way it turned out! P.S I bought the $20 Kreg Jig and must say that I LOVE that thing.

I built this closet system for our basement gym as a Christmas present to my boyfriend.  He loved it!

I stained all of the boards before building as suggested in the plan - it definitely saved a lot of time and stress.  After cutting and staining, and I brought all of the pieces downstairs to build.  

The actual building went relatively quickly, but without perfectly straight boards, the shelves themselves were a little tricky.  I also just nailed the shelf boards down with wood glue rather than screwing them in to save time - it's still sturdy and secure.

The length of the closet is about 8 feet long, so the middle shelf is about 1 foot and the two rod shelves are about 3.5 feet long.

This was pretty easy and inexpensive to make.  I'm going to make the coffee table this weekend, but converting it to a chest with a lift top.  Purchased some cantilever hinges for that on Amazon for about $35.  Will post pics of that once it's done.  Sorry the photos came out sideways....They keep uploading that way even though they are right side up on my iPad......

I was told about the site from my neighbor. Little did I know I would find myself wanting to build everything on this site. So I started with the 6 cube bookshelf leaving out the dividers on top to allow the kids to use it as a bookshelf. I also wanted them to have a place to store their dress up clothes when they weren't in them. So, I turned the 6 cube bookshelf on its side and added a couple of inches to allow for small dress up outfits. I am going to put the storage bins in the squares once I find some.

I followed the plan for making the shell of the house, but since I have access to help and the on-post woodshop I made a few changes.  We cut a 2x4 to fit the doorway, and then used the lazer cutter to make the panels, after sanding and painting, I used a necklace bead as the doorknob.  We also cut some 1" square blocks and drilled the center, the used the grinder to round them out to make a holder for the dowl curtain rod.  I also used scrap frame wood for the window/door trim.  Then I covered the entire house in wallpaper!  The outside is a brick wallpaper, the inside is a gray/silver with sparkles, and the ceiling is white with sparkles.  I used cork for the floor so it would be soft and warm feeling.  It took me a long time, but I am very happy with the results.  My daughter was thrilled to recieve this on Christmas morning!  

Built a pair of these for the master bedroom as my first project... Not too bad, very functional, and I was able to use mostly wood I had laying around...

This build has been (thus far) my biggest and most ambitious yet. This is not only for the size of the build but the techniques I used. While I did use pocket holes in many spots I changed the design by using two stretchers to span between the sides and provide support for both side walls and bed slats. To reduce the number of pocket holes the original plan called for I used my stacked dado kit and created to dado cuts in the stretchers to support the bed slats and side walls.

But I can't say enough good things about Ana and this site. The original plans where a inspiration to build this bed and continue to inspire me to build other projects around the house. All of our friends who have seen pictures of our Sons Ski Patrol Shack bed have raved about it and I can even see a little pride in my sons face when other kids are ranting about how "cool" his bed is.

So while I didn't follow the plans exactly the end result can't be disputed; its an awesome feeling to give your child such a great bed! My son came up to me and hugged me and said he loved his bed. So from a plan I downloaded to that moment of my son telling me he loved it was all worth the effort!! Thank you Ana for posting this and all the other plans. They are not just building plans to download they are happy memories waiting to be built!! Cheers from Colorado!

We made this bed in the king size. DEFINITELY sand each shim prior to gluing it down. It is definitely no fun rolling over in the night and hurting my hand on the rough shims. I would also recommend staining the headboard (the base for the shims) prior to gluing down shims so that any holes between shims blend in with the stain color underneath. We did not and there are a couple spots that you can see the plain wood under the shims. Also, we did what they recommended in the plans to secure the side rails. The bed is not very stable and squeaks. We keep talking about altering it somewhat, but it's so dang heavy that we have been putting it off. One other thing that I wish we had done would have been to sand off the corners of the end of the footboard. We've gotten a few bruises from walking into the ends. It cost more than we expected and it took longer. But overall, we love it and are very happy with it. Just wish we had known now to do some things differently. 

changed the dimensions some but thanks for the inspirations!