Community Brag Posts

Came out fantastic!  I made this one for my son and have now been recruited by my daughter to make another!

We took Ana's original coop plans and diva'd it up a bit to suit our needs and our climate. We added a pop door and decided to split the roof panels into four, three of which open up. We put the hinges on the top of the roof panels so we could easily prop them open. We also added a brace across the bottom of our ladder for support. Since we added a door I believe our ladder is a bit more steep than in the original plans.

Because we put our hinges on top we added lattice strips inside on the top of the door panels that go just under the 2x4 of the roof peak to keep the rain out. We also used a roof cap for the same reason. We went back and added silicone to the strategic places to prevent water leaking into the nesting box while also being careful not to affect the necessary ventilation.

We used OSB for our roof panels instead of T111 because it's what we had on hand and also because we were going to be painting it.

Finally I added handles to each of the hinged panels to make opening easy. And cute!

We felt very lucky to have built in shelves in all of the closets when we moved in. We painted them a glossy (easy to clean) color and have tried to make use of them. With little kids its never been very organized, and I racked my brain for a method to fix that. None of my ideas sounded good...tiny little labels from a label maker stuck on the bottom shelf? No....

So Casey (inspired by the plans of Ana White's) decided to make these crates. I've been seeing the ones they sell at craft stores all over the place, used for all kinds of things. To maximize the space in the closets he made them custom sizes for each one. Each closet has different widths of shelves and some even in each closet are different heights.

So a bulk of this project was gathering those measurements and planning what and how much wood to buy. Casey takes his time, and the project he's done the planning on for awhile began to take shape today.

We chose chalkboard painted fronts and backs for labeling. I really like the opportunity to change the labels over time as the types of things the kids want kept in their crates changes over the years. It'll take time to figure out what combinations (socks and undies or jammies and quilts?) go best together and take up the right amount of room. So we'll keep a chalk eraser handy :).

I woke up this morning to the sounds of the kids talking outside. He'd set them up to help by painting the chalkboard ends. I'll admit a few of them have a few more paint drippings than others, but the look of delight at being involved was so worth it. And honestly seeing them all together now I think it was a great idea for him to let the kids get those started.

Having a family project is one of my favorite feelings in the world. Second favorite? The organization in one of my daughter's room (since hers are all done now) that's gonna make putting away laundry way easier for her and I.

I built this square table and 4 chairs. It was a really fun build!! It measures 41Lx41Wx30H. 

My first Ana White project, so fun to build. Now standing at my summer place in Sweden, ready for a whole summer of picnicking.

Farmhouse table. Tabletop is reclaimed from a church built in 1890 (bought at Manyunk Timer in Philadelphia). So glad we went that route (the knots, grain, etc match on the outer two pieces which you can see in the pic... it's really great, but it is expensive).

Top has only minwax polyurethane, there's no stain whatsoever. Frame is stained with Minwax "polyshades" (Mission Oak shade).

Chairs you see are the "Winslow" chairs from coaster. Highly recommend them. The match was luck.

Omitted the breadboard ends only because my tabletop pieces are 13 in (!) across: that would have been too wide for ends I thought.

Many thanks to this fantastic site for the plans. I am new at this and the table is KILLER; there's no possible way I could have expected it to turn out so well.

I completed this project using pine plywood for the body and doors and a pine board for the top. Modifications included omitting the drawers and adding doors instead. Side doors open up to adjustable shelves, which I used the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig to create the holes. The hardest part was fitting the doors. I would suggest waiting until the unit is build, then cut to size leaving space for your paint or polyurethane finish. The hinges are from Lowes and the knobs are from Hobby Lobby. I did add veneer edging to the front as well as the sides of the doors- this was a bit messy and I spent a lot of time sanding off the adhesive that seeped out the sides. I used an old iron I picked up at Goodwill so I wouldn't ruin my clothing iron.

I am a huge fan of apothecary cabinets and fell in insta-love with this cabinet.  The open shelves on top are a great size for lots of entertainment equipment and consoles and the storage below is fantastic for everything else! 

My husband and I used the plans from Ana White’s Banquette bench with a few minor tweaks. We placed our single freestanding(not mounted to the wall)bench in our Carolina room. I also made bench cushions and pillows to make this a comfy place to watch the birds or the golfers out back. It was an easy and fast project to complete.

I combined the Dorm Desk and Flip-down Children's art desk plans to make a perfect combination for my school work.

