Community Brag Posts

I've been looking for a bench for our hallway for months and have yet to find one I love, but I did fall in love with Mimi's Storage Bench and Hall Tree.

I was determined to make this bench for free. My husband scavenged construction sites for salvage and brought me home quite a bit of scrap. Once I had a nice assortment of boards, I began the job of making them fit the specs. This was much more time consuming than purchasing boards that were the right size to start with. I got quite familiar with the planer (I had to plane down 2x's to 1x's) and even faced the terrifying table saw to rip a few boards down to size.

The lid was made from an old shelf and the inside panels are an old painting from art school--on masonite--that I finally brought myself to part (with). I already had the paint left over from a table I made over, so that was also free!

It didn't take much convincing to get my husband to pick up a pockethole jig. He's been wanting one himself. It was actually a lot more fun and much easier to use than I expected.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. It's made out of some pretty rough wood, so there are a few holes I'll go back and fill in the future--or maybe not. There are also some rough spots and less-than-true boards, but not bad for a free piece of furniture.

This was my first big woodworking project. It was a lot of fun and I gained a lot of knowledge and confidence that I'll use to build more ambitious projects in the future. I think woodworking is actually easier than sewing because boards generally don't stretch, shift, snag, and unravel while you're working.

I plan to scale this plan down, add some safety hinges, and notch the board under the front of the lid to make a bench/toy box for my little girl's room.

Using Ana's 10 dollar raised garden planter box idea, I made my own using the cedar fence boards and then used 2 x 3 x 8 studs for the L corner supports and mid center support along with top rail. This photo is the first 3, I will have a total of 6 boxes. Will post more as I progress.

I had been looking for a console table that would compliment my dining table for months.  Nothing I found was really working out, but these plans are perfect.  The only problem was that I couldn't get the stacked look to work well with the tabletop I had because of the way the apron is made.

Still I love the way it turned out and am glad I found these plans.  I also made it taller than a normal console table so it can be multi-purpose for us.

Upholstered Farmhouse Storage Bed

Although not taken directly from your plans, it was highly inspired by ideas from this great website. Thanks Ana for putting such a great DIY resource together.

This is a simple, great looking loft bed.
Made with basic tools -> circular saw, drill, jig saw, and pocket hole jig. Lumber was all standard MDF sheet, 2x4s, 1x2s and 2x2s.
I would estimate total cost around $225 or so including all hardware, lumber, paint, etc.

My son is 3, so I designed a set of stairs. They can easily be removed in a year or so and replaced with a ladder.

Next up is a cottage style loft bed for his twin sister!

With lots of deer, rabbits, coyotes, and the occasional bear, garden enclosures are a must in our area (although I am not sure they will really help if a bear decides they're interested in our food). As our old garden enclosure was falling down due to the high winds and a quite a few winters in upstate New York, my mom found a horseshoe shaped garden with rasied beds that she loved. So, after searching around for a good plan, I found Ana White's collaboration with Home Depot for this enclosure.

While the original plan was far too small for our needs, I was able to expand the length of the enclosure creating enough room to add two small beds on either side of the door and a center bed, which is perfect for herbs. The build was not difficult as I was able to do most of it by myself (with the exception of contructing the frame and attaching the door) and I am sure this would go much quicker with an extra set of hands. As I did not have a large chunk of time to devote to this project, it did take me quite some time stretched over a few weeks. Nonetheless, I am very happy with how it turned out.

After construction, my family got a little garden happy and decided we wanted to plant even more vegetables than we had originally planned. So, we created a much simpler but nonetheless less pest-proof enclosure for two more beds to the left of our original project (shown in the photos).

Although this was an expensive project (exact price is unkown), it is quite sturdy and we expect it to last a long time and provide lots of vegetables. We added some hanging baskets for decoration and decided next year we will add some morning glories around the outside corners for some extra shade during the afternoons. Some minor alterations also included a latch that allows us to open and close the door from both sides, we actually picked up a gate latch kit for this part of the project, and using welded wire fencing instead of chicken wire. While the welded wire added to the cost, it will hold up better to the wind and snow and is still protective enough to keep out our main predators.

