Community Brag Posts

Raised panel pine blanket chest lined with 5/8" aromatic cedar.

Got this idea from your website! My father in law was in town for the week so he built it for me! I love it!

I loved the plan for the cedar picket shed. It was tall enough to block my neighbor's view, so I shaved 20 inches off the height. It is the perfect size for a mower. We made a floor out of 12 inch blocks. The ground we have here packs very well, so I think it'll be good for a long time. We also have a lot of wind, but this thing isn't going anywhere!! It is solid. I also like the fact that it takes a stain right along with the fence and there is no painting involved! The hinges you recommended were great.

I adapted the simple Kitty Tree plan to make an outdoor sunroom for my cats. They are locked inside when I'm away, so this was a way for them to get some fresh air. They can access it via a tunnel, visible on the side as a grey box that butts up against the panel for the cat flap.
It's 36"X30" and 68" high.
The walls are made of plexiglas and I made the interior ramps by cutting up a set of wooden shelves.Plexiglas is expensive, but I salvaged some that was slightly scratched and going to the landfill. Otherwise, it would have cost me well over $100.
The frame was built using a Kreg jig, which is now my new favourite tool. I also added some casters so it can be rolled away from the wall for cleaning.
I found the Kitty Tree plan to be easy and versatile.

I built this for my brother's entryway. He has 3 kids and lots of shoes, jackets, etc were cluttered in the hallway. I had a few days to kill while my husband and father were working on a building a barn wall. So his girlfriend picked out the design and I got to building. She used a stain called red barn to match most of the decor at their home. I added an extra shelf at the bottom to help contain more shoes. She also added baskets and their initial to each locker. Turned out very cute and the kids love knowing where to put their stuff when they walk in the door.

Console table built as a tv stand for a cliant.

Benchwright Coffee Table. Minwax Dark Walnut & Satin Polyurethane

I broke down and got the pocket hole jig... easily cut this project's time in half

Needed a few different types of screws than listed in the plan

After shopping for a dining room table with my wife in mid November, I came to the realization that I could make a table like the ones being sold at the store for a fraction of the price.  I spent some time surfing the web looking for farmhouse table designs when I stumbled upon Ana's website.  The Farmhouse table (pocket hole updated version) really jumped out at me as something that I could accomplish as a person who had never worked with wood before.  So starting the Friday after Thanksgiving I began building the table in secret, as I planned to surprise my wife with it for christmas.  

Feeling ambious, I decided to add two of the farmhouse benches to my workload thinking it would make my surprise all the better.  After a lot of long nights, I was able to complete the benches and table as well as stain and add a couple coats of polyurethane just in the nick of time.  My wife was very surprised and couldn't be happier with out the table turned out.  I can't wait to try more Ana White projects!

I couldn't find any queen sized plans on the website so I took a twin plan and modified it to fit a queen bed. There are a couple things I would do different such as use MDF instead of the plywood it called for. The plywood, even painted, appears very rough. Also, I am going to frame in the sides on the bench across the foot of the bed and leave some overhang to cover up the seam in the benches. Overall it was a very easy and smooth project. I am def investing in Kreg on my next project. Baskets will fill the empty space and a headboard is to come!

Lots of projects going on around here, but today I’m sharing my farmhouse dining table I built a little over a year ago (waaay before this blog!).  This was my very first woodworking project.  I did happen to snap a few photos of the process – sorry about the poor quality, these were taken with my phone!

The wood for building this table was around $100!  I think Pottery Barn was selling this table for around $1800 at the time.  Mine might not look identical, but for the cost differential, I’m a happy camper!

For the stain I really wanted to create a natural-looking aged finish so I used the old steel wool and vinegar treatment.

My son loves his new bed. It was his favorite part of Christmas. He now has his own little sanctuary to hide out in.

After completing this console table from Ana Whites' The Hand Built Home, I'm sold on doing more projects from this book! My wife has gone ahead and put sticky notes throughout the book on stuff she wants built! So pretty much I have all the projects in the book to complete. I also had guys at the fire department I work for make comments on how much they liked it. Keep the plans coming Ana!!