Community Brag Posts

For whatever reason, right before spring, Pier One had these $45 cushions on clearance for $11.13. It took us trips to 4 different stores to collect all the cushions, but we had a new patio set for our new house (minus the sofas). As such, I modified Ana's plans to accommodate the smaller size of the cushions (22x22). Then, I used the savings from the cushions to justify buying a new table saw. It took a while to buy and cut all the lumber, kreg-jig everything together, fill all the holes, sand, seal all the wood, etc., but the work was well worth it. Nearing completion of this project, I built the pictured modified cooler coffee table to ensure that no guest ever has to get up from their seat for any reason during a summer barbeque.

Building the desk was pretty straightforward. I actually saved a little money going with the 2x6s (4 of them was under half the price of a pine project panel) rather than the panel which I actually brought home first. I went with the 2x6s instead because it felt sturdier, and the straightest panel I could find was a little warped (which I didn't want to force).

My biggest piece of advice is, if you don't have a wood planer, DO NOT use a Kreg Jig to assemble the top first. 2xWhatevers just don't seem to "lay" the way you want them to if they're all connected together. I built the legs, added supports and then used glue and 2" finish nails to secure the top, butting them up as close as I could (there's only very minimal gaps, ~1/16 or less) It is SOLID. I filled in the nail holes with Elmer's stainable wood filler. After staining, I used a tiny artist brush with the stain on the filler so it could penetrate a little longer. Worked like a charm!

We decided to go with a color stain on top because it's going in a craft room/office so we wanted it to be bright and fun to get our creative juices flowing. The walls are a light gray so we figured we could afford some color :)

Outdoor patio chair from your collection with torched and polyurethane finish.

My son was about to turn 3 and I really wanted to redesign his bedroom as a birthday surprise. We went with a Toy Story themed room, he just loves Toy Story.
I started off by painting the walls blue with yellow stars like Andy's room in the movie. I added some custom painted art work and then it was off to find a cool playhouse bed. My husband and I were shopping around and we could never really find what we were looking for in the store. So we decided to build one ourselves using plans from this website.
I used the playhouse loft bed and the playhouse loft bed stair plans, for the bed and the stairs. I used the castle loft bed plan as inspiration for the slide. The project took us about 5 weeks from start to finish. We both have full time jobs and we did most of the work on the weekends. I looked at each plan very carefully and made notes. I had to modify the stair plans slightly to fit the space where we wanted to put the bed. The stairs look narrow, but they work just fine. My husband and I can both use them to get up in the bed. The stairs feature hinged stair tread with built in storage. We built them like that at first, but then later decided to make them stationary stair treads, with plywood. I didn't like the way the hinges looked and the top stair was so deep that I was worried my son would fall in there and get stuck. The storage idea was neat, but his safety was more important to me. The bed turned out really nice and VERY sturdy. Both my husband and I are able to get up there with my son (not at the same time).
Another modification that I made was instead of slats to hold on the mattress, I used a piece of plywood. I wanted the roof in the playhouse to look finished, and I didn't want to see his bedding hanging down from the slats. I painted the top of the plywood white, where the mattress goes to blend in with the slats, and the other side was painted blue to match the walls inside the playhouse.
I did modify the playhouse front facade to have 2 windows and one door. I like the symmetrical look. The total project cost about $400. I used birch plywood and select pine boards, and about 6 quarts of paint. I noticed AFTER we had finished the bed using the birch plywood, that Home Depot had cabinet grade plywood on a random end cap, that was just as nice for $12 less a sheet. If I could do it all over again, I would definitely use that!. I wanted the paint to have a nice smooth finish, without having to do a lot of sanding or patching.
We had Home Depot cut the plywood to the dimensions we needed. I had my husband cut the rest of the wood dimensions listed in the plans, and then I painted all of them before we put the pieces together. I used a small roller and self priming paint. The paint finish looks great. After assembling the bed I can not imagine what I would have gone through trying to paint it after the fact.

The slide was a bit tricky, I looked at the plan for the castle loft bed and attempted to use those dimensions, and for the most part they worked. But when we went to assemble the slide, we did end up recutting some of the wood to different dimensions. I used a piece of the melamine coated closet shelf material for the slide.
It is already finished in white and its nice and slick, like a slide should be! I hate MDF, but for this it seemed the best fit. We cut the top edge at an angle to meet up with the slide platform. PLEASE BE CAREFUL with this material. After it was angle cut the edge was razor sharp and I sliced my fingers up. Once it was installed it butted up perfectly to the slide platform, and the edge was hidden and not a danger. But use caution during the install.

