Community Brag Posts

Farmhouse - King Headboard - made it longer

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/13/2016 - 19:40

We used flooring from Homedepot for the middle boards.  My decorator suggested that I make it longer and that worked well with this flooring.  We did discover that our Lowe's has the post for only $10 - we paid too much at 84 lumber - only to discover that they were warped - we had to use corner brackets to fix it.

 

Homedepot - Maui Whitewashed Oak 8 mm Thick x 11-1/2 in. Wide x 46-1/2in. Length Click Lock Laminate Flooring (22.28 sq. ft. / case)

Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Lowe's grey stain - only had one
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Full Toy box bookcase

Submitted by ana8178 on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 06:46

We knew we wanted to make this bookcase as soon as we saw it! I plan to put baskets and toys in it later, but for right now all books. The only difference to the original plan is that we put some plywood behind the bottom two shelves so that we could have a backing when we do use toys. My three year old loves to sit and go through all the board books at the bottom and clean up is a snap!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$120
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax Polyshade Bombay Mahogany
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

My first piece of furniture that I built!

Submitted by strotter13 on Mon, 12/30/2013 - 23:41

This was my first attempt at building furniture. I decided to make new nightstands for my wife and I. I used the bedside table plans, and they worked excellent. I used poplar hardwood for the material. I stained it using Minwax Special Walnut, and I used Minwax Satin Polyurethane. I am currently working on the second one, which will be my wife's (she said she wanted me to build mine first, so that if I messed it up, hers wouldn't be messed up, lol). Mine turned out good, I am very happy with it. Thanks for the plans! After the next nightstand is built, I would like to build a matching triple dresser...

Estimated Cost
75
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
I used one coat of Minwax Wood Pre Stain Treatment,
Then two coats of Minwax Special Walnut
Then 3 coats of Minwax Spray on Satin Polyurethane
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Red Wood Tryde Coffee Table

I procured the finest and freshest Redwood from a lumberyard. Tip : Don't go to Home Depot. Most of the squaring and planing was done from the hand held Lie Nielson Jointer # 7. It was worth an investment and came in handy for a lot of other applications. I used Fein Supercut for sanding needs. Works well.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$120 : Premium Redwood.
$425 : Lie Nielson #7 Jointer Plane
$170 : Fein Cordless Drill
$100 : Kreg Jig
$100 : Other - screws, plugs, sand paper, C-clamp, etc.
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Still to be finished.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

FARMHOUSE PEDESTAL

Hand made tables 

Estimated Cost
170
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Pergola Sectional

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 07/14/2023 - 12:40

My first ever attempt at woodworking, after I built the pergola I used the 2x4 outdoor sectional plans and modified slightly to fit the space I had. So easy to follow and delighted with the result. The hardest part of the whole project was making the cushions, that's how easy the woodworking plans were to follow!

@louspoutsstuff tiktok - Lou brown

Built from Plan(s)

Rustic bench

Submitted by Brian on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 08:39

Fun little bench to make for our front porch. We liked it so much we built 2 more smaller ones one for each of the kids to go with mommy and daddy's bench. Bought all the material at the home store and decided to use stain since it was going to stay outside. Used the same method with all my other projects sanded using 180 than 220 grit, wood filled all the cracks and the Kreg Jig made this simple.

Estimated Cost
30.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
2 in 1 stain samples
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Chelsea Bunk Bed System

Submitted by steasck on Wed, 01/01/2014 - 14:36

My dad and I built these beds for my 7-year-old daughter for Christmas. We followed the plans almost completely, with a few tweaks of our own. We didn't feel that the decorative feet would be very stable, so we just continued the length of the bookshelf and desk all the way to the floor. We put a piece of 1/4 in. MDF on top of the slats to help support the memory foam mattress. We also stapled canvas to the underside of the top bunk to hide the slats. I didn't want a headboard or foot board on the lower bunk (toe-stubber!), so instead of building the matching Chelsea bottom bunk, we just made a simple platform bed. We added magnet boards to each side of the desk. I liked the idea of magnets better than bulletin boards. Since this plan didn't include a ladder, we built the ladder from the Loft Bed plan. The bed had some significant wobble to it, so we attached it to the wall. Took ALL of the wobble out and it is very solid and secure now. I'm very pleased with how these beds turned out and my daughter loves them as well!

