Community Brag Posts

Our new home has a 21'x17' screened in porch that needed somthing, anything to occupy it! We looked for sectionals from online retailors and could not believe how much money they were demanding for them. Being new homeowners we could not afford/justify spending that amount. I found Ana-white.com while looking for shoe bench plans and found these 2 plans for the sectional. It was time to justify all of my tool purchases! lol

I took the 2 plans for the sofa and armless sectional and increased the size on the armless sectional by 1 seat to fill the area better. Future plans also include a bar, serving area and coffee table in the space. I bought (30) acq 2x4x8's and, not including scrap pieces, had 3 reamaining full pieces after completing the project. Total for the wood materials was $130 and I also had to buy a Kreig Jig ($37) and 2-1/2" ext deck screws so all in all about $180 for the materials

For the cushons I searched local retailors and found since we were going into the winter season a lot of local stores were selling off their patio supplies at big discounts. I found a local Home Depot selling Hampton Bay deep cushions for 75% off (normally $49.98 on sale for $13.xx). I needed 8 seats and since one was a corner I ordered 9 sets (9 backs, 8 seats).

Project took me less than 5 hours pick up the wood, set up on-site shop, make all the cuts and assemble. That 5 hour timeline also included a break for dinner. The sofa sections are heavy when put together, if you plan on moving them more than once or twice a year I'd suggest putting some caster wheels on the base with locks to keep it from rolling away when being used.

My very first project! In love with this site & my new bed- have caught the building bug!

This table is very solid and the plans are very well written and easy to understand and follow. 

My vintage table collapsed, so I built it new legs using the farmhouse plans. I didn’t want to lose the expandable leaves however, so I decided to reuse the top and add a second trestle so the table can still expand. I sanded and restained/polyed the top and leaves and cut a space in the center support to hold the spare leaves. I’ve never seen a table like it and I’m very proud.

I finally got the tryde media center built! This is actually the last piece I built but the first one I finished. I've made the rest of the tryde tables and I'll upload those later.

You'll notice that I made some cosmetic modifications to the hutch. I extended the top trim out and wrapped it around the sides. I also embellished the trim at the base of the hutch. Finally with the hutch, I changed the plans to allow me to break it down into smaller pieces to move. The top piece is basically a box with trim. Then the back boards break down into two sections of four boards and the sides come off. Everything is attached by screws so I can undo it later.

I slightly modified the base unit so that the top boards are 48" long [so I could get two from an 8' board] and the breadboard piece is a 2x6 instead of 2x4 to compensate for the lack of width a little. [This modification wasn't planned until I had the base built and realized I bought 8' 2x4s instead of 10' boards.]

Additionally, on all of my tryde pieces, instead of untreated 4x4s I used a 2x4 1x4 2x4 sandwich and modified all the plans to account for the extra width.

The first picture is the unfinished base.
Second is the top piece of the hutch.
Third, the completed unit, unstained.
Fourth is a detailed pictures of the molding that went at the bottom of the sides of the hutch.
Finally, there's the back boards I used, just because I think they look neat.

After finishing, I ran a rope light around the top of the hutch [hidden by the molding], for some ambient overhead lighting. I also did a lot of cord organization on the back side of the base to hide all the cords.

Miniature Media Center- Set up under camp loft bed. Was the perfect finish to the room. The boys love their new area where they can control what they watch and for the first week or so I rarely saw them in the house....it was so quiet. They go the lowes build and grow clinics each month and this was a great place for them to display their projects.

Instead of using 1x6's and 1x8's I simply bought one 4x8 sheet of plywood and had it ripped down to 5.5 and 7.5 inch strips. I then added rounded edging to cover the edges on the front.

This is 84" long and 41" wide. I built this to fit our family. We are a family of 7 and our old table was just too small. It would not hold the food or all the people, so we came up with this. It has plenty of room and there is no more buffet style eating.

The build was pretty easy, the finishing took some time. All in all happy with the results. Looking forward to building the bench and chairs. This entire build is made from constuction grade pine off the shelf at the big orange box store.

Cost was under $100 for just the wood but the finishing items I did not ahve so I had to purchase. The finsih was a 80/20 mix of gloss minwax poly and miniral spirts. It worked very well and I am very happy with the outcome. I did learn a few things along the way, 1) off the shelf cheap lumber is not very stable and 2) this thing is HEAVY

Well for starters, we wanted a bed with a slide. There are few options that a 19mo would not fall off/out of. (Yes are getting a tad ahead of ourselves). My wife liked the design, but was hesitant about the open part so we included a removable top cover with a look-out window. I also changed how the hinges mount so as to allow the flap to lower all the way down. Now we can simply slide the mattress out to make the bed, and put back as well as insert our son through the slot when he is asleep. I also added a platform in the corner for the stairs and slide to attach, and made the entry point to the bed at the foot of the bed and not the back side. This made the opening more stable. The room does not allow for much access to the other end of the barn so for appearance sake, we added a partial cover for the play area to make it still look like a barn from the side. I was able to make everything in sections, paint outside, then bring in and assemble. I made a "prop" of sorts, to assist in positioning the bed frame while I brought in and attached the head-end of the barn. We did it in 5 days, but it was legitimately a 7 day job that we just overworked ourselves on. The cost estimate is primarily wood, screws, and paint because I already had the stainless sheet. Thank you for the basic idea, but as pics show, we modified it in many ways. 

Grabbed some pallets from a local tool shop which they were going to send to the landfill. Built us a pallet bench. We use it all the time. Very easy and fast to make. Just stacking like building blocks! Best part was it didn't cost a thing! Just a couple of screws and glue. Reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim! You can do it too!

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This was made for a friend that wanted to cover a gas meter on the side of their house by their outdoor eating area. I built it counter-top high, with a faux hutch for the back. I really like the way it turned out, it covers the wall and works for serving food on all while looking great. I included a before picture and a picture of the table on its own.

I build these from the plan for Heavy Duty Sawhorses. I preferred these for the thickness to match my butcher block desktop. 

I decided to give this a go after checking out the plans months before, and my kitchen table/floor and my foyer became my workshop and assembly area, and my dogs were absolute angels letting me do the work. This table completely transformed my living room from what it was before. I think it took me a total of two weeks to complete this table, after work and during the weekends.

My brother announced a few weeks ago that he was going to be on the search for a new Golden Retriever puppy. Well the hunt is over and he gets to bring the puppy home today. I decided to make the puppy a "Welcome to the family" toy box. I wanted to paint it but was out voted by my kids. They liked the natural pine look, but I felt it needed a little something more. Therefore, a couple of days ago I purchased letters at Hobby Lobby, painted them and nailed them to the front of the crate from the inside out.

My sons and I also got the puppy some new toys to put in the box. We get to deliver it to her tonight. Can't wait to meet her! I posted a picture of the puppy at the bottom of this post. Isn't she cute?

I made this table because I have a very small house and needed a table that was more of a compact size. This table was perfect for that. I also love the farmhouse style. Originally, I didn't realize how much my screws were going to show on the outside, but I actually like how it looks, with the mix of hardware and wood. This table is very heavy and thankfully ended up sturdy! I used a compound miter saw (which I LOVE!) to cut the wood for this project which made it a lot faster than cutting with my jigsaw like I started out with. I bought the wood from home depot, and it took about a whole afternoon to cut the wood, sand, and construct and then about 2 more hours to stain and put the polycyrlic coats on. I did have a little trouble getting the legs on by myself since I had to hold them in place while I was screwing them on, and it was awkward and more difficult than if I had someone to help me hold them while screwing them on. But overall, not too difficult and love how it turned out!

Modifications adopted from two other posters.