Community Brag Posts

This was my very first woodworking project. It didn't end up perfect, but I learned a lot by making it, and it is still a quite nice dining table.

The minor modifications I made of the plan: I used 1x4-s as a frame for the table top, flush with the top. (The 2x2-s are next to it inside.) I made the lower supports out of 4x4-s (except that they didn't have 4x4-s at the store here so it's really 2 2x4-s put together). I have a few 2x4-s connecting the 2x8 and 2x6-'s in the base, to make it a bit more stable (not sure I really needed these but anyway), and I also ended up putting a few 2x4-s in the core of the base, again to make it a bit more robust. I routed the 1x4-s on the table frame, and also the table legs with a 45 degree bit (using a router is really fun! And really easy).

I used pine for the base and red oak for the table top -- mostly because I have oak cabinets in the kitchen. After sanding to 150 grit, I stained the oak first with Minwax Oriental Ginger (I would have used a dye if I had had one but this worked fine), and then two coats of GF antique oak. The Minwax gave a nice warm orange undertone while the GF highlighted the grain. It has 6 coats of GF high performance water based poly on it, sanded and wet sanded with very fine grit (up to 2000) so it's pretty smooth. It looks like many people use grain filler with oak, but I like the grain so I didn't. The base is painted white with whatever semigloss white paint I happened to have at hand.

Lessons learnt: 1) always, always measure twice, and always, always make sure that everything is square. 2) Don't build a table base from a board that's not absolutely straight. 3) Make sure to have enough screws and that the screws are of the right kind. 4) If you use a 45 degree router bit, you need to sand that 45 degree part much finer than the other parts of the table top, otherwise the grain will stick out and make it very rough. 5) Don't wet sand oak -- the poly dust white residue gets into the grain and it's impossible to remove. 

I can't find ceder fencing here where we live so I just used a 1x6 I already had. I sealed it with Rustolem's Spar outdoor polyurethane in semi-gloss.

My 6 year old daughter planted the little basil plant seeds a couple weeks ago and we are giving this to one of her teachers this week as an end of year present.

I tried hand painting the herb garden part but it looked really bad so I sanded it down and added the little chalkboard vinyl stickers instead.

I used mostly stuff I had on hand to make the box... I used sissel rope for the handles since I had some. The only cost was for the stickers, terracotta pots and the seeds

This is my first ever piece of furniture. I bought the Kreg Jig, which is awesome. My son has a fairly small room, so extra floor space is handy. I plan on turning the bottom into a reading nook with come comfy pillows, some lighting and a few small bookcases.

I used 2x6s to support the mattress. put in 6 slats, but I think I'll add one more for extra support. I also want to add a 2x4 across the back to keep the legs in place. Pretty sturdy though. I got up there with my son and between the two of us we're about 230lbs.

Can't wait to build something else!

This was my first project with doors! Everything worked perfectly, except there seems to be a small mistake on the cut list - the 4 1x3's for the doors should be 14", not 11" each. The picture is correct but the cut list should be revised. Otherwise, instructions were easy to follow. I used a metal grill pattern for the door insets - purchased from Lowes, cut with tin snips and spray painted matte black. This cabinet is a great storage space and an all-around great project. One extra small tip - it may be better to set the top piece back a 1/4 inch more so that it goes over the top edge of the plywood backing on the rear - it would make for a cleaner finish. Thanks Ana - this is my 4th project from your website and I hope to furnish an entire (tiny) house all by hand!

King bed made out of CVG hemlock with doug fir posts. Headboard chevrons are mix of oak, cherry, maple, hemlock.

Pug approved.

I didn't follow Ana's plans for this, I actually designed the closet system to correspond with my dimensions / wants / desires (see blog post), but this goes to show you that once you start building things, it's really hard to stop! I think in building brain now. I don't think in "how can I afford that" terms anymore, I think in "how can I make something similar, but BETTER?" Ana has helped us make our nursery for our first baby a labor of love!

I used these plans and modified the height to create functional countertop and shelving in my garage. I added a little face framing too. Thank you for the inspiration Ana!

Much to our dismay our tiny town is not host to any sweet antique shops. So when I began designing our new guest room, I knew that I was going to have to BUILD two bedside tables. Thanks to Anna, that is much more of a possibility for us than I ever might have imagined.

So, I decided on one bookcase and one vanity. For the bookcase I adapted the Parson's style bookshelf plans. But instead of going the modern route, I stained it ebony and painted over with a white satin paint--and of course distressed. Simple, affordable, and quite cute. You can see many more photos at www.thereadinggirl.com.

Well we just bought a new house and the bedroom was a bit smaller and lower ceilings for two beds. One daughter had a queen and my other daughter was begging for a new loft bed. Well I searched for plans on many different bunk beds and I came to the conclusion that creating one from two different plans would save the most space. So I made the platform bed and the loft bed separately and added dowels to attach them . The girls were ecstatic. It turned out beautifully!

I absolutely love this project. I do not have a pantry with a door so I just placed this spice rack on my wall and it really looks great! We have a ton of spices so I might need to make another!

Modifications to the simple outdoor table plan thanks to Finn’s dad.