Clamps are your friend! We used Kreg clamps for everything. They kept the wood in place while we were screwing the parts together. The coolest thing that my husband came up with was clamping two identical pieces for plywood together, and drawing the template for the slide support walls. Then he used his circular saw to cut them out. We ended up with two mirror image pieces. They looked awesome. I left them clamped together when I sanded the edges as well.
We really didn't have any building experience other, than building tables and chairs for children, We got the deluxe Kreg jig kit and a miter saw on Craigslist for $50 each and they were both practically brand new. This was the first time we had ever used a Kreg jig and we are both addicted. That thing is the bomb.

We locked my son out of his room for a week while we assembled everything. We had the big reveal at his birthday party and all of the guests were excited to see it after seeing my facebook teaser posts of our progress. There were 8 kids up there at one time and the bed did not budge. They all enjoyed the slide. I did the planning and paint and my husband did an awesome job making all of the cuts and sanding everything. We are both very proud of the final product. My son love his new big boy bed.
DISCLAIMER: This bed is not recommended for a child under 6 years old. My son is mature for his age and we monitor him carefully.

Full Instructions HERE

What you will need to build this DIY Welcome Post:

1. 4 x4 Fence Post Cut: 30 inches long 1×6 down to make 2 5 1/2″x5 1/2″ squares and 2 4 1/2″x 4 1/2″ square.
2. Different Widths of wood cut into squares. For the three tear welcome post I have 3 different sized squares. They measure: SMALL: 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches MEDIUM: 7 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches LARGE: 9 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches.
3. Single Hook
4. Long wood screws & Drill
5. Stain
6. Rust-Oleum Varathane Outdoor Classic Clear Water Based Spray, Gloss Finish
7. Wood Glue
8. Orbital Sander or some muscle & some sand paper
9. Wood filler (not required)

Full instructions on how I put this together on my blog.

We remodeled our house and now had a new 9x6 master closet to fill. During construction I saw this design on ana-white.com and liked the style, but wanted to customize the layout. I found an online closet designer and played around until I found something my wife and I liked. We ended up with a 9 foot long his/hers double hanging on the ends and a long hanging section in the middle. And on the other side 8 feet of shelving (leaving about a foot for other storage).

I bought the pipe as a 10 foot pipe to be cut and threaded (for free by the store). I did have to change the design a little because the store cannot thread pipe less than 14 inches. So I ended up replacing the short pipes and T's with 2x4s. That made it a little cheaper and I still like the end result.

We stained all the wood using Minwax "Early American". This probably accounts for most of the build time.

Then I put together the supports and brought them into the closet to add all the pipes and slats. I started with the wall for hanging. And later did the shelving.

Here's another forum with more pictures of this project:

http://woodworking.formeremortals.net/me-mo-community/#/discussion/866/…

This was our second project from Ana's site. There were some bumps in the road (oh, the perils of getting warped 2 by 8 boards to line up perfectly side by side with the Kreg jig). All in all, this table isn't perfect, but it is ours and we love it.

The size of the table in the plans is quite perfect, I'd say. It is long, but fairly narrow. We can sit across from each other as a family of four and still feel cozy, but the table will seat ten if need be.

It is also very, very sturdy....which as a mother to two young boys I appreciate.

This was a 10-20 hour project for us, but we had two children under the age of 5 "helping" and are new to building furniture. I'm certain someone else could build the entire table in an afternoon.

Easy to build toy center for mine craft figures

After building my daughter a storage bed, I no longer needed the X Book Caddy that I had built to contain her books. It's taken on a new life as a nightstand for me!! I modified the caddy to be nightstand height, but it can easily have height added to become a console table. If you want, go build the x caddy and then click over to my blog for the tutorial on making it the bookseller's shelf!

Slightly modified the farmhouse table plans to build the top out of 6 inch pine shiplap, its thinner than the farmhouse plans (its 3/4inch), but I liked the rough cut on the top surface, and overlapping edges made for a great fit. 

I cut the outside edge boards down to 4inch wide, and then mitred the corners to act as a frame for the 6 inch boards. I will build copper corner protectors. 

Finish was: pre-conditioner on the wood, 3 coats of minwax weathered oak stain, 3 coats of polyurethane. Sanded the benches between coats, but not the table, as the table has a rough surface. 

benches are 2x6 fir boards, cut the long edges off on a table saw to make them join better, as I dont have a jointer.  Same finish applied as the table. 

Table is 8 feet long, 38 inches wide.  seats 10 comfortably.

It was half finished in my garage for several months, in which time I used it as a workbench - so it has plenty of authentic weathering dings and dents. 

It was my first project, as I have only recently moved into a house with a garage. 

Loved the construction part, hated the finishing steps. 

thanks!

oz

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! 

I pretty much just followed the plan. It did not take long to build, but I spent quite a bit of time on the finish. I sanded and sanded and sanded. I was going for a restoration Hardware type finish and got pretty close. This was the first piece of furniture I built. Recently moved to a farm so have been building farm needs projects and finally had time to build some furniture.  I purchased the bench cushions. 

Thanks for the awesome plans, information and site Ana! I love it!

Janice