Community Brag Posts

Our old kitchen table was a bargain buy from a nearby outlet store and while I hate to say it...you get what you pay for. This was my second project ever so I was pretty nervous about building a table. My first project was storage daybeds for my girls. They were a lot more forgiving than a table. This project took me approximately 2 weeks of working off and on but only because I'm a bit of a perfectionist and finishing it drove nuts. But it's finished and I am in love! The plans for the rustic table were modified to make a shorter version to fit out kitchen. The bench plans were kept the same but the pesky cross supports were omitted due to lack of functionality and difficulty of cutting angles. End length on tabletop is 6ft. That's the perfect size for the bench to fit under.

My daughters play kitchen, everything works... running water included!

Just finished this console table for my granddaughter the angels on the cross piece were quite challenging.

This was my very first real DIY build project - and I loved every second of it! Ana has made me an addict and now I can't wait to get started on another great project she has provided to us here on the blog.

These ledges were incredibly easy to assemble. I painted them using the trim finish in our home so it looks like that have been here all along - love that!

Thank you Ana for the inspiration!!!

This is the large modern porch swing, scaled down to 24" x 36" and made with 1x4 for the frame and 2x2 for the legs. It's put together with the Kreg jig, which I now use to build everything. I may add a photo of the bare bench, once the cat gets off it.

I built this for my daughter to go under her loft bed at the time. It was my very first time upholstering anything before! 

Just began to build items after creating a workshop in my basement. Started with small planters and just built the large stand up planter pictured here. Ready to plant the Tomatoes!

Jim

First project. Modified ends to be wider so that a chair can fit.

This was a fun project and my daughter loves her bed. She is the envy of all of her friends.

Great quick project, but painting on the other hand was very time consuming. This bed has one cost of latex Kills and 3 costs of Sherwin Williams interior eggshell.

To make the bed fit between the wall and window i had to shrink the stair width.

Made the bed from wood that I got from the place I work.  It was weathered and rotting.  I was able to work around the rot.  I had to play with the finish to get it all of the bed pieces to match. The bed is really heavy because the wood was full 2" material. The smaller picture shows the actual color of the bed more accurately.

I love the workbench console plans so made them smaller to work as nightstands.

Decided to try and make lamps out of some firewood.  They worked for what I wanted.

I needed a larger desk to accommodate my multiple monitor set up. I used this plan and extended it around the corner. Its final size is 7’x8’x2”. I used a pre finished melamine top. I adjusted the shelf to hold my printer and paper supply above it. Overall pretty straightforward project.

I built this key locker from a jewelry armoire plan I found on TheDesignconfidential and the link is http://www.thedesignconfidential.com/2012/09/key-locker-aka-small-jewel…

It is a wonderful and simple design. Easy to build. Cost me abut $17 since I went for the S4S poplar wood for the frame and door. I used scrap hardwood flooring for the door face. The key is from Hobby Lobby at $2. All the rest including the knob, hinges, hooks, etc were gathering dust in my garage.

I modified the plans to make a larger armoire to hand pants and store board games.

I made this for my boys and they LOVE it! I opted for a square top, since the flower would not have gone over well...Plus I found a square top for $1 at the Restore and who can pass that up, and the legs were free. The rest of the wood was from the Home Depot Cull bin or furring strips. The chairs didn't get rounded (no jig saw) and I didn't add a hole (not a big enough drill bit). But my boys love them and use them all the time!

Thanks Ana for such great plans!

Check out more at http://mylove2create.blogspot.com/2012/10/diy-kids-table-and-chairs.html

As a Christmas present, SNC promised LFS a new table, her choice of plans. It's July, and we just ate our first meal at the finished table! We'd looked at a few of the plans around the site, but really liked the angled legs of the Benchright Farmhouse Table, and SNC thought the metal accents would get in some manliness!

We didn't quite read all the comments before we began so we faced the issue of plan directions v. cut list not matching up, which we didn't learn until 10 steps further down the build/assembly. We had a hard time finding non-rounded off edges for the 1x2s, as well. If we'd realized the impact those edges have further down the project, we might have been pickier at the lumber store. Using the Kreg Jig came in super handy on the legs & frames. We picked up a DeWalt kit that had extra long driving bits and just used regular Phillips head screws sometimes.

Since we live in NC, surrounded by hundreds of old tobacco barns, LFS wanted to use reclaimed lumber for the table top. After boards that were too thin, warped, short and generally insufficient for our basic skills and tools, we went to a specialty lumber yard and got gorgeous cedar instead.

We weren't loving the sagging of the end frame 2x4s, so we hid them a bit by making the table top breadboard sandwiched between the end 1x6 cedar boards. We used 1x6 and 1x8 boards for the tabletop.

For the stain, LFS further perused the site and went with a Minwax Pecan stain, layered with a Rustoleum Espresso that got wiped off every few minutes to let the pecan have a chance of peeking through on the legs/base. While we both liked the cedar, the light/dark contrast was too contemporary for our taste, so we used the Pecan on the top as well. The table got 3 layers of Minwax Helmsphar, lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper between layers.

The aforementioned first meal had guests at the table and comfortably sat 6 adults who all sang it's praises :) Fun awesome (and sometimes awesomely frustrating!) build, super happy the Christmas present monkey is off our backs, but even more glad to eat dinner at it now.