Thanks so much for the plans Ana! In the begining, our neighbors joked we were building a guest house :). I have included some photos from throughout the build as well.

This box is 3 boards high (cedar dog-eared fence pickets), using the full length of the pickets for the sides and 1/2 the length of the boards for the ends. The dog ears were removed with a pull saw before painting and construction.

A 12ft, 8 inch wide, pressure treated pine plank was used to create a bench shelf along the sides. The plank was halved to create 2 benches. Small, 1 x 2s hold all three boards flush to form the sides. Segments of 2 x 4's were secured to create braces that hold the benches. The upper level of the end boards are longer than the bottom two and serve as additional support for the ends of the pine bench boards.

Wood screws were used for assembly. Corner brackets reinforce the interior corners for added stability. All exterior boards were painted before assembly.

The bed interior is 17" deep 33" wide x 71" long.

This took me 4 days to sand (by hand), prime and paint so daddy and papa to put together the bed she's always wanted.

Modified the bench from the plans I got from DIY Pete to curve the back like an Adirondack. Bench given to a Disabled Vet and his wife.

Rob L.

I decided to make the headboard from this pan for the bed in one of my two guest room. After making the first one out of knotty alder and to full specs, I was so happy with it, that I decided to make it again for my second guest room, this time out of reclaimed and weathered pine and fir, but I needed the full bed frame too. Also due to the height of the headboard and window placement in the room, I lowered the height of the headboard by about a foot and then fashioned a foot board from the original headboard design. Bed rails were made from 2X6 fir and attached with rail hangers which costs about $15.00 I used a driftwood stain and it really brought out the grain of the wood. Thanks for the plans guys this worked out awesome.

This remodel project was a year in the making. We purchased this 1980's house (notice the before pic) 3-years ago and immediately started tearing into it... all of it. The bathrooms were the last on the list to be remodeled. An impending baby shower spurred the need to complete this project, and we're pleased with how it came out.

We searched high and low when trying to decide on the vanity, and came across the plans for the one pictured here when searching for "Rustic" or "Western". Coming from a family of carpenters, I felt comfortable enough in my ability to tackle this simple project. I'm a tall guy so I wanted something that was comfortable for me to use as well. I made this vanity higher and longer than the plans originally called for.

The space in the bathroom allows for a dual sink, but we're a small family and felt the 2nd sink wasn't necessary at this time. I don't like to remove features that are already present, so the bottom crate is actually covering the plumbing in case we or the next owner decide to add a second sink. The other crates obviously provide the storage that isn't currently present with this type of vanity. I may add a shelf on the bottom, but I like the open look and feel.

The counter top is simply cedar fencing that's been well sanded, stained and protected with 4 coats of Poly. I staggered the top to give it a different look as well.

The mirror was the full length of the wall, but cut down to match the size of the new vanity and framed on the wall.

The lights ($29) are simple, outdoor galvanized coach lamps found at Lowes.

The vessel sink ($99) was found at homedepot.com (much better selection than at your local store), and the faucet ($149) came from Lowes.

Our guests loved the bathroom, as do my wife and I.

I tried this as my first ever project after going through different plans and technique. I did great (I think :-) ) until end and think i screwed up with staining. There is dried glue left on the surafce which i thought i sanded but appeared as soon as i stained.

Feed back / comments on the design and please suggest a way to fix the staining issue.

This was an incredibly easy project. The construction only took a couple of hours, but because of the horrific humidity it took me days to finish staining and waxing the headboad. The wood was the cheapest Home Depot had to offer. It was perfectly imperfect. For the finish, I used 3 coats of Minwax Stain in Jacobean, sanding with steel wool in between each coat. I finished the stain with 2 coats of Minwax Paste Wax.