Community Brag Posts

Over a year ago my wife Rebecca and I decided that our two oldest children would love to have bunk beds.  They are close in age and already share many toys, so sharing a room made sense.  Plus we had to make room for our third child that was on his way!

We searched for bunk beds and found that those within our budget were made of low quality plywood.  We were concerned about the safety of potential bunk beds and whether they could withstand our boys’ roughness.  Quality bunk beds, on the other hand, were easily above a thousand dollars which was way beyond our budget.  We were pretty bummed that we could not find our kids a suitable bunk bed within our expectations.

Then Rebecca suggested: “You could build them one.”

Hmmmmmm.  It was an interesting statement from my wife, perhaps even a challenge.  A challenge that I immediately immersed myself into.  Mission accepted!

What I did differently:

• Added extra posts for a sturdier bunk bed.
• Bunk bed is longer to fit twin mattresses, height increased.
• Added rail slats and trim.
• Added LED lights.

6'x3' Farmhouse table.  Top is made of 2x8's, stained with MinWax natural oak. Legs are 5"x5" "husky" legs found on Etsy.com.  Side aprons are 1x6 pine.  The base has a basecoat of mahogany stain, covered my antique white milk paint and distressed with an orbital sander.   

I was hoping to get the same "old world chipped paint" finish that Ana did on one of her tables, but I couldn't get it to replicate.  But I'm still happy with the results.

We decided to build a daybed after we discovered that the space we needed to fill was a bit of an odd size and nothing we saw was going to work. We fell in love with West Elm's rectangles daybed but it was very much out of our budget as we are getting married in June. We recently acquired a kregjig and this was the perfect project to really test it's worth. Once all the cuts were made and the pocket holes drilled, putting this together was quite easy. We were lucky that it fit through our front door, and we attached the support beams after it was in place. We opted for spray paint to finish it off, but we didn't sand everything down beforehand so we may pull it back outside at a later date and smooth things out a bit. We are really impressed with how sturdy this daybed is and EVERYONE compliments us on it. This is our second Ana White plan we've used and only the second major woodworking project we've completed. We bought the ready to use slats at IKEA along with a twin mattress.

You can see the whole project here: http://nearlydomesticated.blogspot.com/2013/03/here-comes-sun.html

My hubby built this because of the original inspiration of the one on your site.  The Vanity Hutch with recessed lights.  So thankful to have had the original photo and plans to work from.  I love how it came out. The countertops are concrete.

Love, love, love the ideas on your website.  Thanks so much!

Made these chairs for my 1 year old to use as she is learning to stand and climb!

This was my first real build!! I did it simultaneously with the elementary trestle desk, land of nod bookshelf, rolling cubbie stools and hanging bookshelf! My son wanted the ladder vs the steps and was thrilled with the hammock made out canvas drop cloths:) I made a simple bed box for chalk and cups of water at bedtime and just screwed it in to the top 2x4! the build was easy...however the assembly took my daughters help! It took me about 3 hours to build the bed and I stained it with general finishes java gel stain! It was so much fun and I am so addicted!! I will submit brag posts for the other builds soon!

My wife and I live in a 575 sq ft Manhattan apartment with two young boys so space is extremely limited! Last year when our older son was 6 he had the idea to turn our tiny bathroom hallway area into a work space for his growing homework assignments. It took me a year, but it all fell into place when I found this design. Luckily we live in a quirky old 1844 brick row house and I've been lucky enough to craft a small space in the basement where I can keep my tools and work on projects. Even a small desk like this takes more space than you think!

I had to make it a bit smaller to fit the wall space we have. Then I realized the exterior hinges wouldn't have enough clearance because of the door frame. I found a neat set of interior hinges made by Pojjo but they attached to the sides as well as the bottom so the craft paper section was in the way. Then my wife said, "Can you flip it upside-down?" Absolutely. The only other hack I added was adjustable peg slots for the shelf on the left.

I did a twist on the chalkboard theme by painting the desk in a semi-gloss but the entire hallway in hot pink chalkboard paint--pink is my son's fave color =:-) Hudson Paints has an amazing range of chalkboard paint colors.

We love, love, love this design--thanks, Ana!

Built the porch swing and was inspired to build the glider frame by another "Brag Post" Looks great and fits perfectly in my back yard!

I was inspired by the custom closets on this site and decided to have a go at it. My daughter is in high school, so I wanted something functional with a bit of teenage flair.

