Community Brag Posts

Check out the details about how we build the bed on my blog: http://www.brightgreendoor.com/2013/05/diy-ana-white-jr-loft-bed.html

Although nothing about it was difficult, it was time consuming, and consumed the greater part of two weekends.

We followed the plans on Ana White’s blog pretty close, other than narrowing up the stairs by a few inches due to a furnace vent that would have been in the way.

We bought all of our boards at Menards which came in just under $100 including the large piece of plywood. I spent chunks of time throughout the week getting all of the boards sanded. Then we spent a Saturday getting all the boards cut to the proper size. Then it was a week full of giving all the wood 2 coats of Bulls Eye primer and a top coat of high gloss cabinet paint.

I also installed the Ikea Kvartal track system around the inside of the bottom bunk. I used leveler clips from Ace to hang Ikea curtains that I altered.

My boys were SO excited the whole time we were building it and love it. My little one calls the whole bed his “top bunk”, even though he sleeps on the bottom. They also have dubbed the area under the platform the “hideout” and think they are invisible when they are hiding in there.

I adjusted the measurements to make it longer and wider. I also looked the original Pottery Barn trunk and tried to copy the multi color finish. I had so much fun building this!

We wanted a patio table to fit up to 10.  Done with a mix of pocket holes & 1/2" hex bolts. Made small changes to the stretchers. Moved them inside because we liked that aestetic better.  We made the top longer because we didnt want to do the breadboard ends. Used big 4" hex bolts & washers and painted them with "hammered steel" paint to give them a more vintage look.

Will be making the matching benches next. We wanted the benches to fit perfectly underneath the table for storage, so Ill be cutting the bench seats to fit under table leg to leg. 

This was my first furniture building project. I made quite a few mistakes along the way, but I'm happy with how well it turned out. This project took me ages; I'm amazed that people can pull it off in a weekend! I made the table slightly lower and narrower than Ana's plan. It comfortably seats 6 people. I'm so grateful to Ana for her plans, and I also found the instructions at the tommy & ellie site very helpful.

My oldest son grew out of his twin bed and we found the plans for the Cassidy bed and thought it'd be perfect.  He couldn't think of a " theme" for his room so we decided to make the headboard taller to keep from having a "blank wall" to have to decorate.  It turned out great! We used Colonial Maple, American Walnut and English Chestnut stains for the shims & Colonial Maple + Kona for the border.  This was my first time building a queen bed. I am so excited with the way it turned out.  This project was so much easier than I had anticipated.  It took about 3 days for me because we had triple digit weather and that limited the amount of time I could work outside.  I needed help with the final assembly, but other than that, it was a breeze.  Thanks again for the awesome plans!

This bed is made exactly the same as the plans. Pretty easy. Very sturdy, I did use the kreg jig to assemble, even to attach the sides to the headboard and footboard. I'm not able to use the box spring anymore, since it makes it too high.

Double closet door build I did for a relative. He provided the stack of barnwood. Used a carbon gray stain. Fun and rewarding build!

This was a birthday gift for a 1 year old. Yes it's painted like the tractor.

I built this bench for my niece on her birthday. It as easy and fun to build. My niece and everybody at the party loved it.

I did a shortened version of the Farm Table, I only had room for a six foot table. I wanted to give it an old-looking feel, so I beat it up a bit and stained it with an ebony stain, then a jacobean. I plan to paint the legs black.

We wanted a bench for our daughter for our front porch, both for sitting and for storage of her rain boots, outdoor toys, etc. I'm definitely a beginner woodworker so I wanted something easy I could tackle in a couple of days with only basic tools, so I chose the Kids' Country Bench project. I liked the version posted here by a user named Jenny Anne, who modified the bench to make three cubbies rather than two on the bottom shelf, so I did the same thing.

It was easy, and the bench turned out great! I used no power tools except for a cordless drill to do the 40+ pilot holes & woodscrews. I don't own a jigsaw and I want to learn hand tools anyway, so I used a coping saw (a kind of miniature hacksaw) to do the curved cuts on the trim & the legs, and used heavy-grit sandpaper to smooth out the wobbles (there were a lot of wobbles).

For the rest of the cuts I used a Japanese-style pull saw (a cheap one from Ace Hardware). Cutting all the boards to length with a handsaw was probably the hardest part, and I had a tough time truing the edges. Next time I would probably use a miter box and miter saw to get perfect 90-degree angles, but I got better as I went along, and was able to finish the edges pretty well with a wood file and sandpaper.

I wanted to stain it a deep red color, but my better half insisted on a clear stain, so I used clear Polycrylic, four coats on the top & outsides, and three coats on the inner & undersides.

The bench feels pretty sturdy and is definitely strong enough to take my 3-year-old's weight. The trim on the front and back acts as a brace, so it's got some structural integrity. I don't know that I would trust it to hold an adult's full weight for very long -- I probably won't be dancing on it or using it as a stepstool or anything, but for a kid's bench it's solid and level.

The whole build probably took me four sessions in my "workshop" (i.e. my basement), at probably 2-3 hours per session. With woodworking it's definitely true that you learn by doing -- I gained confidence as I went along and am excited to try some more advanced projects!

Shrink size and make double truss small coffee/project table. Select Minwax NATURAL BEIGE water base stain and got very warm, peachy color.