Community Brag Posts

Got a load of wood out of a friends barn and decided it was time for a coffee table. Couldn't find anything that I really loved at any store or that wasn't made of saw dust or a million dollars. So I decided to make my own. Turned out pretty nice and its as solid as can be, actually quite heavy so it doubles nicely as an ottoman or extra seat.

We don't have a useable basement, or a garage, so we knew that our first project had to be a multipurpose one- both a workbench and a kitchen island. We changed the dimensions of this plan to make it counter height as well as slightly wider and taller. Additionally, we had some concerns about being able to get the finished product out of the kitchen and out of the house if/when we eventually move. So, we made the pieces in the following parts:
-4 legs
-Shelf and shelf supports
-top and top supports

We then proceeded to use 2.5" 16 gauge bolts to bold all the parts together for easy disassembly. We are thrilled with the results!

My husband helped me build this awhile back. Not perfect, but for a first build, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Still need some new baskets to go with;)

Used a Lowe’s gift card I got for Christmas, and built a larger dressing table which would give me more elbow room for hair and makeup, and also to hold my mini dressers. The drawers are a re-purpose of the mini dressers from my previous vanity desk, and I built 2 additional drawer boxes for them. The dressing table is a 36” wide Willy bookcase, with a 24” x 36” project panel trimmed in 1x2 as the top. The mini dressers are a miniature version of the Willy bookcase, with drawers made using Ana’s plan for the master closet system drawers. The 3 deeper drawers on the bottom right side hold makeup and cosmetics. I’ve named this my ‘bling tower’ because it holds all the jewelry gifts from my husband and son, several sets of the chunky bead jewelry that’s in style now, and all the little keepsake things my son made for me when he was in school. Gotta have plenty of room for those!

My wife and I were looking for a new dining table, the one we had was a bar height which worked well for our daughters high chair, but she was going to be transitioning to a booster seat . We shopped around and had sticker shock at the cost of a dining room set. We enjoy playing board games and I had been looking into possible buying a board gaming table, but those more expensive and some had long lead times as well. I tossed out the idea that I could make our table and my wife agreed but gave me a deadline. I had built a few smaller pieces before but nothing like this. I based my plans off the farmhouse table for the top and used store bought legs. The top needed to be sturdy since it is not attached to the base, I did add blocking on the back so the top doesn’t move around and it is heavy enough that it doesn’t flip up if you lean on it. I moved the typical supports down to the bottom of the side rails and added a ¾” piece of MDF that I had for the gaming top. We used spray adhesive to attach some batting and used blue suede for the gaming surface since we are fans of Doctor Who. I added handles to the top on the inside to help when it is moved off the table for gaming. I built the bench too and made it so we could slide it under the table to save on space when we did not need it. The other chairs are hand me downs and Salvation Army finds that we spray painted. The only addition that I have to make is to build some sort of cup holders.

This was my first big project from Ana's site. I had so much fun building it, I didn't quite get the "X" right, so I left it off. Hope it doesn't hurt the strength. I made it for a friend of mine as a wedding present. I can't wait to give it to her.

My family was so struck by what I was able to accomplish!

Can't wait to make one for my home!

My wife wanted some low profile shelves for pictures on the wall so I decided to throw these together.

I made the "Ten Dollar Ledges" (http://ana-white.com/2010/10/plans/ten-dollar-ledges) from here for our son's room, but my wife did not like how big they were. I decided to make these out of 1/2 inch wood instead of 1 inch.

I bought 1/2" thick common boards. The bottom is a 1/2" x 4" board and the back is a 1/2" x 2" board. The front lip I made by cutting a 2" board in half so I could make 2 lip pieces out of one 1/2" x 2" board. The boards were just clamped and glued together. Use plently of glue and clamp them down on a flat surface. Wait about 30 minutes and then scrape off any dripping wood glue. The trick is to let it dry a little bit so that is scrapes off easily without getting glue all over.

I finished it with Dark Walnut stain and one coat of water based clear coat.

I simply drilled 3 holes in the back and screwed them into wall anchors.

Modified plans to make a full size bed.

Easy weekend project for chairs that I hope will last a decade. I used Painters Touch Gloss Navy Blue paint and primer. I put alot of paint to help withstand the Arizona summer sun. One change I made to the plans were as follows:

When I attached the back support, I initially used one screw on each side so that the support could swivel. This way, I could swivel the support to be flush with the back of the chair.

Going to try the outdoor loveseat next.

This is a Twin over Full Simple Bunk Bed for my girls who share a room. The bottom bunk leaves plenty of room for even adults to sit down without hitting their heads. We mounted Large decorative flowers on the railing to match the room just in case my daughter woke up in the middle of the night and decided to look over the edge. We were nervous she'd hit the ceiling fan and it's too hot in South Texas not to have ceiling fans. The flowers work perfectly in that area and she loves it. We pretty much followed the plans found here: http://ana-white.com/2011/01/plans/twin-over-full-simple-bunk-bed-plans. We have not added a ladder yet, but are thinking about it. On a side note, the girls like to mount blankets and cover the bottom bunk to create their "own" personal space/fort and it's pretty cool. Special note: Untreated wood for this project was hard to find. Only one of the local home improvement stores had it and it wasn't from a large chain.

My son didn't have a headboard for his bed and was jealous that his little sister did (we made her the Farmhouse bed when she learned to climb out of her crib). So, finally we made him a bed, too! We used the plans for the reclaimed wood headboard but made the panel taller so we could put the custom sticker on. We also chose not to add the 2 X 4 on top, as we liked this look better with the taller panel. I love the final look!

I'm only moderately handy and these were fun and pretty easy.

Learned a lot and got better as I went along.

I found ways to make it as cheap as possible, probably did all three projects for 150 bucks.

I made this shelf one for my mom, and one for my sister.