Community Brag Posts

Just a fun tool caddy for the sports lover (Cubs or other teams) out there.  It has a beer opener on the side so you honestly don't have to move when cracking open a cold one.  Be it soda or beer that doesn't require you to twist it off.  

I used the farm house bench plans and added hinges for my own little twist. This was my first attempt at making furnature and I happy with the result. Thanks Ana.

Loved the Farmhouse table project. I took it a step easier. A local door builder had clearance doors for a cheap cost. I found the door I wanted (42"x96"), cut off about a foot length wise, refinished the top and then added a modified farmhouse table apron and legs to it. Then used the distressed finish I found here on Ana-white.com to finish it with. I used a red paint and a dark walnut stain. All together it took about 4 hours of actual time. Though there was a overnight wait period after paint and another one after stain before I finished putting it together.

We needed a little extra workspace and storage in our kitchen, so I put this together for the wife. She wanted a smooth surface and wanted it to look a little less "clunky", so I modifed the plans from More Like Home a bit. It works great in our kitchen and it was fun to make.

Plans at: http://www.morelikehome.net/2012/10/day-3-build-kitchen-cart-with-2x4s.html

Little girl vanity.

This is the perfect sized chair for little ones. I didn't understand how to cut the stringers so I asked someone, other then that it was so simple to build.

I've moved into a new "builder grade" house recently which, to me, translates to a litany of rooms to renovate, redecorate and reinvigorate! I try, like so many of you , to keep the costs down as much as possible on things by doing much of the work myself. So when shopping around for vanities, I was sorely disappointed to see a general lack of pizzazz in my price range. I was going for a "spa-retreat" look, with cool colors and rich wood tones. Then I saw Ana's plans for the "easy kitchen Island" and I new it was perfect! I scaled the whole project down to fit my 30" space. I kept the lumber sizes the same because it work better for me mathematically vs say, swapping out the counter 2x6's for 2x4's. If you are interested in using this plan (for whichever purpose) here are a few pointers that I picked up along the way that may be useful to you;

I finished the project prior to final assembly in three parts; the counter, the base, and the individual 1x2's that were destined to be shelving. I am extremely impatient with finishing, so I knew I would mess it up if I had to be all dainty around the slats, etc.

I also made a few extra slats so I could choose the best looking ones (and procrastinate the spacing decision).

I usually find whatever is around to use as a spacer, but in this case, nothing worked, so I wound up cutting a bunch of them out of scrap 1x2. I then was able to positing many of them at once (limited only by the number of clamps I had handy) and then flip the whole thing to screw them in place. I predrilled/countersunk because Kreg screws are expensive and hard to come by where I live.

That's all I can think of for now, hit me with questions if you have any! Cheers!

I modified the table to be a little smaller for a space. it came out beautifully. Love this build as it allows for a very large yet stable table that allows for seating on the ends as well. 

I decided to build this for my kids while they were at camp for a week this summer. It was easy and very inexpensive. They love it!

I loved this project! First time I got to use my kreg jig!! Which I would recommend to any builder. Took me a few hours. Not sure how I'm going to finish them yet!

That was my first real handmade project after just reading and following Ana Whites story and her diy projects for a while.

I´m coming from Germany and it took quite a while to "translate" all the lumber measurements to the german equivalents, since we don´t have the same ones. So I just took the similar lumber sizes I could find in a hardware store (Baumarkt), all in all 23 € for pine lumber plus wheel casters for 30 € each, which was the most expensive part of the project. I modified the size of the table as well and am very proud to present you my first project: my very first industrial coffee table for the home office.

I made the stain myself, by the way!

Here is the summary:

- one layer of black strong coffee (3 table spoons + 500 ml hotwater)

- 2-3 layers of steel + vinegar solution (sanding a bit inbeween)

- 2-3 layers of spar varnish (sanding a bit inbetween)

Hope you like it;) and thanks a lot to Ana White for being so creative and delivering loads of beautiful diy projects for woodwork lovers all over the world!

Looking forward to my next project!!!

I used the plans for the Kentwood Nightstand to make a Bathroom cabinet to hold the Vessel Sink. I made it taller and wider and used a Butcher block top treated with Tung oil and Spar Varnish.
I also changed the doors to 1/4" Overlay double doors with a Sash latch. Much nicer, and sturdier than what you can buy and less than $100- in materials (Excluding the Sink and Faucet) And of course, it's wood, not pressboard.
It came out great and I am not a very experienced wood worker!

I built this using the sturdy workbench plans. I hesitate to call it a brag, as it is my first project, and I used some 2x4s from Home Depot. Premium... Yeah right!

Despite my crooked cuts and warped wood, the sum of the parts is actually pretty sturdy!

I did modify it a bit. As I'm 6'2", I made the legs approximately 35" and used 2 3/4" Sheets of 24x48 MDF as the top. This gave me a total height of about 36 1/2" of height, which is pretty comfortable.

I would have preferred more workspace, but I'm limited to a portion of my one car garage, so 24x48 will have to do!

Finally, though this was definitely an hour or two worth of project, it took my about 2 weeks to complete, working in increments as small as 15 minutes, sue to having a 4 month old son!

Now to decide what to build next!

This is my first furniture project I wanted to replace my cheap computer desk that was falling apart. The build was pretty simple, the only problem was finding a good project board and finding a good stain. Tried several different stains an a piece of scrap before deciding on red elm gel stain. Project took longer than I anticipated but most of that time was in getting the finish right, the build part was pretty quick.

After undertaking many home improvement projects over the past few years, my garage was getting a little out of control. I had too many bulky tools taking up space, making it hard to get work done efficiently. I decided to build a storage shelf, but looking for more of a challenge, I wanted to add sliding shelves to provide easy access to items in the rear.  Check out my blog post at JustMeasuringUp.com for all the details.  I documented the project from beginning to end with lots of pics.

http://www.justmeasuringup.com/blog/creating-more-garage-storage

The shelves are 3 ft deep and stores a lot of stuff now.  When I need something at the back, rather than wading through the stuff at the front, I just grab a handle and slide the whole shelf forward.  So if you're looking to improve upon the pretty standard garage shelf design out there, check out mine!