Community Brag Posts

Came together pretty easily. Took about half a day.

From start to completion, it was exactly two weeks.  One of those weeks, I was sick and didn't get a chance to do much.  I believe we picked the hottest days to work on this project, so we were taking more breaks than actually working.

I really loved the outdoor daybed, but after discussing it with my husband we decided to go without the canopy feature. We, also resized the bed from a twin size to a toddler size (which happened to be almost the same dimensions as our love seat). In order to make the daybed without the canopy, I had to put the top pieces on last in order to have them go all the way from edge to edge. All in all, this was a super easy project, and I had a lot of fun doing it!

I got the crib mattress free of craigslist, and since a crib mattress is already covered with vinyl, I didn't do anything extra to waterproof it, and the fabric came from the home decor remnants section at our local fabric store for $4 a yard, which I applied a 40% coupon to. The throw pillows are not the ones we will be using, but I haven't made those yet, so these are just for looks :)

My husband designed this after the farm house bed. I wanted panels on the head board and foot board to "dress it up a bit" and storage drawers. He did a wonderful job. I don't think I have ever had a more prized piece of furniture. Now to find some tall night stands.

Built my sister a cat condo before she moved so she could take it with her to her new house. Made out of carpet remnants, and scrap wood, so it was FREE! hahaha. I like free! Don't you?

I scoured the web unsuccessfully for months trying to find a cabinet big enough to store everything we needed to store. I wanted something huge and bright and simple, and so I decided to just build away. It's 8'4" long, 18" deep and 36" tall. Topped with a slab of Giallo Napoleon granite and painted a nice plain white. Took me only a few nights to build and paint, thanks to my power nailer and power paint sprayer. Thanks to a great deal on a remnant granite slab, this was just about $400 total start to finish. I winged the entire plan and didn't really use any plans in particular, though I have gathered many great ideas and tips from this site.

Inspired by the Tall Secretary with mail slots but with my own twist/needs incorporated in it. Finished with pure white satin paint.

This was my first build and I learned A LOT and watched A LOT of youtube diy videos. The main take-away from this project is not to build in the freezing cold if the finished project is for inside. I finished this project in below freezing temperatures and I noticed that the wood expanded (increasing slightly the gap between the finished boards on the top) when it was brought inside.

I built this from the original farmhouse table plans with no kreg jig although I did buy and use a pocket kreg jig to make the extensions. The main modifications were using 4x4s such as were used in the Country Living magazine spread that inspired this build and also making modifications to allow the addition of 15" extensions at each end of the table's bread boards.

My first challenge was figuring out how to build with the 4x4 legs instead of the 2 2x4s screwed together. In order to accomplish this i had to use a chisel to create the corner lip that the table top frame would sit on. I added photos of this so I hope it will help someone. Chiseling these 4 corners (one on each post) only took an hour or two and was so worth it for the look of the 4x4s. Just measure carefully and work carefully with a sharp chisel. I actually removed half the wood by sawing off the corner at a 45 degree angle. Remember when cutting your boards for the table ends that a 4x4 has different dimensions than 2 2x4s screwed together. Compensate for this in your cuts.

Another challenge was hiding the screws on the table legs and table top. I was leaving the finish natural so didn't want to use wood fill. I accomplished this by getting a countersink bit and then buying wooden dowels the same diameter. For these screw holes, after finishing screwing, I put a dab of wood glue in the countersink hole, inserted the dowel as far as it would go, used a fine hand saw to cut off the dowel flush with the table and then used a hammer to make sure the dowel was in tight and flush.

I had trouble figuring out how to attach the table top frame to the table legs with the long screws from the plans so I included a picture of this step. Its really easy but I was not able to use three screws as the plan calls for. I used two instead and it has been very solid. I used the long screws as proscribed.

Finally, I wanted to build extensions (2 2x8 boards kreg jigged together) so I could increase seating up to a max. of 12 persons, so I needed to cut out 2x2 gaps on the table ends. I also included a picture of these in place. To make room for the 2 2x2s that extend under the bread boards and table top to brace the extensions, I left out one of the 2x2 cross beams at each end of the underside of the table (the boards that the table top boards screw into).

I hope this is helpful to you!

I downloaded the plans for the octagonal table. I have made several and used a few different woods, made a few minor design changes as well as creating a routine and using a jig or two. This jig fits in between the two boards that form the seat support frame. I used a large paint stick and a scrap piece of 2 x 4. Using a table saw, I cut a groove in the 2" edge, approximately 1/2" deep, this took two passes (pass it through, turn it and pass again), a slight adjustment and another two passes. Insert the paint stick and seat all the way down. Place jig between seat support frame, might be a little snug or use a clamp to hold in place. Adjust so just the paint stick sticks up enough to separate seat boards. With seat boards against the jig, it forms the perfect angle/guide to match cuts. I also used 1/2" spacers to create consistent spacing. Love the various plans you make available as well as your videos.

We and our dogs love our new sofa! This is the place where we cuddle with the dogs and serve as extra seating when we have guests. It looks great! Thank you so much Ana.