Community Brag Posts

I wanted a bunk bed for our daughters, it needed to be easily moveable like the "classic bunk beds." I also wanted stairs like the "Sweet Pea Garden" bunk bed because we have toddlers in the house. I modified the classic bunk bed to put the ladder on the end, then built the Sweet Pea stairs to fit to the opening (I think the only difference in dimensions was a 20" top stair. I didn't want the unfinished ends of plywood so I got 4'x16"x3/4" pine boards from lowes which happens to be the width of the stairs in the plan. Instead of using the 1x2's as trim on the ends of the shelves I put two of them together, one all of the way down the front of each stair and one resting on the top of the stair (screwed together) so I wouldn't lose lateral stability. I then spaced 2x2's in between to keep it "simple" looking instead of the heart shaped decorations from the sweet pea bed. I used some 1/4" paintable composite board to provide a backing to the stairs. I bolted the stairs on to the bed with some flat bar stock cut to size and 3/8' in hex bolts cut to length. I used pocket hole joints wherever possible and countersunk all other screws and used 3/8" dots from lowes to fill the holes. I painted it with a coat of primer and a coat of Glidden Trim and Door paint in antique white from the Easy Vintage Step Stool project.

I made a smaller version of the Tryde End Table with Shelf. I made 2 of them from 6 2X4's

My son used your plans to help students at his old elementary school for his Eagle Scout Project. He was able to adjust the plans to meet the school's needs. Local Austin Texas news did a report on it. Thank you for the inspiration!

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/boy-scout-builds-shed-stocks-it-with-re…

About 6 months ago the husband and I purchased a foreclosure for dirt cheap, hoping to rehab it into something livable. It turned out to be a total gut job. So much of the budget was blown on the big stuff--roof, electrical, water, plumbing, that we've really had no choice but to figure out how to do much of the work ourselves with occassional assistance from my son-in-law, a general contractor who lives 400 miles away.
Although he did most of the basic sheetrocking I decided that I was going to build my own closet. After all, how hard could it be. I got it framed out and sheetorcked. Between the low ceilings in the room and the fact that I mismeasured the door frame height, I wasn't able to put in standard doors. But that's okay, I think I like these better.
Thank you, ladies, for giving me the courage to tackle some of these jobs that need doing. I've learned a lot of new skills, done things I never thought I would ever do...and love the feeling that so much of myself is going into making this house my home.

I finished this project a few weeks ago, and it started to keep me busy during the Christmas break. My wife had wanted a new dining room table and this was pretty easy to build after the X Console Table.

For the stain, it was a combo of Rustoleom Kona down first, and put it on darker on the middle plank and bread board ends. After that I did a few coats of Minwax Weathered Gray, and then a few coats of poly.

Slightly wider and not as deep as the original plans to match the other furniture in the room.

Modified the original plan a bit.

- Instead of using a wire door I used a board instead to give it a more closed look.
- Attached a mirror to the inside of the door
- Attached lots of hooks on the top piece of wood to hang more necklaces
- added a magnetic catch at the bottom and a rubber stopper at the top to ensure the door closes evenly and holds
- attached to dry wall with 4 toggle bolts

Vegetable bin chalk painted and hand distressed.

Childs table and 2 chairs.

This project took me a lot longer than I wanted, but I love it. I worked a few hours each day and it seems I had to stop because I forgot one thing or another. I changed the way the top looked, I wanted to work with angles, so I framed out a 1x6 with two rows of mitered 1x4. It turned out better than I hoped, but I don't know if I will work with angles again... Like the plan says, it is HUGE!!!

My mom purchased a bunk bed set for my children at her house but since they were only 1 and 2 at the time, we separated them and used the rails on my sons single bed, then my daughters we converted into a twin size crib

Made the birdfeeder by Ana for my Daughter in-law's birthday. She loves it and so does her cat. My bandsaw stopped working, so had to cut the center out with an oscilatting saw. Surprisingly it worked really well.
The hardest part was figuring out where to get suction cups without the hooks on them. Ended up at Michaels where I found some rated for 7 pounds of weight. They seem to be holding up well. I ended up screwing them into the back of the birdhouse. Tried construction adhesive and it just did not hold.

2x4 sectional with table/ottoman.

Lyn G

We were looking for beds that had storage that would fit into our twin girls' small bedroom. This was to be their first "big girl" beds. Well, I spied some that would have cost us about $2100 to buy. No thanks. Then I found these plans. My husband looked at them, said "I can do that no problem". It took him over a week to build the beds, but he spent a lot of time getting "help" from the twins. Even without the distraction, he says it probably would have taken him longer than a weekend. The beds are very solid, and he says the plans were very easy to follow. The beds look great, the girls love them, and we've gotten a lot of compliments, including from a friend who works in the Pottery Barn executive offices. This was our first time using plans from Ana, but I'm already looking for our next project.

End table modified slightly so that the underside area serves as a Dog Crate. Used Plexiglass on the X sides and other parts from a portable dog crate for the front and back. Also, leather corners add a Hunting/outdoor feel.

I found these plans online and was just waiting for the kids' grandpa to come out and build it. Could be built in one afternoon (depending on how many trips to your local Home Depot, and availability of the correct tools)
Modifications from original plan:
6x6 instead of 4x4
Brackets to hold patio umbrella for shade
Added seat gussets for additional support
Added "wooden flange" around bottom of box to run lawnmower on
One additional center back support on each bench
One centered handle (instead of a handle on each end)
Stapled landscape weed barrier fabric onto the bottom
Sanded all exposed edges

Materials:
4@2x10x8'
12@1x6x6'
2@2x6x12'
8 hinges
2 handles
3 1/2" decking screws (for attaching 2"x boards)
1 5/8" decking screws (for attaching 1"x boards)
2+ 1 1/4" 2-hole straps for metal conduit (for attaching patio umbrella*)
*Our patio umbrella pole was 1 1/2" diameter, but 1 1/2" straps had too much play, so we used 1 1/4" straps and misc flat washers to adjust the snugness to the pole
Cut lengths:
2@2x10 cut to 72" (long sides of the box)
2@2x10 cut to 69" (short sides of the box)
Cut one each of the following out of a 12 footer:
2@2x6 cut to 75" (long side "flange")
2@2x6 cut to 64" (short side "flange")
No cuts were made to the 12 1x6's
Used one leftover 2' from the 2x8x10's ripped in half cut to 11.5" for arm rests
Used two leftover 2' sections from the 2x8x10's ripped in half cut to 21" for back supports
Used the last 2' cutoff to make two seat gussets (cut about 9 1/2" off and then ripped it at 45 degrees)
Used the remaining piece (ripped in half length-ways) to attach to the center of the backrest for additional support and as the attachment point for our handles
We decided to do one handle in the center of the backrest so one reasonably strong adult could open the lid
The bottom "flange" was assembled with the box upside down. Basically a 2x6 screwed to the bottom edge of the box allowing 1 1/2" overhang all the way around
After making cuts, but before assembly, we recommend using a quarter-sheet pad sander (or similar) with 60 grit paper to break all of the edges and round over any ends or corners that will be in contact with sandbox users
Followed other general assembly instructions