Estimated Cost
$375
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
We used spray primer and spray paint. It was easy to do it this way, but very messy and it took us about 18 cans to get the entire thing covered.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Bathroom Mirror

Submitted by Dlwj27 on Sun, 03/20/2016 - 06:44

This project is the mirror from The Handbuilt Home and is the first project I made from the book. I changed the size since I wanted the mirror for my bathroom and adjustments were so easy to do. I used regular pine boards and a mirror I got from Lowes - Lowes cut the mirror to the size I needed at no charge. I painted the frame with two coats of a celery colored chalk paint,  one coat of white chalk paint then sanded to distress. I attached the mirror using a glue and seal caulking and secured with mirror brackets so I could hang up right away without waiting for the glue to dry .  This was a super fun project, easy to do. Love the book, and plan to  build more projects from it!

Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Princess bed for my princesses

After about a month of looking for a new bunk bed for my daughters and becoming more frustrated with every new search at the outrageous price and often cheap quality of what's available I decided to look to the web for inspiration to build one myself. It took a little while to work myself up to going for it but man am I glad I did. And I am even more glad I found Ana White's site almost immediately. Her incredibly well written and documented plan for this bed made it not only doable but incredibly fun for me. And it gave me the confidence to create a loft bed for my son from nothing but an idea and dream. Thanks a ton Ana!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
Approximately $400 including paint and some specialty tools.
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
I used a satin finish paint and the only advice I would offer would be to paint as many of the pieces before assembly as possible. This bed has a ton of little nooks and crannies and you'll save yourself a full day of painting if you don't have to try to get a tiny brush into every one.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Goldglv

Thu, 06/12/2014 - 11:01

Hello.....is that another mattress in the bottom portion of the playhouse? If so, how did you get it in there? I wanted to try and put another mattress in the bottom but couldn't figure out an easy way to get it in and out......

Triple Pedestal Farmhouse Table

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/21/2016 - 20:20

Made this table as a Christmas present for my wife. I modified a few details like the legs because I was able to use some old timbers from her dads farm. And for the apron, I just ripped a 2x6 in half. First time I've used plans from this site, thanks so much for making them available. -Matt M

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$100-but I used some reclaimed timbers for parts of the legs.
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Minwax Jacobean Stain
Minwax Wipe On Poly
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Ultimate loft bed

Extremely easy with Ana's plans. Under $100. 

Estimated Cost
100.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Redwood stain
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

The salsa console with a twist

Submitted by eahodges on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:29

We took the plans for the salsa console and modified it by leaving the bottom of the console open. We painted it a bright white and stained the top.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
The base and drawer fronts were sanded, given two coats of primer, and then painted with three coats of Valspar bright white paint. The top was sanded and stained with two coats of Minwax Ebony stain. Then we gave the top two coats of polyurethane to ensure a nice finish. The feet were stained twice with the same Ebony stain. Finishing the console in this way takes a good deal of time but is well worth it.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Play Stand

Submitted by jgettings on Sat, 01/04/2014 - 16:01

I saw this at the perfect time for deciding to make one for my niece for Christmas. It was too cute of an idea to not make!! She turns 3 at the end of January and it's perfect-sized for her. From what I hear, she threw a tantrum when her parents told her she had to stop playing with it because it was naptime! I'm hoping that she will share with her brother when he's older (he's about 7mos now) and they can play with it together.

I apologize for the lack of pictures, I got the buntings done about one day before we had to pack it up to head out for the holidays, so there wasn't much time for pictures!

For the hutch part, I attached each side with bolts and wing nuts so that it could be knocked down for transport (especially since we have smallish cars and had to drive an hour to gift it, and the recipient had to drive 2 hours back to their house!). I added some holes just under the dowel (lining up with the holes in the base when knocked down) so that it could be connected again as a shorter version for transport. This actually worked out pretty well and you can almost use the dowel as a handle when it's like that. The only issue I ran into with that was once I put the lower velcro on for the theater curtains, they would hit when trying to collapse it and we wound up losing one in transport.

Buntings weren't too hard, but I've been sewing much longer than I've been building! I did have some issues getting the theater curtain to lay right.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
50
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax stain, I think it was some kind of "oak" color. Also, chalkboard spray paint for the chalkboard piece. The signs are foamboard with sharpie drawn on and electrical tape to cover the raw edges (I wish I had some white electrical tape!!). Most of the fabric I used was from those little "quilting" squares since my supply of scrap fabric is seriously lacking!
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Pentagon Cooler table

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 09:05

This table was made with already turned legs purchased at HD, one 4 x 8 sheet of oak plywood cut into two 4 x 4 sheets, pine for the cooler supports and edged with 1 x 3 oak routed with an ogee detail. Table supports were attached to the legs using pocket holes. Legs and supports were attached to the table bottom using pocket holes. The opening for the cooler was cut by plunging a circular saw from the top.

Estimated Cost
cost ~ 175
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax Early American stain
Minwax Polycrylic Polyurethane
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate
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