Community Brag Posts

This dog bed was built with furniture grade pine and stained in Minwax Golden Oak.  I added stairs and a storage drawer in the bottom.

This is an adaption of the shoe shrine shelves. Since I didn't have a closet or other room than the bedroom to put these, I put them on their side. I modeled these off the shoe shrine shelves.

Each cubby is 11 3/4 deep x 8 x8 for the long version. The 2nd version I made was only 48 inches wide and did not divide well so I simply left the center cubby wider. I also made the 48" version to have different height shelves for purses in the middle and flats on the bottom.

I basically flipped the shoe shrine's on their sides and added LED lights. This also inspired a tall version for a cubby we had upstairs.

I used a panel saw to cut the plywood and then assembled with a Kreg pocket hole jig for horizontal pieces and biscuits for the top and the dividers. I did not want to fill the holes or I would have used Kreg instead of the biscuits.

I used 3/4" paint grade plywood and a 1/4inch back panel.

LED lights came from LED wholesalers on amazon. This step requires electrical knowledge! Not much more than a wiring a light but do not attempt if you are not qualifed to do so. LED strings required a fine tip soldering iron, wire and heat shrink.

This project was a labor of love for sure.  It took me an hour here, an hour there over the course of several months before I finally finished it.  I have never felt so proud of something I built, and I truly could not have done it without the plans written up on this site!  Thank you so very much for the service you provide with your free plans!  

I started with rough-cut American walnut from a guy's basement.  It had been stored for over 50 years in a nice dry climate.  After planing it, running it through a jointer, and trimming off the crooked parts with my table saw, I was able to get everything to line up pretty well.   I will say the drawers sure gave me a run for my money!  Those are so difficult to get perfect! 

The stain I used is a Kona stain from Varathane.  I truly couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.

After showing my wife the plans, she did not like that flat top so I did some drawings until she liked what I had. I Modified the plans so that we could get what we liked. I used all 2" lumber instead of 1" because I wanted it to be nice and heavy. Raised the base of the side rails by 3" so that there would be more ground clearance, and used plywood under the slats so that we didnt need to use a box spring. I think it came out well.

I started with the Camp style loft bed, and modified it. Since we had a full sized bed, we knew that we needed it to be wider. Also, we knew we wanted a slide, since baby girl LOVES slides. We found one on CraigsList that was too long, but we cut it down and found a way to attach it. We also aren't very good carpenters (yet), so we had some issues with our stairs being wider then our platform, and had to add an extra piece. Overall, this project took us 3 weekends and a few nights after work. Also, we were using the plans which suggested it would only cost around $50, wasn't quite the case with us...I am pretty sure we spent over $200, but we didn't really have paint, sandpaper, the slide, etc. So that is pretty all-encompassing. Very happy with our results, and We cannot wait for the baby girl to see the outcome!

With another baby on the way in a few months, we decided to move our 2+ year old daughter across the hall into her first big girl room. I built big sister the Kendal Extra Wide Dresser, Traditional Wood Toddler Bed, Letter A Shelf and a Dollhouse Bookcase and matched the colors with her new comforter, lamps and princess canopy tent from the Land of Nod outlet.

A lot of people have done some pretty cool modifications to this project, but at the end of the day, we decided to follow the plan verbatim and build the Pottery Barn design. This build was super easy. Probably spent most of the project time sanding over and over in order to ensure that it was splinter-free, smooth, and safe for our princess. I do note that the side rails in the project design are somewhat low after you put the mattress down. However, this was really only a concern during the first few weeks. Although our daughter somehow was able fall to the floor during the first night (without incident--she did not even wake up--thank god for carpet), after she became accustomed to the bed, the lower side rails actually work rather well. Our daughter, a insanely crazy sleeper, usually wedges herself against the side rails at different parts of the night. She might hang a limb or two over the rails, but never through the rails, and she never falls off the bed.

I modified the size to fit my dining room and I am so pleased with the results!

I couldn't find any wardrobe that I was really happy with - and then I stumbled upon Ana's design, and I loved it! I went for two different colors (white for the supports and rosewood for the shelves) to give it more presence. Dimensions are 60" wide X 22" deep x 86" tall 

Had a lot of fun completing this project. I was assisted by my fiance and her little brother.

The original plans were altered to measure 6 feet long to fit the space. The top is all cedar which I had planned to keep unfinished and oil each month. Well, that was the plan until I found that it was very hard to clean with kids eating on it and because the 2x4 boards were screwed down, they allowed a lot of food, water to seep through.  Some of the boards began splitting and warped considerably.  Then I discovered the pocket hole jig!!  I took the top off, gave a good sand to them and attached all with pocket hole screws which tightened them up so much that I needed to add an extra 2x4 to adequately cover the top of the island. I also added a breadboard to the end to give it that finished look.  To fill in the grooves I used wood filler with a dark pigment, and gave it a really good sanding after it dried. I then applied Varathane in 4 coats to the top after using steel wool in between coats.  Gives it a lovely natural cedar patina and keeps the breadcrumbs out.

Needed new nightstands for our new house....these worked out perfectly.

This was my very first project (yay!). I finally got over my fear of power tools and my husband bought me a jigsaw for my birthday. (Yes, I built this whole thing with a jigsaw! Clearly I was clueless about power tools back then! :) But even a jigsaw was pretty intimidating at that stage!)

Ok... so in hindsight it was a really bad idea to start on a project marked as "intermediate" for my first project, but I was so in love with this desk that I just HAD to have it. The drawer made it really tricky, but I figured no one has to know if it has its little quirks. :)

I saw a similar version of this desk on Pottery Barn's website, which retailed for a whopping $700! Thank you Ana for giving us the gift of amazing furniture for a fraction of the price!

Bought a bundle of lath just to see how it would work.  Cut great and took the stain perfectly.  Since the snowflakes are going up against a pale green house, I kept them dark so they would stand out.  Made five and have a ton of lath left over.  Made them 33" wide.  Great plan, thanks!

Great project. I didn't have all the tools and/or skills to make some things exact or perfect, but I am very happy with the finished project and more importantly the wife loves it! Thanks so much for sharing. I still need to add x, but I ran out of time.