Community Brag Posts

We had the bed on plastic bed risers because we needed more storage in this small house.  It was on one of those free metal bed frames you get when you buy the mattress and box springs.  Wheels on risers is not too stable and we couldn't keep the pillows from falling down in between the bed and the wall.  Sitting up in bed was also difficult due to pulling on the window curtain and the bed sliding or moving when leaning back on the wall.

I searched for a few months at furniture stores, websites, and craigslist to buy a headboard when I found this estimated price on someone's at $150 or so.  That's less than I would spend for a headboard that I both liked and was made of real wood.  Plus, it would come as a whole bed vs just the headboard.

I probably spent around $250 total, screws, hardware and stain/poly included.  All the wood was $195 all from home depot.  I had to go through every single 4x4 on two occasions to find 4 that I thought were good enough for furniture.

The clearance is a full 12 inches below the rails and footboard.  I wanted the footboard to be about even with the top of the mattress.  Also, the bottom of the headboard to be even with the top of the mattress to maximize area to lean back against.  As a result it does seem a little silly looking and disproportionate without the mattress on the bed.  Also I had to use four 4x4's to get the height needed above the mattress and box springs and 12 inch clearance for storage underneath.

This is the first time I've polyurethaned anything and I think it came out nicely.

Started March 29th 2014 and just finished a couple of weekends ago.  I don't have that many tools, for example I used some ratcheting tie downs to hold things together while screwing together the headboard and footboard.  I believe at the time I only had one clamp.  I was really dreading this project taking more than a year.  One of my buddies constantly ragged on how long it was taking me.  I want to thank him for all the times he laughed at me while I was too tired to get off the couch.  Bo, you are a true friend.  Studying and school work took alot of time and I was away over the summer and winter breaks.  My next project will only take one month I hope.  I'm going to try to do something like the farmhouse table only for taller chairs that will seat about 4.  I like the rounded edge look to the wood which allows for a little bit of error in the straightness of the wood and cuts etc.  This was a fun project and when we get more room I want to build a king size.

I guess I'm going to see what chair plans there are on this site now before I look at starting a table.

Thanks to all the other brags that allowed me to show my wife what the bed could look like finished and different rail systems and supports.  I bought rockler hardware, no mortise required, from amazon so the bed could be disassembled and moved easily without nuts and bolts exposed.  I'll definitely do that again for the next bed I build.

I have more photos of it unfinished and being built if anyone cares to see I can upload them as well.

Happy building everyone!

Very easy project if you have some experience. 

My husband and I fell in love with this table when we found the plan on Ana White. He did the building, I did the staining and painting. We built the matching bench and found the chairs on Craig's List. It was perfect for our outdoor space.

We wanted a narrow console table that would fit next to the bed in our guest room. This accent table is less than 12 inches wide. I came across a stair baluster plan and made it my own. The balusters and top are red oak, the aprons and bottom shelf are poplar. I used white semigloss for the body and red mohagany stain for the top to try and match the doors in the room. Came pretty close! I'm very happy with the two toned look and the project overall. This is my third furniture project! I'm addicted.

Based my design off the shoe bench version of dresser. Used old leather belts to keep bins from falling out. Am considering adding legs but currently without legs the dresser doesnt fall forward when bins are open. Added a third support in the middle - dresser seems strong enough to seat 1 person but the idea isnt that its extra seating, more like another surface for a lamp and some plants. Used a long nail on either side of bins to keek bins aligned when open. A hinge would work better though, I got lazy. Great way to store shoes!

I desperately needed some storage in my workroom and finally decided to make this! It's from the 6 Cube Bookshelf plan and it works perfectly in this space I've got in my workroom.
I would've rather used real wood throughout, but this is my first proper project and to keep the cost down I used MDF for the main boards (all cut to size by my local B&Q, yay!) and planed whitewood 1x2s.
I definitely learnt a lot on this project, but most of the mistakes are hidden under the paint :-) and in the end I'm really pleased.
I wanted an off-white finish and, after a baffling time in the paint aisle, chose a very pale grey, it sits in the room perfectly! I'm hoping to make some fabric boxes for it, but not sure what colours I want yet.
Now for the next project...

made from scraps, the only purchase I made was for the drawer pull and the paint.

I really wanted to add a layer of depth to the front of our house, and my favorite option was adding new shutters! I used fence boards to keep cost low and to be sure that the wood would stand up to all weather conditions. I protected the wood with an oil-based sealant made for exterior use. I attached the cross braces with chunky screws and painted those black. I love how they turned out!

Providence Bench with a top made of three 2x6's rather than 2x4's. Tried to get it to stain gray, but had BAD luck with stain, so it has a multi-layered painted finish.

Queen size Day Bed with Full size trundle made of yellow pine and dark stain from Homedepot

This was pretty easy to follow based on the instructions. It took me a little longer than expected becuase of the weather, I had to run back and forth to cut the wood from where I was building it.

This was my first project from this site, and I couldn't be happier with it! It was easy and fun. I didn't have ANY supplies outside of a hammer, so my cost was a little higher since I had to purchase everything - nails, wood conditioner, stain, polyurethane, sand paper, etc.

Overall, very happy with how it turned out!

This was a great plan. My wife loved the finished product. Made a few variations to accomodate for the size of scrap wood that I had. 

After seeing one in the brag posts and reading pretty much every one of the farmhouse bed plans,I too modified the original farmhouse king plans to create a four poster bed. The 4x4s are untreated Douglas fir. I cut each 4x4 only once. The top posts are 35in. and the bottom are 61in. I personally think the bottom posts are too tall but my husband really likes them the way they are.Since this bed was his birthday present, he wins :) The post caps are 1x6s cut to 4.5 and 5.5 squares then stacked on each other.
I used 1x4 furring strips to make the headboard and footboard panels instead of 1x8s. I made the wide center panel from a 1x8 I had on hand. This made the total width of the headboard and footboard 76 in. (between the 4x4 posts) As I did not wish to use a box spring, I used 2x6s for the side rails with 2x4s spanning the width of the bed. I then ran a a 2x4 down the center and mounted a 5th leg, made from a 4x4, under the center of the bed. The 2x6 side rails are covered by a painted and distressed 1x10.

This was one of my first DIY projects - while the "perfectionist" in my is not overjoyed by the final product, I think it's pretty good for a newbie.  It's a gift, so I'm sure my brother-in-law will like it.  Plus, I learned a lot about what do do in the future!

One main change I made was with the drain.  I had a hard time getting a good seal with the plans provided.  So instead, I got a smaller hose (1/2-inch OUTER DIAMETER) and put it through the cooler drain instead of on the outside.  This still caused a seal issue, but I used rubber/putty cement around the inside of the cooler drain & hose, as well as where the hose entered the wood cooler on the inside.  This only allowed the water to exit the drain or stay in the cooler until it passed through the drain.

I skipped the side shelf, but added the little steel bucket to catch bottle caps.  And while I live in Texas, I had to give a shoutout to my Wisconsin roots (notice the bottle opener says "Drink Wisconsinbly".

All in all, I think it was a fairly good project for a DIY newcomer.  Looking forward to figuring out what my next project will be!