Community Brag Posts

This winter brought gloves, snow boots and snow pants spread throughout my kitchen. This mama was going insane. Storage before was one hook per child at their height and 4 hooks for mom and dad with a pile of coats and shoes at the bottom. It took me about 3 days to complete while the kids were on Christmas break, which is pretty amazing :) This project was pretty easy once I got the hang of the Kreg Jig. The only issue I ran into was our corner wall is not square which gave me a gigantic headache.

Thank you Ana for these plans!
From a mama who is a little less insane, Tonya in Kansas

I am a hobby woodworker having a PhD in computer science; quite the combination I wonder. To my advantage, before start working I usually build the project in software like Google Sketchup etc. This gives me the precise picture and dimensions of the different components of project.

I usually work in my backyard of house which is used for variety of purposes. I so happens that whenever I was working, I used to go inside the house each time to fetch the tool I forgot. Big trouble!

To rid myself of this problem, I built me a toolcart to my liking. It has cabinets, drawers and of course shelves. It also serves me a second table to put my tools on during working. Alas, I do not have the amazing kreg jig so it took me more time than usual to build this. Anyhow feel free to comment.

This was my husbands first real piece. He changed the dimensions to fit our area better. It turned out fantastic and I am in love!! 

I did 4 shelves spaced 18 inches and made with 12ft long pieces cut in half. The total for my project was $26. I already had the stain and tools on hand.

I had so much fun with this! I followed the plans exactly and made up the nightstand as I went along.

I have used 1/2 inch thick plywood, 2x3 instead of 2x2, and 1x3. I don't have any miter saw or table saw. I used hand saw (comes with miter box) and circular saw to cut all the materials. It isn't perfect but I like it.

This was my first ever building project and I love it! I made 2 for my living room and have since made a few more things. Thanks Ana for an amazing website!

This is my second project.  I sanded, primed, painted, sanded to distress the paint, then stained the whole thing just long enough for the stain to soak in to the sanded spots (5 minutes or less), then wiped it off. 

Pottery barn inspired tv media center and matching dresser.

I built this without the current plans with the pocket holes in the bottom. I also made the width a little smaller, by 2 boards. This is very sturdy, my daughter uses it as a platform to perform all the time. I have even stood on it many times. Plus, it can be used as a bench if needed.

I used a darker stain on it and roughed up some of the edges a bit.

B-day present for my niece 

My eldest daughter contact me to show me the standard doll bunk bed on this site. I decided then that I was going to build one for Christmas for my 6 year old, since she loves to play with her American GIrl dolls. Before I got to it, she ended up drawing a name for Secret Santa gifts with her gymnastics team. I got the idea to build my first bed for the girl who's name she drew, therefore, I'd learn what to and not to do first, since I'll be building my daughters in Oak and not the pine that I would build this one out of. I talked with her mother to see if she played with dolls and she confirmed that she had 3 American Girl dolls that she adores.

You'll also notice that we added another level, since she has three dolls, and you can't leave on without a place to sleep. It was quite easy to add the extra level by measuring the distance between the first and second and then adding that onto to second. In the pictures you can see that I added metal feet to each leg, and that made the bottom of the ladder sit a little above the floor by that same distance. I think that I'll start the ladder on my next one at the bottom rung of the lower bed, and not leave that piece at the bottom.

Needless to say, the little girl was beside herself when she opened the wrapping paper. My daughter learned a lesson on how much more fun it is to give, especially after all of the work, than to receive. Before the party, all she could do was say, "I can't wait to see her face when she opens this." I asked her about it when she came home today, and she said that she must have thanked her a hundred times throughout the night, as it was a sleepover at the gym.

I wish that I had taken pictures along the way, but I didn't. I will however, when I build the next one for my daughter.

It cost me just over $20 to build. I needed 7 - 8' 1x2's. I used a nice piece of cardboard for the floor of each bed. I found it at Sam's club while shopping. They had it between something that was stacked on a pallet, and whatever it was was gone. I asked the manager if I could have it and he was happy to be rid of it. It's not your standard cardboard, but has a double wall. At a width of just over 9", it's very sturdy and especially cheap. The feet were bought at Walmart for $1.57. I glued each connection, even though they were held together by pocket hole screws. With one pocket hole screw per piece, it had the ability to swivel on that screw. I learned that Kreg, the maker of the pocket hole jig has come up with a mini jig, which allows double pocket holes to be drilled into a piece of wood just 1" wide. I asked and received one for Christmas. My daughters will feature the new holes and therefore, I won't be glueing it.

Hope you have as much fun building it as I did with my daughter.

Built this table 11 feet long with live edge sinker cypress. Hand rubbed 12 coats of tung oil, then finished with Waterlox satin.

One of my first projects, but really worth the time and effort. It helps so much with space in the kitchen and I learned a lot in the process. It's really sturdy and was a pretty easy build. Most of the time was spent staining and nailing the slats.

A 36" sink base is the center, flanked by two 18" cabinets made by modifying the 21" base cabinet plan.

Here are some of the more structual photos to help people along the way. 

I did the head board and foot board using the directions. I used 2 4.5 inch screws on each 4x4 post to secure the 4x4s to the head board. 

I used 2 4.5 inch screws to secure the head board to the frame. 

I used some brackets I had lying around to secure the footboard to the frame. 

I used 0.5 inch partical board to put on top of the frame I put the joists down 0.5 below the side rails so the partical board would sit down and inside. 

I used 2x6 boards for the frame with deck brackets to secure it. 

I used left over wood from the 4x4 to be cut 10inch each and 2x6 study 3 of those 4x4 to lift the frame up.

for the fourth raiser I used left over wood from the 2x10. 

I primed the wood and painted white. 

Hopefully these pictures help. 

All said and done it was close to 500-600 to build. I did this in Canada where materials can be a little pricier. 

This is a basic console table, aside from the drawer. This was my first time attempting drawer, and it wasn't too bad. The top I put together from a piece of 1x8 and 1x4's using my Kreg jig. It ended up being a bit long, so I trimmed the breadboard ends down a couple inches. For the base I used reclaimed table legs and 1x6's for the aprons. To make the drawer opening, I simply cut out a rectangular hole slightly larger than my drawer box out of the front apron. The drawer box I built out of 1x3's and 1/4in plywood and then attached a piece of 1x4 for the face. Since it was a small drawer, I didn't want to purchase drawer slides for it. I pocket holed some 1x4 stretchers, going from the front to back of the table on either side of the drawer opening. I then screwed a strip of 1x1 to the drawer box horizontally, lined it up to the stretchers and screwed another 1x1 to the stretcher. So basically, I made my own sides using 1x1. I added a bin pull and was done. I feature a few other projects like this on my blog http://pneumaticaddict.blogspot.com .