Of all the designs I researched, I loved Kristen's design (from Pink Toes & Power Tools here: http://ana-white.com/2012/02/closet-organizer) the most, but wanted to add a substantial shoe section and not lose any rod space in the process. I also needed one rod section to be longer than the other two to hang her dresses.

All in all a fun project where I used just about every tool I own:

Circular saw to rough out the plywood shelves and supports.

Table saw with a cross-cut sled (http://wnwoodworkingschool.com/5-cuts-to-a-perfect-cross-cut-sled/) to make the plywood pieces all perfectly square & an extra long rip fence.

Router (with jig) for the dovetail joints, detailing on the drawer fronts and rounding the leading edges of the shelves.

Power drill for mounting the drawers, drawer fronts and handles

Compound Miter saw for the various face framing pieces and the shoe moulding

Pipe cuter to cut the rods (also made a jig to both hold the rods in place while I mounted the supports and set it at the correct height and distance from the wall--used a planer in making this)

Orbital sander

Brad nailer during assembly (also made a jig here to set the plywood pieces on during the tower assembly to keep the back square while I used 90 deg clamps on the fronts).

Airless paint sprayer (I have learned that my wife does not like brush marks!)

Washers for spacing the drawer fronts (found this trick online and it works like a charm!)

Lots of clamps!!!

I made the one with the different color chairs and chalkboard table top first. 

I then made the batman set for my nephew.

I recommend using 2x2's for the legs on the chairs like another bragger does, the 1x2's weren't sturdy enough for my kiddos.

Thanks for the plans!

Started with the regular loft bed, and added 10 inches to the height. Then I made a ladder instead of stairs to save room. Enclosed it, then added the finishing touches. Link to the process and my son's reaction is below. 

https://youtu.be/xhOqYV7RkKQ

-John

I upgraded the "Simple Bookshelf Plan" somewhat. I dadoed my shelves into the sides, built the majority of the shelf with pine faced with Red Oak, and added a laminated pine top which I routered with an ogee bit.

The back is tongue and groove pine paneling.

I finished the project with three coats of Spar Varnish. It's a good plan and produces a handsome result.

Beginner project if you use the basic plans. With dadoed shelves and a routered edge it probably bumps it up to intermediate.

I made the side street bunk beds for one one of my sons, so it was time to make a project for my other one. I showed him several different beds, but in the end, he wanted it to look like the same style as his brothers....Of course!  He picked the colors!!

Unlike the bunk beds, I painted these before I put it together, and boy what a difference!

The boss requested a table to the patio, figure I would keep the theme going and use the same size wood that used for the pergola. Followed the Fancy X Farmhouse Table plans with a few exceptions. Instead of 2x4, it was constructed with 6x6, 4x4, 2x8, 2x6 (Doulgas-fur, rough-cut). The bench plans can be found on the site as well, the original plans were for a full-length bench, on one side two benches were built with half the length. 

Had a weekend to complete it for a party the following week. table top needs to be refinished.

Great look and feel for the backyard patio.

My wife and I actually built this the summer of 2011 after my sister (ferbit on this site) told me about Ana-White.com. I have to say it turned out awesome.

Note, we used pine here partly for cost as this was our first try ever building our own furniture and we didn't know if we'd totally fail at it but also because the cedar at our Home Depot and Lowes didn't have the nice clean edges that the pine did. Also, the paint counter assured us the paint we were getting would protect the wood against the elements. Time will tell, but we are also planning to re-paint every couple of years to keep things looking fresh as well as "just in case"

Believe it or not when we built this we were living in an apartment (granted one with a very large balcony) in a downtown area (I wish I still had the pictures but I can't seem to find them anymore) The neighbors didn't seem to mind as we got all the cuts done as quickly as possible during the middle of the day. We got all of the cutting and drilling done in one day. The Kreg Jig my sister recommended is really what made this project possible. I don't know how we would have done it without it. The Second day was all about assembly and the following weekend we bought some saw horses with special little pointed risers specifically made for helping with painting. For paint we went to Home Depot and just asked for what they recommended for outdoor furniture in the Seattle area. Two coats later with some drying time and we had this amazing set.

The coffee table btw, is simply a highly modified seat from the sectional.

Now that we've moved, we're planning to build a second set this summer as I like to hold BBQs and invite lots of friends and family so a single set this size just isn't enough :-)

My father in law wanted to remodel an old bedroom to a princess room for our daughters' visits. We came for a weekend with our tools and built it in pieces, which was easy to assemble and finish after the rest of the room's remodel was finished.