The Dorm Desk was designed to be used with bar stools, so it would be rather tall. I simply made the dimensions shorter to fit with a computer chair. I also tweaked the children's art desk a bit for use as a laptop desk, just took out the shelves and put a piece in to hold binders and whatnot.

Another note, most of the materials used were scraps from other projects, so the dimensions are a little different there too. For instance, I had some 6" strips of 3/4" plywood sitting around, so I used those for the shelves instead of 1x8's, and I used a piece of 1x12 for the front of the wall-mount desk instead of plywood.

The estimate cost is not at all what it would cost if you were starting from scratch. The only things I payed for up front for these two projects was the D-ring hangers for the wall-mount desk, a piece of plywood for he desk top, some tin flashing, and a 2x2 for the frame.

*the tin flashing I got ended up not being magnetic, which was disappointing, but it ended up working well with wet-erase markers (the kind teachers use on overhead projectors) so at least it still has a function. I may also end up puting a cork border around the edges so I can still hang things from there.

Hint: I used an old wallet chain for support on the wall-mount desk. I also found some left over hinges and a small clasp I had bought for a keepsake box I made years ago. If you're pretty handy, you probably have plenty of stuff you can use just lying around the house.

So I was inspired by the Ana-While posted Farmhouse Table a few months back.. Honestly I was a little concerned about building such a large piece as my first project but I decided to invest into some common pine lumber to give it a shot. I could have bought better woodworking stock, but I was concerned I was going to mess it up anyway so I chose to stick with Home Depot / Lowes grade stock to keep the cost down.

I made a few changes from the published design:

I wanted a very large table for entertaining during the holidays. I extended the design to about 10 feet long by almost 4 feet wide.

I also am not a big fan of the seams that are left between the boards when doing butt joints using common lumber. It was a bit of work, but I trimmed off about 1/4" of material from the side of each board to make their corners square instead of the normal slightly rounded profile. With enough planing and sanding, I was able to get a reasonably tight seam with just normal garage tools.

The third design element I added was pre-drilling each of the exposed screws with a 3/4" bit about 1" deep and filling those holes with a wooden dowel. This dresses up any screws used and in my mine makes the table look a bit more traditional. Im sure some people would say just use the dowel to secure the joints, but I just wasnt that brave for an inexperienced builder.

The finish was intentionally left uneven. THere are raises and small grooves in the surface that I sanded down with 80 grit, but then only lightly went over with 150 and 220. The effect I was looking for was a surface that looked hand sawn / worked but that was still smooth to the touch and not 'dangerous' to use daily. There are some visible sanding and planing marks, but they are all soft and smooth, and help add depth and character in my opinion.

More pics available on my public facebook album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152583224649571.1073741829…

Supplies cost about $300 for lumber and finish materials. 

The face is made from 4 2x10's and 1 2x12 in the middle. 

The legs are 4x4, all other pieces are 2x4.

Tools needed to finish the table this way:

Circular saw

Table saw (to trim edges if you want tight seams)

Kreg Jig (essential for pocket holes!)

Very big clamps!   I did not have these and spent $90 or so on the 3

Hand saw

Chisel

Drill

Sander (or a LOT of patience!)

Planer (I used a cheap power planer to help level out the cheap big box lumber and to even out the joints)

STRONG sawhorses.  I broke a set of 600# rated horses re-positioning the face.   A 10ft table face is very heavy!  get help!

Finishing the table this way took a long time.  Im going to guess 60 - 80 hours went into it.  A ton of time is used getting the joining work right.  The rest of it goes together pretty quickly.

First big project. First time with the Kreg jig.  Some hidden defects but looks great in pictures!

Used the instructions for building a picture ledge and instead used the shelves for spices. Only cost $10, already had the stain and polyurethane at home. Didn't do pocket holes, as I don't have a jig, just drilled/screwed directly into the pieces. Would have been done in less than an hour, but the coats of stain and polyurethane took over 24 hours to dry/reapply.

I followed most of the measurements with the Murphy bed with added dimensions for a full sized bed. I also added a shelf to provide support while the bed is down since I brought the platform off the floor. The table is also hinged to the bed platform so that it folds up and locks in place for a center support for the bed.

Console table!

Here is a bed I recently made. My inspiration was a bed we saw at a local high end furniture store in the mountains that has price of $4,800. I bought my wood at a local saw mill for $125. I used a wood planer, table saw and miter saw to build the bed. It turned out great.

After diving head-first into this website and too many projects to mention, I decided it was about time to have a workbench. I received some free scrap wood from my neighbor so I spent a quick couple of hours putting this together. The plans were great and it went together very quickly. Looking forward to using this for more projects!